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HARVARD  COLLEGE 

LIBRARY 


BOUGHT  FROM 
THE  FUND  BEQUEATHED  BY 

HORACE  DAVIS 

OF  SAN  FRANCISCO 


0 


H  ISTORY 


or 


PORTLAND 


OREGON 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS   AND    BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES 
OF  PROMINENT  CITIZENS  AND   PIONEERS 


KDITKI)    IJY 

H.  W.  SCOTT 


SYRACrsr^.   N.  V. 

I).   MASON  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

1890 


Us  3y^8^^.ir 


NOV  19  1918 


^J^^^i'cj  ye 4*4 


/^ 


^ 

w 


i-'^-JII'^^Ll^T 


PRESS   OK    F.    W.    BALTKS   AND   COMPANY, 


28   OAK   STREKT. 


PORTLAND,    OREGON. 


Mestox-Dygert  Book  Mfc;.  Co.. 

HINDKRS. 

Portland.  ORiir.o.v. 


A      -  A 


PREFACE. 

Hitherto  there  has  been  no  attempt  to  write  a  History  of  Portland. 
Slight  sketches  of  the  history  of  the  city  have,  indeed,  been  written, 
but  nothing  that  answers  to  the  importance  of  the  subject  has  here- 
tofore been  undertaken.  For  conception  and  execution  of  the 
present  work  the  city  is  indebted  to  D.  Mason  &  Co.,  a  finn  of  enter- 
prising publishers  of  Syracuse,  New  York.  Learning  that  no  general 
history  of  Portland  had  yet  appeared,  these  publishers  offered  to 
undertake  the  work  and  to  collect  the  materials  for  it.  Aware,  how- 
ever, that  it  was  necessary  that  these  materials  should  be  subjected 
to  local  editorial  supervision,  they  requested  me  to  perfonn  that  duty. 
Though  my  own  daily  employments  were  ver\^  exacting,  I  consented 
to  do  so.     The  result  is  now  submitted  to  the  public. 

My  own  work  therefore  has  been  that  of  editor  rather  than  author. 
Some  parts  of  the  book  I  have  written,  and  all  of  it,  except  portions 
of  the  biographical  matter,  I  have  revised  with  as  much  diligence  as 
po.ssible.  Yet  I  cannot  hope  that  the  book  is  free  from  errors.  Much 
has  been  handed  down  from  memor>',  and  inaccuracies  therefore  are 
unavoidable. 

Acknowledgments  are  due  chiefly  to  O.  F.  Vedder,  H.  S.  Lyman 
and  C.  H.  Carey  for  the  matter  of  this  volume.  All  these  have  worked 
diligently  in  collection  and  preparation  of  the  materials.  The  bio- 
graphical matter  has  been  contributed  by  many  hands,  and  Mr.  Vedder 
has  bestowed  much  labor  upon  it.  The  special  work  of  Mr.  Carey 
is  the  important  and  exhaustive  chapter  on  * 'Bench  and  Bar'\     Mr, 


Prepack. 


Lyman's  work  runs  through  a  large  part  of  the  historical' matter. 
The  first  chapter,  which  is  devoted  to  the  **Early  History*  of  Oregon'', 
an  excellent  specimen  of  condensed  historical  writing,  is  chiefly  by 
Mr.  Vedder. 

In  preparation  of  a  work  of  this  kind  it  is  easy  to  realize  how 
much  matter  that  we  would  have  been  glad  to  obtain  has  now  forever 
escaped  even  the  most  active  and  diligent  research.  Yet  a  paragraph 
at  the  close  of  the  histor}'  may  be  properly  repeated  here,  namely: 
**This  histor>'  of  Portland  is  the  product  of  research  and  labor  extended 
in  all  directions  that  promised  results;  it  is  probably  as  complete  as 
any  that  is  likely  to  be  prepared,  and  yet  not  so  complete  by  an> 
means  as  it  would  be,  were  it  practicable  to  gather,  to  sift  and  to 
compare  all  facts  of  interest  that  are  yet  retained  in  the  memory  of 
living  persons  or  set  down  in  documents  remaining  in  private  hands. 
Unfortunately,  the  mass  of  these  materials  is  beyond  the  reach  of 
those  who  undertake  to  prepare  a  work  like  this,  and  writers  or  editor 
mu.st  l)e  content  with  such  records  and  recollections  as  can  be  gathered 
by  diligence,  through  knowing  that  more  has  1)een  missed  than 
obtained.'' 

Yet  it  is  believed  that  we  have  here  a  historv  sufficientlv  full  and 

accurate  for  preservation  to  future  times  of  an  intelligible  account  of 

the  origin  of  Portland  and  of  its  growth  to  the  proportions  of  a  cit\ . 

H.  \V.  Scott. 
Portland,  June  1st.  1890. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MCADINC;  EVRXTS  IN  THE  IIKSTORY  OF  OREGON  FROM  THE  EARLIEST 

EXPLORATION  TO  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
TERRITORIAL  G0VP:RNMENT. 

\'c»yages  and  Discoveries  Along  the  North  Pacific  Coast — Conflicting  Claims 
of  Various  Nations  to  tlie  Country— Expeditions  of  Lewis  and  Clarke-  - 
Contest  for  Possession  of  the  Conntr\'— Early  Settlements — Efforts  of 
Americans  to  Establish  Trading  Posts — John  Jacob  Astor  and  Astoria 
(Vrowth.  Power  and  Purposes  of  British  Fur  Companies  —Period  of  Joint 
c)ccupancy  of  the  Territory —Oregon  in  Control  of  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
])any— Ivfforts  to  Secure  American  Settlers — Lal)ors  of  Bonneville, 
Wyeth  and  Kelley--  Advent  of  the  Missionaries — Their  Influence  in  lie- 
half  of  American  Interests — Arrival  of  the  Home  Builders-  Establish- 
ment of  a  Civil  Government — Value  of  the  Labor  of  the  Oregon  Pio- 
neers— Creation  of  Oregon  Territory 15 


CHAPTER  II. 

POSITION  AND  ADVANTAGES  OF  PORTLAND. 

The-  M<>«lern  City— A  More  Perfect  Adaptation  to  Human  Wants — Value  of  the 
Reconls  of  Such  a  City  as  Portland — (Veographical  Position — At  the  In- 
tersection of  the  Great  Natural  Lines  of  Travel  and  Commerce  of  the 
Northwest  Pacific  Coast — Tojxjgraphy — Extent  and  Beauty  of  Surface 
Natural  Advantages  for  Commerce,  for  Manufacturing,  for  Residence 
The  Natural  Center  of  the  North  Pacific  Coast 53 


S  Contexts. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SKTTLKMKNT  AND  EARLY  TIMES. 

l*orllan<l  Antedated  by  other  Cities  ou  the  Willaiiielte  and  Columbia-  HflTorts 
lo  rin<l  a  Commercial  Center— William  Overton  the  First  Owner  Gen. 
A.  L.  Lovejoy  Francis  W.  Pettygrove — The  First  Cabin— Name  Uc- 
slowed-  Site  Platted  Daniel  H.  Lownstlale  -  Stephen  Coffin —William 
W.  Chapman— Depletion  by  the  Rush  to  the  Gold  Fields— Return  of 
Pioneers-  New  Comers — Improvements — First  Newspaper — Opening 
ot  the  Plank  Road  l*urchase  of  the  Steamship  Gold  Hunter  List 
of  the  Business  Houses  and  of  Residences  Prior  to  1851 77 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LAND  TITLE  CONTROVERSIES. 

Measures  Taken  by  Proprietors  lo  Protect  Land  l*urchasers'  Rif^ht.^— The 
Three  Causes  of  Liti>;ation — Legal  Points  in  the  Stark  vs.  Starr  Case  - 
Decision  of  the  Courts  -Causes  of  Litigation  Over  the  Lownsdale  Estate 
—  Final  Settlement  of  the  Case  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court — 
Decision  of  Judge  Sawyer  and  Concurrent  Opinion  of  Judge  Deady- 
Public  I^vee  Case- -Grounds  of  Private  and  Municipal  Claims  to  the 
Rive^  Front-  How  the  City's  Rights  were  Lost — I.,egal  History  of  the 
Caruthers*  Claim 117 

CHAPTER  V. 

(fROWTH  AND  IMPROVEMENTS. 

Appearance  of  the  City  in  1S50— The  First  Brick  Building — Brick  BuiUlings 
Erected  from  1850  lo  186<>~List  of  BuiMings  in  1 855— Portland  Dur- 
ing the  Indian  War  of  1855  and  '56 — Rapid  (»rowth  in  1862 — Increase- 
in  Population  and  Wealth — Improvement  and  (iro>*lh  from  Vear  lo 
Year  -I*resent  Development  and  Importiince  of  Portland \:\{) 

CHAPTER  VI. 

CITY  CII.XRTER.  GOVERNMJINT  AND  MAYORS. 

Charter  of  1.^51  —Its  Provisions  and  Amendments — Charter  of  1872-  Charier 
of  1 882 — Police  Department — Fire  Department — Health  Department  - 
Waterworks — l*ublic  Buildings  -Biographical  Sketches  of  Mayors — 
List  of  Citv  Officials  from  1851  to  1800 1  76 


Contents.  9 

CHAPTER  VII. 

COMMIvRCK. 

Primitive  Coniiiicrce — Coininercial  Operations  of  Hudson's  Ray  Company — 
Trade  Kntcrprises  of  Hall  J.  Kelley,  Nathaniel  J.  Wyetli  and  Xatlianial 
Crosbv- -Period  of  Commercial  .\dventurers — Discovery  of  (toM  and  its 
I^ffects  on  Commerce — Pearly  Trade  in  Luml>er — Portland  a  Market  for 
Orej^on  Produce — Early  Sailing  Vessels  Which  Visited  Portland  - 
Heginning  of  Steam  Navigation — Character  and  Value  of  Portland's 
Exports  from  1855  to  1865 — Steamships  Running  to  Portland  from 
1804.  to  1869— Value  of  Portland's  Exports  in  1866  and  1867  -Meas- 
ures Which  Secured  Portland's  Commercial  Independence — Growth  of 
Foreign  Commerce — Trade  vStatistics  for  1870 — Period  of  Business 
Depression  -Commercial  Grow-th  and  Development  During  Recent 
Years-  Present  Character  and  Condition  of  Portland's  Commerce 212 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

RIVER  NAVIGATION. 

Oregon  Pioneer  Ship  Builders  and  River  Navigators — Col.  Nesmith's  Account 
of  Early  Navigation  on  the  Columbia  and  Willamette — Judge  Strong's 
Iveview  of  the  Growth  and  Development  of  Oregon  Steamship  Compan- 
ies— Names  and  Character  of  Early  Steamships  and  the  Men  Who  Ran 
Them-  List  of  the  Steamers  Built  by  the  Peoples'  Transportation,  Ore- 
gon Steam  Navigation  and  Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Com- 
panies— Independent  Vessels  and  Their  Owners 24-8 

CHAPTER  IX. 

RAILROADS. 

l\»rtland's  A<lvantages  as  a  Railroatl  Center — l^arly  Struggles  for  a  Railroad 
— Curious  I*eatures  of  the  Contest — Labors  of  Simon  G.  I^lliott,  CfCorgc 
H.  Belden.  Col.  Charles  Belden  and  Joseph  Craston — I'irst  Survey  by 
Barry  an<l  CVaston — Report  by  Col.  Barry — Provisions  of  the  l*irst 
Railroad  Bill  Passed  by  the  Oregon  Legislature  and  I'nited  States 
Congres.s— The  Im]>ortance  of  Provisions  Suggested  by  Col.  W.  W. 
Chapman — Organization  of  the  I'^irst  Railroad  Company  in  Oregon  - 
Eorniation  of  a  Rival  Company — Contest  over  the  Land  Grant-  Inter- 
esting Ceremonies  in  Connettion  with  Commencement  of  Construction 
of  the  West  Side  Road — Progress  of  the  Work — Bitter  Warfare  l^rtwecn 
the  Two  Comi)anies  -The  l*ight  Carried  into  the  Courts — The  Legal 
Aspect  of  the  Contest  .\dvent  of  Ben  Holladay — His  Character  and 
Metho<ls-  -Efforts  to  Build  to  the  Atlantic  States  -  Labors  of  Col.  Chap- 
man— Henrv  Villard  and  the  Northern  Pacific  -The  Southern  Pacific 
Prominent  Railroad  Managers  of  Portland-  -The  Narrow  Cxauge  System         261 


10  Contexts. 

CHAPTER   X. 

MANUFACTURING. 

Contlitioiis  Which  Cause  the  GroHlh  of  Mauufacturing  at  Portland— Charac- 
ter of  Early  Manufactures — Present  Condition  and  Magnitude  of  Man- 
ufacturing Enterprises  of  Portland 299 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 

Oregon  I'nder  Canadian  Laws — Efforts  of  the  American  Settlers  to  Organize 
a  Judiciary — Peculiar  and  Comical  Features  of  their  Proceedings — The 
first  Judiciary  System — Re-organization  of  tlie  Judiciary*  by  the  Provi- 
sional Legislature  of  1845— Early  Judges  and  Attorneys  -Manner  of 
Adopting  the  Laws  of  Iowa—  Status  of  the  Courts  Prior  to  Territorial 
(fovemment —  I'irst  Court  House  at  Portland — Establishment  of  Office 
of  Recorder,  and  Other  City  Judicial  Offices— List  of  Recorders,  City 
-\ttomeys.  Police  Judges  and  Justices  of  Peace — Re-organization  of  the 
Juclicial  System  after  the  Creation  of  Oregon  Territory'— Incidents  in  the 
Administration  of  Justice  During  Territorial  Period — First  term  of  the 
Supreme  Court — Organization  of  ^lultnomah  County  Court — Sketches 
of  Leading  Attorneys  of  Portland  Prior  to  1855— Interesting  Cases  be- 
fore the  Supreme  Court—  Organization  of  the  United  States  District 
Court—  Portland  Attorneys  after  the  Admission  of  Oregon  as  a  State- 
Re -organization  of  the  Judicial  System  of  the  State  in  1878 — ^Judges 
who  have  Ser\'ed  in  Portland  and  Multnomah  County  Courts — Cases  of 
Historic  ImjXJrtance  Tried  Before  Portland  Courts— United  States  vs. 
Randall — The  Holladay  Cases — List  of  Attorneys  Who  Have  Practiced 
at  the  Portland  Bar 308 

CHAPTER  XII. 

CHURCHES,   BENEVOLENT  ORGANIZATIONS  AND  HOvSPITALvS. 

Metlio<list.  Catholic,  Congregational.  Episcoi)al.  Baptist.  Presbyterian,  Jew- 
ish, Unitarian.  Lutheran,  German  Refonne<l  and  Christian  Churches— 
Ladies'  Relief  Society — Children's  Home— (iemian  Benevolent  Asso 
ciation — Boys'  and  Girls'  Aid  Society— City  Board  of  Charities  — 
Portland  Woman's  Union  — Kindergarten  Association --Oregon  Humane 
Society --Portland  Seaman's  Friend  Society —St.  Vincent's  Hospital- 
Good  Samaritan  Hospital  -  Portland  Hospital 3-J.-1. 


Contents.  11 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONvS. 

First  Schools  in  Portlaud  and  their  Conductors— Early  Advocates  of  Free 
Schools— Growth  and  Development  of  the  System — Central  School- 
Park  School— Harrison  Street  School  Atkinson  School — High  School 
— Couch  and  Failing  Schools —Course  of  Study  Pursued  in  Public 
Schools— Plan  and  System  of  Management— Names  of  Teachers — City 
School  Officers  from  1856  to  1890— Portland  Academy  and  Female 
Institute— St.  Mary's  Academy— Bishop  Scott  Academy — St.  Helen's 
Hall— St.  Michael's  College— Independent  German  School— Interna- 
tional Academy     Medical  Colleges-  Business  Colleges 379 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FINANCIAL  INSTITUTIONS. 

I^arly  Banks— Causes  Which  Stinmlated  the  Growth  of  Banking  Interests — 
Financial  Condition  of  Portland  Banks— Ladd&Tilton— First  National 
Bank — Bank  of  British  Columbia — Oregon  and  Washington  Mortgage 
Bank— Portland  Savings'  Bank— London  and  San  Francisco  Bank- 
Merchants'  National  Bank — Oregon  National  Bank— Portland  National 
Bank — Ainsworth  National  Bank— Commercial  National  Bank — North- 
west Loan  and  Trust  Company — Portland  Trust  Company— Northwest 
Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company — l*acific  Fire  Insurance  Company         M)S 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THH  PRESS. 

Ivarly  Efforts  to  Start  a  Newspaper — Growth  and  Progress  of  the  Oregonian — 
The  Evening  Telegram — The  Western  Star — Democratic  Standard — 
Portland  Daily  News — Pacific  Christian  Advocate — Daily  Evening 
Tribune— Oregon  Herald — Portland  Daily  Bulletin — Daily  Bee— Daily 
Evening  Journal —Evening  Post — Northwest  News — Oregon  Deutsch 
Zeitung-^Staats  Zeitung — Freic  Press— List  of  Newspapers  which 
Appeared  from  1870  to  IHSO -Catholic  Sentinel— The  New  Northwest 
— Portland  Journal  of  Commerce — North  Pacific  Rural  Spirit- 'llami 
Portland  Papers— TAc  West  Shore— Sunday  Mercury— Sunday  Wel- 
come— Pacific  Express — Oregon  Times — The  World  Newsi)aper  Mor- 
tuar>'  Record  from  1880  to  1890 418 


12  Contents. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

A  OKNKRAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITY. 

Present  Appearance  of  Portland  -View  from  River  and  Hills— Prominent 
Buildings—  Character  of  Streets— Albina—  Parks — Exposition  Building 
— Chinese  Quarters — Hotel  Portland — East  Portland— Cemeteries — 
Casualties  of  Nature — Floods,  and  Fires 4-20 

CHAPTER    XVn. 

SOCIAL  FEATURES  AND  NOTED  PFBLIC  EVENTS. 

The  Cosmopolitan  Character  of  Portland  -  Changing  Character  of  its  Early 
Population— Tlieir  Vices  and  Habits— Moral  and  Social  Conditions  of 
Early  Days — (General  Stability  of  Present  Society— Culture  and  Refine- 
ment of  the  People — Public  Anmsements — Excursions,  Public  Festiv- 
ities and  Celebrations— Events  Connected  with  Celebration  of  the 
Completion  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad 4-51 

CHAPTER    XVni. 

MEN  OF  PORTLAND. 
Biographical  Sketches  of  Prominent  Citizens  4-70 


N         „ 


Contents. 


13 


/.   .• 


ILLUSTRATIONS, 


Alisky,  C.  A facing  r>GO 

BellinKcr.  Charles  IJ facing  322 

Bronough,  Karl  C facing  548 

Chapman.  Col.  \y.  \V facing    22 

Corljett.  Henr\-  W facing    5S 

Coulter,  Samuel facing  400 

I)eady.  Matthew  V facing    70 

I>ekum,   Frank facing  202 

I)c  Lashmutt,  Van  \i facing  410 

Dodd,  Charles  11 facing  424 

Dolph,  Cyrus  A facing  342 

Dudley,  W.  L facing  622 

Durand.  E facing  637 

Karhart.  Rockey  V facing  484 

Failing.  Henry   .  facing  118 

Fleischner.  Lewis facing  214 

Gill.  J.  K facing  506 

Olisan.  Dr.  Rodney facing  286 

Green,  Henry  I) facing  250 

Ha^thonie,  Dr.  J.   C facing  274 

Henrichsen,  L.  C facing  588 

Hirsch,  Solomon facing  166 

Holman,  J.  D. . . :    facing  142 

Holmes,  Thomas  J   facing  366 

Jacobs.   R facing  542 

JefFery,  Kdward  J facing  490 

Johnson.  A.  H   facing  562 

Jones,  Dr.  Henry  1\ facing  876 

Kamm,  Jacob facing  528 

Kelly,  James  K facing  1 78 

K  illin,  Benton facing  566 

Klosterman.  John facing  572 

Ladd.  W.  S facing    46 

Lotan,  James facing  570 

Lowns4lalc,  D.   H facing    34 


Lownsdale,  j.  P.  O facing  220 

Mackenzie,  Dr.  K.  A.  j facing  616 

Macleay,   Donald facing  436 

Mallory,  Rufus facing  388 

Markle,  (ieorge  R facing  630 

Manjuam.  I*.  A facing  190 

Mitchell.  John  H facing  262 

Montgomery,  J.  H facing  448 

Moreland,  J  C facing  334 

Morey,  P.  1'     facing  554 

Noon,  \V.  C facing  586 

Northrup,  K.  J. facing  354 

Northup.  Henry  H facing  498 

Oatman,  Harrison  H   . facing  460 

Reed,  S.  (i facing  130 

Reid,  William facing  612 

vSaylor,   Dr.  \V.  H    facing  568 

Scott,  Harvey  \V facing  154 

Smith,  J.  S facing  106 

Smith,  Charles  J facing  576 

Spaulding,  W.  W facing  520 

Staver,  George  \V facing  634 

Steel,  George  .A facing  476 

Steel,  James facing  298 

Strong.  William facing     94 

Strowbridge,  J.  A facing  238 

Thcrkelsen.  L.  W facing  584 

Thompson,  H.  Y facing  534 

Weinhard.  Henry facing  638 

Wiberg,  Charles  M facing  514 

Williams,  George  H    facing    82 

Williams,  Richard     facing  310 

Woodward.  Tyler facing  468 

/an,  Frank facing  600 


14 


Contents. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


Alisky,  C.  A 560 

Bellinger,  Charles  B     518 

Brant,  John 619 

Bronough,  Karl  C   54.7 

Chapman,  Col.  W.  W     4.7() 

Corbett,  Henry  W 484 

Coulter,  Samuel 582 

I)eady,  Matthew  P 493 

I)ekum,  Frank 545 

De  Lashmutt.  Van  B 533 

Dodd,  Charles  H 594 

Dolph,  Cyrus  .\ 524 

Dudley,  W.  L 623 

Durand,  J\ 637 

liarhart,  Rockey  P 558 

Failing,  Henry 521 

Fleischner,   I^wis 553 

GiU,  J.  K 625 

Glisan,  Dr.  Rodney 516 

Green,  Henry  D 535 

Hawthorne,  Dr.  j.  C   555 

Henrichsen,  L.  C 588 

Hirsch,  Solomon 511 

Holman,j.  D 599 

Holmes,  Thomas  J 557 

Jeffery,  Edward  J 577 

Johnson,  A.  H 562 

Jones.  Dr.  Henr>'  E 602 

Kamm.  Jacob 638 

Kelly,  James  K   528 

Killin,    Benton 567 

Klostemian,   John 572 

Ladd,  \V.  S oliS 

Lotan,  James »570 

Lownsdale,  D.  H .  497 

Lownsdale,  J.  P.  O 525 

Mackenzie,  Dr.  K.  A.  J 615 


Macleay,   Donald 531 

Mallory.    Rufus (>()(» 

Markle,  C^eorge  IX 629 

Marquam,   P.   A 591 

Mitchell,  John  H 537 

Montgomery ,  J .  B .    .  .  .    .  543, 

Moreland,  J.  C 575 

Morey,  P.  F 631 

Mulkey,  F.   M 62(> 

Noon,  W.  C 586 

Northrup,  E.  J 623 

Xorthup,  Henry  II 573 

Oatman,  Harrison  B (51 7 

Reed  S.  G 526 

Reid  William 612 

Saylor,  Dr.  W.  II 568 

Scott.  Har\'ey  W 642 

Shattuck,  Erasmus  D 514 

Smith,  J.  S 549 

Smith,  Charles  J 57() 

Spaulding.W.    W  628 

Staver,  George  \V 634 

Steel,  George  A 621 

Steel,  James 609 

Strong,    Wni   499 

Strowbridge,  J.  A     551 

Thayer,  William  Wallace 541 

Therkelsen,  L.  W 585 

Thompson.  H.  Y 579 

Weinhard,  Henr}- 636 

Whalley,  John  William    564 

Wil)erg,  Charles  M      584 

Williams,  George  H    507 

Williams,  Richard 641 

Woodwanl,  John  Henry 580 

Woodward.  Tyler 589 

Zan.   Frank 587 


HISTORY  OF  PORTLAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LKADIXO  EVENTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  OREGON  FROM  THE  EARLIEST 

EXPLORATION  TO  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
TERRITORIAL  GOVERNMENT. 

Voyages  and  Discoveries  Along  the  North  Pacific  Coast — Conflicting  Claims  of 
Various  Nations  to  the  Country — Expeditions  of  Lewis  and  Clarke — Contest  for  Pos- 
session of  the  Country — Early  Settlements — Efforts  of  Americans  to  Establish  Trad- 
ing Posts— John  Jacob  Astor  and  Astoria— Growth,  Power  and  Purposes  of  British 
Fur  Companies — Period  of  Joint  Occupancy  of  the  Territory — Oregon  in  Control  of 
Hudson's  Bay  Company — Efforts  to  Secure  American  Settlers — Labors  of  Bonneville, 
Wyeth  and  Kelley — Advent  of  the  Missionaries — Their  Influence  in  Behalf  of  . 
American  Interests — Arrival  of  the  Home  Builders — Establishment  of  a  Civil  Gov- 
ernment— Value  of  the  Labor  of  the  Oregon  Pioneers — Creation  of  Oregon  Territory. 

BEFORE  the  first  white  settler  had  sought  to  secure  a  habitation 
in  the  forest  which  marked  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Port- 
land, the  region  of  which  it  is  now  the  commercial  center  had 
passed  through  the  most  interesting  period  of  its  histor\\  The  pro- 
gress of  civilization  in  this  portion  of  the  New  World,  covering  a 
p)eriod  of  nearly  half  a  century  ante-dating  the  founding  of  the  city, 
after  many  heroic  sacrifices  and  struggles,  had  led  to  the  peaceful 
conquest  of  a  vast  area  and  to  the  establishment  of  American 
supremacy.  The  successive  steps  which  contributed  to  these  results 
give  to  this  region  a  unique  place  in  our  national  annals,  and  it 
seems  proper  that  a  brief  historical  review  of  the  period  should  pre- 
cede the  story  of  the  city  whose  foundations  were  laid  after  the  self- 
denial,  energ>'  and  endurance  of  many  men  and  women  had  opened 
the  forest  to  the  sunlight,  and  brought  the  country  bordering  on  the 

Pacific  under  the  influence  of  American  institutions, 
fa] 


16  History  of  Portland. 


When  a  little  more  than  a  century  ago  the  United  States  sprang 
into  being  as  a  nation,  Oregon  was  known  in  name  only,  and  that 
name  was  applied  simply  to  a  great  river,  which,  from  vague  and 
indefinite  reports,  obtained  from  Indians  and  Spanish  navigators, 
was  said  to  flow  westward  from  the  Rockv  Mountains  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  This  river  was  known  to  Americans  and  Englishmen  as  the 
Oregon  or  River  of  the  West,  while  the  Spaniards  called  it  variously 
Rio  de  Aguilar  and  Rio  de  las  Reyes.  At  this  time,  the  country 
north  of  California  had  no  name  by  which  it  was  distinctively 
known,  and  there  is  no  certain  record  that  anv  civilized  man  had 
ever  placed  foot  on  the  soil  of  either  Oregon  or  Washington.  The 
North  Pacific  coast,  however,  had  been  visited  as  early  as  1535  by  a 
Spanish  naval  explorer,  and  from  that  time  between  long  intervals 
down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  other  Spanish,  Por- 
tugese, English  and  French  navigators  had  sailed  along  the  Pacific 
Coast,  but  the  information  they  obtained  was  of  the  most  vague  and 
uncertain  character. 

It  was  left  for  an  American  to  give  the  first  information  of  value 
concerning  the  country  north  of  California.  This  was  Captain  Rob- 
ert Gray  who,  in  May,  1792,  in  the  American  ship  Columbia^  dis- 
covered and  entered  the  River  of  the  West,  which  he  ascended  some 
twenty-five  miles,  bestowing  on  it  the  name  of  his  vessel.  This  was 
the  first  discovery  of  the  river  and  according  to  the  custom  of  nations 
was  a  strong  element  in  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  all  the 
country  drained  by  it.  A  few  weeks  later  Captain  George  Vancou- 
ver, in  command  of  an  English  exploring  expedition,  having  heard 
of  Captain  Gray's  discovery,  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
and  sent  one  of  his  vessels,  the  Chatham,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  W.  R.  Broughton,  into  the  river,  and  this  officer  ascended 
the  river  in  a  boat  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles. 
The  same  year,  Alexander  MacKenzie,  a  member  of  the  Northwest 
Company — a  Canadian  fur  company — made  the  first  overland  jour- 
ney from  the  East  to  the  Pacific,  reaching  the  ocean  on  the  present 
coast  of  British  Columbia.  He  discovered  Fraser  River,  down 
which  he  passed  in  canoes  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 
Upon  his  return  home,  learning  that  the  Columbia  had  been  discovered, 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  17 


he  supposed  that  the  large  river  which  he  had  followed  so  far 
southward  must  be  that  great  stream.  This  error  was  not  corrected 
until  twenty  years  later,  and  the  stream  was  then  named  in  honor  of 
Simon  Fraser,  who,  in  1805,  had  established  a  post  in  that  region 
for  the  Northwest  Company. 

These  various  sea  and  land  explorations  had  proved  three  very 
important  facts:  First,  that  there  was  no  water  passage  for  vessels 
across  the  continent.  Second:  that  by  following  the  courses  of 
streams  and  lakes,  the  overland  journey  could  be  nearly  accom- 
plished in  boats.  Third:  that  this  vast  unexplored  region  abounded 
in  fur-bearing  animals,  a  fact  which  led  in  a  few  years  to  its  occu- 
pation by  rival  fur  traders,  both  English  and  American. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  territorial  claims  of 
the  various  nations  to  the  Pacific  Coast  were  exceedingly  conflicting. 
Rtissia  alone  had  a  valid  claim  to  Alaska,  both  by  discovery  and  oc- 
cupation, although  no  definite  southern  boundary  had  been  fixed. 
Spain's  claim  to  California  was  also  undisputed,  extending  to  the 
forty-second  parallel.  Between  these  two,  England  and  Spain 
claimed  title  by  right  of  discovery  only,  while  the  United  States  by 
reason  of  Gray's  discovery  of  the  Columbia,  had  laid  the  foundation 
for  a  claim  to  the  whole  region  drained  by  that  mighty  river,  a 
claim  as  yet  una^erted,  but  which  was  pressed  with  much  vigor  a 
few  years  later.  Besides  these  discovery  rights,  the  L^ouisiana  Prov- 
ince, which  France  had  transferred  to  Spain  in  1792  was  construed 
by  its  possessor,  or  more  accurately  speaking,  its  technical  claimant, 
to  cover  the  whole  region  west  of  the  Mississippi  not  claimed  by  the 
same  nations  as  portions  of  Mexico  and  California.  This  title  was 
reconveyed  to  France  in  1800,  thus  putting  that  nation  again  in  the 
field  as  a  claimant  of  territory  in  the  western  portions  of  North 
America. 

President  Jeflferson  gave  the  first  impulse  to  the  movement  to  ex- 
plore and  perfect  the  title  of  the  United  States  government  in  the  re- 
gion drained  by  the  Columbia.  He  had  been  at  Versailles  when  John 
Ledyard,  who  had  accompanied  Captain  Cook's  expedition  in  1780 
attempted  to  interest  American  and  French  capitalists  in  the  Pacific 
fur   trade.       Jefferson,  with   his   profound   sagacity,  became   deeply 


18  History  of*  Portland. 


interested  in  the  brilliant  pictures  of  the  wealth  of  this  region  as  related 
by  Ledyard,  and  he  naturally  preferred  that  to  his  own  country 
should  fall  so  magnificent  an  inheritance.  Upon  his  return  to  Amer- 
ica, in  1792,  he  endeavored  to  interest  his  countrymen  in  the  proje6l, 
l3Ut  the  United  States  were  then  perfe6ling  their  government  and  the 
regulations  of  national  affairs  required  immediate  and  careful  at- 
tention. Thus  engrossed  with  great  political  questions,  more  than  a 
decade  passed  before  the  people  began  to  think  of  future  acquisition 
of  territory.  When  Jefferson  became  president  in  1801,  he  had  lost 
none  of  his  former  interest  in  the  northwest  territory  and  was  more 
than  ever  convinced  of  the  expediency  of  making  explorations  in  the 
remote  west,  and  of  obtaining  more  valid  claim  to  the  region  than 
then  existed.  Under  his  administration  was  negotiated,  in  1803, 
the  purchase  from  France  of  L^ouisiana  and  all  of  the  territorial  rights 
of  that  nation  in  North  America.  It  is  questionable,  however, 
whether  the  French  title  added  much  strength  to  the  claim  of  the 
United  States  to  that  region  bordering  on  the  Columbia  River.  From 
the  Mississippi  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  it  was  good  enough  as  far 
north  as  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi,  but  west  of  the  conti- 
nental divide,  the  French  claim  rested  upon  the  uncertain  plea  of 
^'contiguity.''  This,  however,  the  successors  to  the  French  claim 
made  the  most  of  in  the  subsequent  controversy  with  Great  Britain. 
Immediately  after  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  Congress,  at  the  ur- 
gent request  of  President  Jefferson,  dispatched  an  exploring  expe- 
dition under  the  command  of  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis  and  Cap- 
tain William  Clark.  They  left  St.  Louis  in  1804  and  returned  in 
1806,  having  twice  traversed  the  distance  between  that  city  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia.  The  result  of  their  explorations  had  been 
awaited  with  much  anxiety,  and  their  return  caused  great  rejoicing. 
''  Never,''  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  *'  did  a  similar  event  excite  more  joy 
throughout  the  United  States.  The  humblest  of  its  citizens  had 
taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  issue  of  this  journey  and  looked  for- 
ward with  impatience  to  the  information  it  would  bring."  The 
journal  of  these  explorers  was  soon  published  and  widely  read  and  for 
the  first  time  something  definite  was  known  of  the  character  of  the 
countr>'  and  the  native  tribes  occupying  it.     The  interest  it  awakened, 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  19 


especially  among  the  brave  and  daring  Rocky  Mountain  trappers, 
hunters  and  traders  was  great,  and  gave  them  the  first  proof  of  the 
feasibility  of  making  the  journey  to  the  Pacific  shore  by  land. 

When  Great  Britain  became  aware  that  the  territor\'  claimed  by 
France  in  North  America  had  been  ceded  to  the  United  States,  anx- 
iety was  felt  by  that  government  and  such  of  its  subjects  as  were 
personally  interested,  as  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued  to  establish 
the  British  title  to  the  country'  on  the  Pacific  Coast  north  of  Califor- 
nia. The  Northwest  and  Hudson's  Bay  Companies  were  especially 
anxious  as  to  the  future  of  their  interests  in  that  region.  The  French 
and  Spanish  claims  to  the  territory  had  been  regarded  as  of  little  im- 
portance, but  when  they  were  transferred  to  a  nation  both  able  and 
anxious  to  perfect  the  title  by  reducing  the  country^  to  actual  pos- 
session and  moreover  were  supported  by  the  mere  claims  of  discov- 
ery and  occupation,  the  matter  presented  an  entirely  new  aspect. 

The  race  for  possession  by  right  of  occupancy  from  this  time  on 
was  prosecuted  with  vigor.  Great  Britain  secured  the  first  advan- 
tage in  this  direction.  Simon  Fraser,  an  English  subject  and  agent 
of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company,  established  a  trading  post  in  1805 
at  Fraser  Lake,  a  few  miles  west  of  the  point  where  Fraser  River 
turns  southward,  bestowing  the  name  of  **New  Caledonia"  upon 
that  region.  At  this  time  the  Fraser,  as  before  stated,  was  consid- 
ered to  be  identical  with  the  Columbia  and  the  post  was  supposed  to 
be  on  the  great  stream,  for  the  possession  of  which  America  and 
England  a  few  years  later  were  to  become  vigorous  contestants.  This 
idea  was  soon  afterwards  proven  to  be  erroneous,  but  the  fact  re- 
mains that  the  post  was  the  first  established  by  the  subjects  of  either 
country'  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  first  American  settle- 
ment was  made  by  a  man  named  Henry  who,  in  1808,  founded  Fort 
Henry  on  the  headwaters  of  Lewis  or  Snake  River,  the  first  of  any 
kind  on  a  tributary  of  the  Columbia.  The  next  was  made  by  Nathan 
Winship  and  William  Smith,  representatives  of  a  Boston  Company, 
who,  in  June,  1810,  selected  a  spot  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
Columbia,  forty-five  miles  from  its  mouth  which  they  called  *  *  Oak 
Point.''  Here  they  made  some  preparation  to  found  a  settlement, 
but   the  annual    freshet  of  the   river   forced   them  to  abandon  the 


20  History  of  Portland. 


undertaking.  They  then  selected  a  higher  site  further  down  the  river, 
but  signs  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  led  them  to  give  up 
the  effort,  and  they  returned  to  Boston.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  first  settlements  on  the  Columbia  were  made  by  Americans,  but 
they  were  unimportant  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence  which  proved 
the  original  occupancy  of  the  territory  by  Americans,  compared  to 
the  settlement  established  by  the  Astor  party  in  1811. 

After  the  independence  of  the  United  States  was  acknowledged  by 
Great  Britain,  American  ships  were  for  many  years  practically  barred 
from  British  ports.  In  seeking  new  haunts  of  commerce  they  sailed  into 
the  Western  Ocean  and  during  the  early  part  of  the  present  centur>'  took 
the  lead  in  the  fishing  and  fur  trade  of  the  Pacific.  They  sailed 
along  the  entire  northwest  coast,  collecting  furs  to  exchange  for  the 
fabrics  of  China,  having  a  monopoly  of  this  business  long  before  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  established  headquarters  in  this  region. 
In  addition  to  the  fur  trade  they  supplied  the  Spanish  and  Russian 
settlements  along  the  coast  with  American  manufactured  goods.  In 
dealing  with  the  natives,  the  conduct  of  certain  of  these  traders 
brought  tliem  into  disrepute.  For  furs  they  exchanged  with  the  In- 
dians whisky  and  fire  arms.  In  this  way  several  fierce  tribes  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Russian  settlements  were  furnished  with  deadly  means 
of  warfare  and  rendered  dangerous  and  troublesome.  Numerous 
complaints  were  made  by  the  Russian  government  to  the  State  De- 
partment, but  the  American  traders  were  violating  no  law  or  treaty 
and  the  government  could  not  interfere. 

At  this  time  John  Jacob  Astor  was  the  central  figure  of  the 
American  fur  trade,  and  being  consulted  about  the  matter,  he  pro- 
posed as  a  remedy  that  a  permanent  trading  post  be  established  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  that  would  be  the  headquarters  for  trade 
within  the  interior  and  along  the  coast,  and  that  the  business  be 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a  company  powerful  enough  to  supercede 
the  independent  traders  who  had  been  the  cause  of  irritation  to 
Russia.  To  this  plan  President  Jefferson  and  his  cabinet  gave  their 
hearty  approval.  Thus  encouraged  by  the  government,  Mr.  Astor 
organized  the  Pacific  Fur  Company  to  carry  out  the  enterprise  which, 
while  he  believed  it   would  be  a  highly  profitable  undertaking,  he 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  21 


intended  should  be  purely  American  in  character  and  of  deep  polit- 
ical significance.  Although  he  was  actuated  by  the  idea  of  finan- 
cial gain,  there  can  be  no  doubt  he  was  also  animated  by  a  patriotic 
desire  to  see  the  United  States  gain  control  of  the  region,  and  that 
he  believed  this  end  could  be  more  surely  gained  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  permanent  trading  settlement.  He  dispatched  two  expe- 
ditions to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia;  one  by  sea,  in  the  ship  Ton- 
quiuy  which  arrived  March  22,  1810,  and  one  by  land,  under  Wil- 
son Price  Hunt,  which  did  not  arrive  until  nearly  a  year  later. 

So  on  after  the  arrival  of  the  Tonquin^  the  erection  of  a  fort  was 
begun  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  at  a  spot  named  ' 'Point  George" 
by  Lieutenant  Broughton.  This  they  christened  "Astoria''  in 
honor  of  the  founder  and  promoter  of  the  enterprise.  The  name  is 
perpetuated  by  the  rise  and  growth  of  the  thriving  city  which  marks 
the  spot  where  America  first  planted  her  foot  upon  the  disputed 
territory-  of  Oregon. 

The  Northwest  Fur  Company  upon  learning  of  Astor's  plans, 
and  realizing  the  strong  hold  the  American  Government  would 
have  upon  the  territory  in  dispute,  should  those  plans  succeed,  sent 
a  party  overland  to  counteract  them.  But  this  party  did  not  arrive 
until  three  months  after  the  fort  was  built,  and  at  once  returned. 
The  war  of  1812  gave  the  English  company  another  opportunity. 
A  second  party  was  dispatched  overland,  which  reached  Astoria  in 
the  spring  of  1813,  bringing  intelligence  of  the  hostilities  and  the 
disheartening  fact  that  an  English  war  vessel  was  on  the  way  to 
capture  the  fort.  Under  stress  of  circumstances  the  entire  stock  of 
furs  was  sold  to  the  agent  of  the  Northwest  Company.  Three 
months  later  the  fort  was  surrendered  to  the  commander  of  the  Rac- 
coon^ who  had  come  for  the  purpose  of  capturing  it.  The  Ameri- 
can flag  was  lowered  to  give  place  to  the  British  colors,  and  the 
name  of  Astoria  was  changed  to  Fort  George. 

The  failure  of  Mr.  Astor's  plans  in  a  national  point  of  view  was 
of  much  significance.  It  retarded  the  settlement  of  Oregon  for 
many  years.  The  maintenance  of  Astoria  as  a  commercial  point, 
such  as  Astor  designed  it  should  be,  would  have  given  the  United 
States  so  strong  a  claim  upon  the  coimtry  that  little  ground  for 
contest  of  title  would  have  remained  for  any  other  nation. 


22  History  of  Portland. 


The  American  government  made  no  effort  to  retake  the  captured 
fort  until  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  when,  under  the  treaty  ot 
Ghent,  which  stipulated  that  ''"all  territory,  places  and  possessions, 
whatsoever,  taken  by  either  party  from  the  other  during  the  war,  or 
which  may  be  taken  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty,  shall  be  re- 
stored without  delay/'  Mr.  Astor  applied  to  the  government  for  the 
restitution  of  his  property,  since  he  wished  to  resiune  operations  on 
the  Columbia  River  and  carry  out  the  plan  of  American  occupation 
which  had  been  so  well  begun.  In  July,  1815,  notice  was  given  the 
British  government  that  steps  would  be  taken  to  re-occupy  the  cap- 
tured fort,  but  no  official  response  was  received.  For  two  years  no 
active  measures  were  taken,  but  in  1817  the  United  States  govern- 
ment despatched  the  war  sloop  Ontario  to  the  Pacific,  to  receive  the 
surrender  of  the  fort  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent.  This  brought  matters  to  a  crisis,  and  a  spirited  discussion  of 
the  subject  of  title  to  the  country  followed,  involving  the  question  of 
abstract  rights  by  discovery  and  absolute  right  by  possession,  both 
parties  claiming  under  both  titles.  The  claim  of  the  United  States 
was  four  fold:  First,  as  a  portion  of  Louisiana,  purchased  from 
France  in  1803;  second,  by  right  of  discovery  by  the  Spanish  ex- 
plorers Ferrelo  in  1543,  and  later  by  Perez,  Agiiilar,  Heceta,  Bodega, 
Quadra,  and  others,  the  benefit  of  whose  discoveries  accrued  to  the 
United  States  by  the  Florida  purchase  made  in  1819,  though  the 
title  was  not  asserted  in  the  first  negotiations,  as  the  settlement  was 
made  subsequent  to  the  first  temporary  settlement;  third,  by  the  dis- 
covery' of  the  Columbia  River  by  Captain  Robert  Gray,  in  1792;  and 
fourth,  by  reason  of  the  explorations  of  Lewis  and  Clark  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  forts  at  Astoria  and  two  other  points  by  the  Pacific 
Fur  Company.  It  was  denied  that  the  sale  of  these  forts  under 
duress  of  threatened  capture  by  a  man  of  war  was  such  as  to  affect  the 
right  of  the  United  States  to  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  settle- 
ments made  by  its  citizens,  especially  since  the  terms  of  peace  pro- 
vided that  the  forts  should  be  surrendered  to  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment. On  the  contrary,  Great  Britain  claimed  that  the  country 
north  of  the  forty-second  parallel  was  originally  discovered  by  F'rancis 
Drake  in  1578.     To  make  this   claim  effective  it  was  necessary  to 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  23 


deny  that  the  prior  voyage  of  Ferrelo  had  extended  as  far  north  as 
the  Oregon  line.  Since  the  coast  had  also  been  explored  by  Cook 
and  Vancouver,  and  had  been  visited  by  Meares  and  other  English 
fur  traders,  all  between  1775  and  1793,  these  facts  were  urged  as 
supplementing  the  original  discovery  of  Drake.  It  was  also  neces- 
sary to  deny  that  Gray  had  discovered  the  Columbia  River,  and  to  do 
this  it  was  claimed  that  the  entrance  of  the  river  by  him  was  but 
one  step  in  a  series;  that  the  discovery  was  a  successive  one,  partici- 
pated in  by  Heceta,  Meares,  Vancouver,  Gray  and  Broughton.  Brit- 
ain's claim  by  right  of  possession  was  based  upon  the  establishment, 
in  1805,  of  a  fort  on  Eraser  Lake  by  an  agent  of  the  Northwest 
Company,  and  the  purchase  by  the  same  company,  of  the  property  of 
the  Pacific  Eur  Company.  The  Northwest  Company  then  held  pos- 
session of  the  Columbia  region  by  means  of  forts  at  Astoria  and  other 
points  along  the  river.  With  these  rights  and  equities  on  both  sides, 
a  complete  surrender  by  either  was  impossible,  and  after  full  discus- 
sion a  treaty  of  joint  possession  for  ten  years  was  agreed  upon,  Octo- 
tober  20,  1818,  by  which  nominal  possession  of  Astoria  was  given  to 
the  United  States,  but  actual  possession  and  ownership  was  to  remain 
in  the  Northwest  Company.  **  By  this  act,''  says  Judge  Deady,  '*the 
two  high  contracting  parties  virtually  admitted  to  the  world,  that 
neither  of  them  had  any  perfect  or  acknowledged  right  to  any  countr>^ 
westward  of  the  Stony  Mountains,  or  that  at  most,  they  had  but  a 
claim  of  right  to  some  undefined  part  of  that  comparatively  imknown 
region.  This  convention,  apparently  acting  upon  the  admission  that 
neither  party  had  any  definite  right  to  the  countr\'  and  that  like  any 
other  unsettled  and  unowned  portion  of  the  globe  it  was  open  to  oc- 
cupation by  the  first  comer,  expressly  recognized  the  right  of  the 
people  of  both  nations  to  occupy  it,  for  the  time  being,  at  pleasure." 
Thus  was  sanctioned  that  occupation  of  the  countr\'  by  Great 
Britain  which  was  practically  commenced  in  1813  by  the  transfer 
of  the  property  and  business  of  the  Pacific  Eur  Company  to  the 
Northwest  Eur  Company;  and  from  that  date  until  the  government 
of  the  pioneers  was  established,  trade,  commerce  and  colonization 
were  decidedly  in  favor  of  Great  Britian.  The  English  sought  to  oc- 
cupy the  country  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  fur  trade  with 


24  History  of  Portland. 


the  natives.  It  was  to  be  kept  from  the  plough  and  the  sickle  and 
preserved  as  a  breeding  ground  for  fur-bearing  animals,  except  so 
far  as  the  limited  necessities  or  convenience  of  the  fur  traders  might 
otherwise  require.  For  several  years  the  Northwest  Fur  Company 
was  the  dominant  power  in  the  country.  Its  operations  were  con- 
ducted on  a  thorough  system  by  which  it  was  soon  developed  into  a 
powerful  and  wealthy  corporation.  All  its  managing  agents  were  in- 
terested partners,  who  naturally  did  their  utmost  to  swell  the  bus- 
iness. In  the  plenitude  of  its  power, — about  1818, — it  gave  employ- 
ment to  two  thousand  voyagers,  while  its  agents  penetrated  the 
wilderness  in  all  directions  in  search  of  furs.  Meanwhile  the  older 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  becoming  a  strong  competitor  for  the 
possession  of  the  fur  regions  of  Oregon.  The  struggle  for  suprem- 
acy became  ver>'  bitter.  The  two  companies  had  grown  too  large  to 
be  tolerant  of  each  other,  and  mutual  hostility  springing  out  of  a 
fierce  spirit  of  commercial  rivalr>'  finally  led  to  a  state  of  actual  war 
in  which  each  sought  to  destroy  its  competitor  by  actually  killing 
the  men  and  by  exciting  the  Indians  to  do  so.  Parliament  realizing 
the  precarious  state  of  affairs  put  an  end  to  the  bloody  feud,  in  1821, 
by  consolidating  the  rival  companies  under  the  name  of  *'The  Hon- 
orable Hudson's  Bay  Company."  By  this  measure  was  created  an 
organization  far  more  powerful  than  either  had  been  before,  and 
England  gained  a  united  and  potent  agent  for  the  advancement  of 
her  interests  in  America. 

A  short  time  prior  to  consolidation  the  Northwest  Fur  Company 
established  a  post  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Columbia,  some  miles 
above  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette,  which  was  christened  Fort  Van- 
couver. In  1823  the  headquarters  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
was  removed  from  Fort  George  (Astoria)  to  Fort  Vancouver,  the  lat- 
ter being  a  more  eligible  and  accessible  point  for  sea-going  vessels, 
and  the  center  and  natural  converging  point  of  trapping  parties  com- 
ing down  the  Columbia  from  the  vast  wilderness  to  the  east.  Here 
for  full  twenty  years  this  great  corporation  held  almost  undisputed 
sway.  It  had  its  factors,  agents,  traders,  voyagers  and  ser\'ants,  all 
working  in  perfect  hannony  to  advance  the  interests  and  increase  the 
powers  of  this  giant  monopoly,  and  to  destroy  every  competitor  who 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  25 


attempted  to  trade  with  the  natives  for  peltries  and  furs.  Its  policy 
was  one  of  uncompromising  hostility  toward  every  person  or  com- 
pany who  interfered  with  its  traffic,  or  who  questioned  its  exclusive 
right  to  trade  with  the  natives  within  the  territory  of  Oregon.  It 
had  at  the  time  the  treaty  of  1846  was  made,  twenty-three  forts 
and  trading  posts  judiciously  located  for  trading  with  the  Indians  and 
trappers  in  its  employ.  It  had  fifty-five  officers  and  five  hundred  and 
thirteen  articled  men  under  its  control,  all  working  together  to  main- 
tain its  supremacy  and  power.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  all 
of  its  servants  within  the  limits  of  Oregon  were,  moreover,  under  the 
prote<5ling  care  of  the  British  government.  Parliament,  at  an  early 
day  after  the  joint  occupation  of  the  country  commenced,  had  ex- 
tended the  colonial  jurisdi6lion  and  civil  laws  of  Canada  over  all 
British  subjects  within  the  disputed  territory.  Magistrates  were  ap- 
pointed to  administer  and  execute  those  law,  who  exercised  juris- 
diction in  civil  cases  where  the  amount  in  controversy  did  not  exceed 
jC200  sterling,  and  in  criminal  cases  the  same  magistrates  were  au- 
thorized to  commit  persons  accused  of  crime  and  send  them  to  Can- 
ada for  trial.  In  all  matters  of  mere  police  and  trade  regulation  the 
company  exercised  an  authority  as  absolute  as  that  of  the  Czar  of 
Russia,  and  flogging  was  a  common  punishment  which  any  officer 
from  the  governor  of  the  company  down  to  the  petty  clerk  of  a  trad- 
ing fort  might  inflict  upon  any  one  of  the  rank  and  file  of  employes. 
From  1823  to  1845  Dr.  John  McL^oughlin^  was  chief  factor  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  was, 
in  many  respects,  a  grand  character,  and  time  has  proven  how  just 

>  Hon.  WiUiam  H.  Rees,  an  Oregon  pioneer  of  1844,  and  personaUy  ac- 
quainted with  Dr.  McLoughlin.  in  an  address  before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Associa- 
tion in  1879,  said  of  him  :  **  Dr.  McI-rOUghlin  was  no  ordinary  personage.  Nature  had 
written  in  her  most  legible  hand  pre-eminence  in  ever>'  lineament  of  his  strong 
Scotch  face,  combining  in  a  marked  degree  all  the  native  dignity  of  an  intellectual 
jriant.  He  stood  among  his  pioneer  contemporaries  like  towering  old  Hood  amid 
the  evergreen  heights  that  surround  his  mountain  home — a  born  leader  of  men.  He 
would  have  achieved  distinction  in  any  of  the  higher  pursuits  of  life.  He  was  bom  in 
the  District  of  Quebec,  Canada,  in  1784,  of  Scotch  parentage,  reared  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Angelican  or  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  remained  a  member  until 
November,  1842.  At  that  date  he  became  connected  with  the  Catholic  Church,  of 
which  he  continuefl  a  devout  communicant  during  the  remaining  years  of  his   long 


26  History  of  Portland. 


was  his  exercise  of  almost  unlimited  power.  For  more  than  two 
decades  he  did  more  than  anyone  else  to  preserve  order,  peace  and 
good  will  among  the  conflicting  and  sometimes  lawless  elements  of 
population,  and  well  fitted  was  he  to  govern  both  by  fear  and  love. 
So  absolute  was  his  authority  that  prior  to  the  settlement  of  the 
Willamette  Valley  by  Americans,  no  legal  fonns  were  thought  nec- 
essary, except  such  as  made  by  the  company's  grants,  full  power  being 
given  to  the  chief  actor  and  council  to  tr\'  and  punish  all  offenders 
belonging  to  the  company  or  within  the  Hudson's  Bay  territor>'. 
Dr.  McLoughlin  settled  all  disputes,  and  the  Canadians  and  other 
servants  of  the  company  yielded  without  question  to  his  right  to 
judge  and  punish.  He  was  a  strict  and  stern  disciplinarian,  yet  his  use 
of  authority  was  rarely,  if  ever,  abused.  Purely  personal  interest 
would  have  led  him  to  throw  every  obstacle  in  his  power  in  the  way 
of  settlement  of  the  country  by  American  citizens,  but  his  kindness 
of  heart  would  not  pennit  him  to  refuse  aid  to  those  in  distress,  and 
the  early  American  emigrants  found  in  him  one  who  at  the  sacrifice 
of  his  own  interest  was  ever  ready  to  lend  them  assistance  and  pro- 
tection. His  humanity  in  this  regard  caused  him  to  be  misrepre- 
sented in  England  and  brought  him  into  so  much  disfavor  with  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  that  he  was  finally  compelled  to  resign  his 
position. 

It  has  been  deemed  necessary  thus  fully  to  describe  the  great 
power  and  firm  foothold  secured  in  Oregon  by  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  in  order  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  great  task  which 
lay  before  any  American  company  which  might  seek  to  compete  with 


and  eventful  life.  Dr.  McLoughlin  had  received  a  liberal  education  and  was  a  regu- 
lar bred  physician,  in  statue  above  six  feet,  weighing  some  250  pounds;  his  head 
was  large,  his  commanding  eye  of  a  bluish  gray,  a  fair  florid  complexion ;  his  hair 
had  been  of  a  sandy  color,  but  when  I  first  met  him  at  Vancouver,  in  the  fall  of 
1844,  then  sixty  years  of  age,  his  great,  luxuriant  growth  of  hair  was  white  as  snow. 
A  business  requiritig  a  residence  among  the  wild  native  tribes  necessarily  made  the 
regulations  governing  the  service  of  the  company  partake  more  of  the  martial  than 
the  civil  law.  Dr.  McLoughlin  was  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  in  his  bearing  decid- 
edly military  in  suggestion  ;  his  standard  of  honor  was  unviolated  truth  and  justice. 
The  strong  distinguishing  traits  of  his  character  were  true  courage,  a  clear,  quick 
perception  and  firm  reliance.  He  never  hesitated  in  taking  upon  himself  great 
responsibilities  when  in  his  judgment  occasion  required  it.     The  regulations  of  the 


Eari^y  History  of  Oregon.  27 


it  in  its  chosen  field.  Long  before  the  period  of  joint  occupancy  of  the 
territory  had  expired  British  control  had  become  well  nigh  complete. 
The  interest  of  the  United  States  had  not  been  promoted  in  any  way, 
except  as  already  stated  by  the  Florida  purchase  of  1819,  which 
carried  with  it  the  Spanish  title  to  the  territory  north  of  the  forty- 
second  parallel.  In  Congress,  however,  the  Oregon  question  was 
spasmodically  discussed  and  much  correspondence  passed  between  the 
two  governments.  The  United  States  urged  its  Spanish  title  as  its 
right  to  the  countr>'  by  original  discover\%  also  that  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  River  was  ours  by  dual  right  of  discovery  and  settlement, 
and,  therefore,  following  the  general  rule  which  had  been  observed 
by  European  nations  in  colonizing  America,  all  the  country  tributary 
to  the  river  and  its  confluents  was  also  subject  to  our  dominion. 
As  the  Columbia  sweeps  northward  to  the  fifty-third  parallel,  it  was 
urged  that,  by  this  title  alone,  the  government  had  undisputed  right 
to  the  whole  region  lying  between  the  forty-second  and  fifty-third 
parallels.  In  1820  Russia  asserted  exclusive  title  on  the  coast  from 
the  Arctic  Ocean  as  far  south  as  the  fifty-first  parallel ;  a  claim  which 
was  protested  by  both  England  and  the  United  States,  but  in  the  ne- 
gotiations which  followed,  the  Russian  title  was  fully  acknowleged 
by  both  governments,  as  far  south  as  fifty- four  degrees  and  forty 
minutes,  which  at  once  became  the  northern  limit  of  the  claim  of 
the  United  States. 

As  the  ten-year  period  of  joint  occupation  drew  to  a  close,  new 
commissioners  were  appointed  by  the  two  governments  to  effect  a  set- 
tlement of  title  to  the  disputed  territory',  but  after  much  discussion 

Hudson  Bay  Company  required  its  officers  to  give  one  year's  notice  of  their  intention 
to  quit  the  service.  This  notice  the  Doctor  gave  at  the  beginning  of  1845  and  the 
foUowing  year  established  himself  upon  his  land  claim  in  Oregon  City,  where  he  had 
already  built  a  residence,  large  flouring  mill,  saw  mills  and  store  houses.  Having 
located  his  land  claim  in  1829,  he  first  made  some  temporary  improvements  thereon 
in  1830.  These  enterprises  gave  to  the  pioneer  town  quite  a  business-like  appear- 
ance at  the  time  of  my  arrival  in  the  country,  and  employment  to  quite  a  goodly 
number  of  needy  emigrants.  The  Doctor's  religion  was  of  that  practical  kind  which 
proceeds  from  the  heart  and  enters  into  the  duties  of  every-day  life  ;  his  benevolent 
work  was  confined  to  no  church,  sect  nor  race  of  men,  but  was  as  broad  as  suffering 
humanity;  never  refusing  to  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked  and  provide  for  the 
sick  and  toil-worn  emigrant  and  needy  settler  who  called   for  assistance  at  his  old 


28  History  of  Portland. 


they  were  unable  to  agree  upon  a  boundar\'  line,  and,  in  1827,  a  new 
treaty  was  signed  extending  the  period  of  joint  occupation  indefinitely, 
to  be  terminated  by  either  party  upon  giving  one  year's  notice.  Thus, 
again,  the  settlement  of  the  question  was  left  to  time  and  chance. 

In  the  meantime  the  British  government,  through  the  agency  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  had  gained  a  tangible  foot  hold  in  Ore- 
gon by  actual  occupation,  and  so  strong  and  powerful  was  this  com- 
pany that  it  crushed  all  effort  at  competition.  A  few  American  fur 
traders  did  make  the  attempt  to  contest  the  field  with  the  great 
English  corporation,  but  through  lack  of  unity  of  purpose  and  com- 
bination of  capital  they  were  driven  to  the  wall.  The  first  of  these 
American  traders  was  J.  S.  Smith,  agent  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
Fur  Company,  who,  with  several  associates,  came  in  1825.  He  and 
his  party  were  attacked  by  the  Indians,  a  number  were  killed  and  the 
venture  proved,  in  ever>'  way,  unsuccessful.  Smith  was  followed  by 
a  second  party  of  American  trappers  led  by  Major  Pitcher.  They 
came  in  1828,  but  shared  the  same  fate  as  their  predecessors,  all  but 
three  of  them  being  murdered  by  the  Indians.  The  next  band  of 
American  trappers  was  led  by  Edwin  Young,  who,  a  few  years  later, 
became  one  of  the  first  and  most  energetic  settlers  in  Oregon.  In 
1831  the  old  American  Fur  Company,  which  had  been  so  long  man- 
aged by  Mr.  Astor,  established  trading  posts  in  Oregon,  at  which 
time  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fur  Company  was  also  operating  in  this 
field.  Strong  rivalr\'  sprang  up  between  the  two  companies,  which 
was  intensified  in  1833,  by  the  appearance  of  two  other  competitors  in 
the  persons  of  Captain  B.  L.  E.  Bonneville  and  Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth. 

Vancouver  home.  Many  were  the  pioneer  mothers  and  their  little  ones  whose  hearts 
were  made  glad  through  his  timely  assistance,  while  destitute  strangers,  whom 
chance  or  misfortime  had  thrown  upon  these  then  wild  inhospitable  shores,  were  not 
permitted  to  suffer  while  he  had  power  to  relieve.  Yet  he  was  persecuted  by  men 
claiming  the  knowledge  of  a  christian  experience,  defamed  by  designing  politicians, 
knowingly  misrepresented  in  Washington  as  a  British  intriguer,  until  he  was  unjustly 
deprived  of  the  greater  part  of  his  land  claim. 

Thus,  after  a  sorrowful  experience  of  man's  ingratitude  to  man,  he  died  an  hon- 
ored American  citizen,  and  now  sleeps  upon  the  east  bank  of  the  Willamette,  at 
Ch^gon  City,  in  the  little  yard  which  encloses  the  entrance  to  the  Catholic  Cathe- 
dral, beneath  the  morning  shadow  of  the  old  gray  clifiBs  that  overlook  the  pioneer 
town  of  the  Anglo-American  upon  the  Pacific  Coast  ;  here  resting  from  his  labors 


Early  History  of  Orkgon.  29 


Captain  Bonneville  was  a  United  States  anny  officer,  who  had  been 
given  permission  to  lead  a  party  of  trappers  into  the  fur  regions  of 
the  Northwest,  the  expedition  being  countenanced  by  the  government 
only  to  the  extent  of  this  permit.  His  object,  as  given  by  Irving, 
was:  '*  To  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  country,  and  the  In- 
dian tribes;  it  being  one  part  of  his  scheme  to  establish  a  trading 
post  somewhere  on  the  river  (Columbia),  so  as  to  participate  in  the 
trade  lost  to  the  United  States  by  the  capture  of  Astoria/'  He  and 
his  companions  were  kindly  received  by  an  officer  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  but  when  Captain  Bonneville  asked  for  supplies,  and 
his  heretofore  genial  host  was  made  aware  of  the  intention  to  found 
a  rival  trading  post  on  the  Columbia,  ^4iethen"  says  Bonneville,  **as- 
sumed  a  withered  up  aspect  and  demeanor,  and  observed  that,  how- 
ever he  might  feel  disposed  to  serve  him  personally,  he  felt  bound  by 
his  duty  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  to  do  nothing  which  should 
facilitate  or  encourage  the  visit  of  other  traders  among  the  Indians 
in  that  part  of  the  country." 

Bonneville  returned  home  without  establishing  a  post,  but  in  the 
following  year  again  visited  the  Columbia  River  country  with  quite 
a  large  force  of  trappers  and  mountain  men  and  an  extensive  stock  of 
goods  for  traffic  with  the  Indians.  But  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's 
officers  had  instructed  the  Indians  not  to  trade  with  the  new  comers, 
and  they  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  Americans.  Thus 
hemmed  in  and  unable  to  carry  on  trade  Bonneville  was  forced  to 
abandon  the  field  and  leave  the  English  company  practically  in  un- 
disputed possession. 

Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth,  a  Boston  merchant,  was  another  unsuccessful 
contestant  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  With  eleven  men  he 
made  the  trip  overland  to  Vancouver  in  1832.  But  he  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  lose  his  supply  ships  containing  all  of  his  goods  while  on 

within  the  ever  moaning  sound  of  the  mighty  cataract  of  the  beautiful  river,  while 
the  humble  stone  that  marks  his  grave  bears  this  simple  inscription  : 

Dr.  John  McLoughlin, 

DIED 

September  3rd,  1857,  Aged  73  Years. 
The  Pioneer  and  Friend  of  Oregon,  also  the  Founder  of  this  City. 


30  History  of  Portland. 


the  way  around  Cape  Horn,  and  thus  being  without  means  to  carrv* 
on  business  he  returned  east  Two  years  later  he  organized  the  Col- 
umbia River  Fishing  and  Trading  Company,  with  a  view  of  contin- 
uing operations  on  the  Pacific  Coast  under  the  same  general  plan  that 
had  been  outlined  by  Astor,  adding,  however,  salmon  fishing  to  the 
fur  trade.  Despatching  the  brig  Mary  Dacres  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  loaded  with  necessary  supplies,  he  started  overland  with 
sixty  experienced  men.  Near  the  headwater  of  Snake  River  he  built 
Fort  Hall  as  an  interior  trading  post,  and  on  Wapatoo  Island  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  he  established  Fort  Williams.  Like  his 
predecessor,  Bonneville,  he  found  the  Indians  completely  under  the 
control  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  it  was  impossible  to  establish 
business  relations  with  them.  This  fact,  including  a  scarcity  of  sal- 
mon in  the  Columbia  River  for  two  successive  seasons,  as  well  as 
ungenerous  treatment  on  the  part  of  his  own  countrymen  engaged  in 
the  fur  trade,  induced  him  in  a  spirit  of  retaliation  upon  the  Ameri- 
can traders,  after  an  experience  of  three  years,  to  sell  Fort  Hall  to 
the  British  Company. 

The  two  rival  American  fur  companies  were  consolidated  in  1835, 
as  the  American  Fur  Company.  To  this  company  and  to  a  few  in- 
dependent American  trappers,  after  the  retirement  of  Bonneville  and 
Wyeth,  was  left  the  work  of  competing  with  the  English  corporation. 
For  a  few  years  the  unequal  struggle  was  continued,  but  eventually 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  almost  wholly  absorbed  the  trade. 

While  we  have  been  tracing  the  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the 
American  fur  traders  to  gain  a  foothold  in  Oregon,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  it  was  not  the  first  effort  after  the  failure  of  the  Astor 
party  to  secure  the  occupation  of  the  countr\'  by  American  settlers. 
As  early  as  1817,  Hall  J.  Kelley,  of  Boston,  began  to  advocate  the 
immediate  occupation  of  the  Oregon  territory.  He  became  an  en- 
thusiast upon  the  subject  and  spent  his  time  and  considerable  money 
in  promoting  a  scheme  for  emigration  to  the  country.  In  1829  he 
procured  the  incorporation,  by  the  connnonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 
of  *  *  The  American  Society  for  the  Settlement  of  the  Oregon  Terri- 
tor\'.''  This  society  presented  a  memorial  to  Congress  in  1831,  set- 
ting forth  that  it  was  '*  engaged  in  the  work  of  opening  to  a  civilized 


Early   History  of  Orkoon.  31 

population  that  part  of  Western  America  called  Oregon."  The 
memoralist  state  that:  **They  are  convinced  that  if  the  country  should 
be  settled  under  the  auspices  of  the  United  States  of  America,  from 
such  of  her  worthy  sons  who  have  drunk  the  spirit  of  those  civil  and 
religious  institutions  which  constitute  the  living  fountain  and  the  ver>' 
perennial  source  of  her  national  prosperity,  great  benefits  must  result 
to  mankind.''  They  further  stated:  **  that  the  country  in  question 
is  the  most  valuable  of  all  the  unoccupied  portions  of  the  earth," 
and  designed  by  Providence  **  to  be  the  residence  of  a  people  whose 
singular  advantages  will  give  them  unexampled  power  and  pros- 
perity." 

Congress,  however,  busy  with  other  political  abstractions  did  not 
even  take  the  time  to  investigate  or  in  any  way  encourage  this 
scheme  of  colonization.  In  fa<5l  the  condu<5l  of  the  national  legisla- 
ture all  through  the  early  struggle  for  the  acquisition  of  the  Oregon 
territory  was  halting  and  dilatory;  and  had  Congress  been  solely 
relied  upon,  Oregon  might  have  became  a  dependency  of  Great  Britain. 
The  society,  however,  having  constituted  Mr.  Kelley  its  general 
agent,  continued  its  eflforts  despite  the  indifference  of  Congress.  In 
1831,  Mr.  Kelley  published  a  pamphlet  entitled:  **A  General  Circular 
to  all  Persons  of  Good  Character  who  wish  to  Emigrate  to  the  Oregon 
Territory,"  which  set  forth  the  general  objedls  of  the  society.  The 
names  of  thirty-seven  agents  are  given  in  the  pamphlet,  from  any  of 
whom  persons  desiring  to  become  emigrants  to  Oregon  under  its 
auspices  might  obtain  the  proper  certificate  for  that  purpose.  These 
agents  were  scattered  over  the  Union.  One  of  them  was  Nathaniel 
J.  Wyeth,  whose  unfortunate  fur  and  fishing  ventures  have  been 
related.  The  expedition  was  to  start  from  St  Louis  in  March,  1832, 
with  a  train  of  wagons  and  a  supply  of  stock.  Each  emigrant  was 
to  receive  a  town  and  farm  lot  at  the  junction  of  the  Columbia  and 
Multnomah  Rivers  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  former,  where  seaports 
and  river  towns  were  already  platted. 

But  the  scheme  bore  no  immediate  fruit.  The  failure  of  Congress 
to  take  any  action  in  the  matter  destroyed  its  force  as  an  organized 
eflfort,  and  only  two  of  its  original  promoters,  Mr.  Kelley  and  Mr. 
Wyeth  ever  visited  the  scene  of  the  proposed  colony.     Nevertheless 

[9] 


32  History  of  Portland. 


the  agitation  of  the  project  brought  the  countrj'  favorably  before 
the  public,  and  here  and  there  set  certain  special  forces  and 
interests  in  motion,  which  in  due  time  materially  aided  the  consum- 
mation for  which  Mr.  Kelley  and  Mr.  Wyeth  so  devoutly  wished 
and  so  long  labored.  Although  their  efforts  proved  financial  fail- 
ures they  were  not  without  results  conducive  to  American  occupa- 
tion. Several  of  the  persons  who  accompanied  Wyeth  as  well  as 
those  who  came  with  Kelley,  remained  and  were  the  beginning  of 
the  independent  American  settlers  in  the  country'. 

Among  them  were  the  well  known  names  of  Edwin  Young, 
James  A.  O'Neil,  T.  J.  Hubbard,  Courtney  M.  Walker  and  Solomon 
Smith,  all  of  whom  afterwards  exerted  a  positive  influence  in 
favor  of  American  interests.  There  were  also  two  men  of  French 
descent — Joseph  Gervais  and  Etienne  Lucier,  who  had  come  out  with 
Wilson  P.  Hunt's  party  and  whose  sympathies  were  American.  All 
told,  in  1835,  aside  from  the  missionaries,  there  were  about  twenty- 
five  men  in  Oregon  who  were  favorable  to  the  United  States. 

To  Wyeth's  expedition  must  also  be  given  the  credit  of  bringing 
the  first  missionaries  to  Oregon.  In  his  supply  ship,  the  Mary 
Dacresy  came  Rev.  Jason  Lee,  Rev.  David  Lee,  Cyrus  Shephard  and 
P.  L.  Edwards.  They  were  sent  out  by  the  missionary'  society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  establish  mission  stations  among 
the  Indian  tribes  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Thev  established  the  first 
station  in  Oregon  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  about  ten  miles  below 
where  Salem  now  stands.  Their  professed  object  in  coming  to  the 
country,  as  may  be  said  of  those  of  other  religious  denominations 
who  followed  them,  was  purely  a  religious  one — to  convert  the 
Indians  to  the  christian  faith — rather  than  to  occupy  the  countr>'  and 
establish  therein  an  American  community.  They  were  not  the  sort 
of  men  who  ordinarily  develop  the  resources  of  a  countr>',  but  a 
combination  of  circumstances  ultimately  made  them  of  great  advan- 
tage to  the  early  pioneers  and  of  great  benefit  to  the  countr>\  The 
missionary  stations  they  established  became  points  for  future  Amer- 
ican settlement  and  trade.  When  they  found  their  missionary 
labors  among  the  Indians  were  attended  with  but  scanty  harvest, 
the  secular  spirit   became  strong,  and   gradually  the   desire   grew 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  33 


among  them  to  become  a  permanent  colony  rather  than  remain 
mere  sojourners  among  the  Indians.  **  Before  long,"  says  Judge 
Deady,  **  they  began  to  build  and  plant  as  men  who  regarded  the 
country  as  their  future  home.  They  prospered  in  this  world's  goods 
and  when  the  emigration  came  flowing  into  the  country  from  the 
west,  they  found  at  the  Willamette  Mission,  practically  an  American 
settlement,  whose  influence  and  example  were  favorable  to  order, 
industry,  sobriety  and  economy,  and  contributed  materially  to  the 
formation  of  a  moral,  industrious  and  law-abiding  community  out  of 
these  successive  waves  of  unstratified  population." 

The  effective  force  of  the  Methodist  Missions  was  increased  from 
1834  to  1840  by  the  arrival  of  Rev.  A.  F.  Waller  and  wife,  Rev.  G. 
Hines  and  wife.  Rev.  L.  H.  Hudson  and  wife,  George  Abemethy  and 
wife,  H.  Campbell  and  wife,  and  Dr.  J.  L.  Babcock  and  wife.  Most 
of  those  named  came  in  1840  by  sea,  around  Cape  Horn.  By  their 
arrival  the  character  of  the  Mission  underwent  somewhat  of  a  change. 
It  assumed  more  of  the  character  of  a  religious  community  or  associa- 
tion, than  of  simple  missionaries,  actuated  by  the  zeal  of  its  founders 
to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  They  saw  the  necessity  of 
devoting  more  of  their  time  to  the  interest  and  welfare  of  the  white 
settlers  than  to  the  Indians.  They  began  to  look  upon  the  country 
as  an  inviting  one  for  settlement,  for  trade,  for  commerce,  and  to 
make  permanent  homes  for  themselves  and  their  children.  Schools 
were  established  and  churches  were  built  by  them,  and  thus  a  nucleus 
for  a  colonial  settlement  was  created,  which  in  later  years  was  of 
essential  benefit  to  the  community  at  large. 

The  Methodist  missionaries  were  followed  by  Presbyterian  min- 
isters, in  1837,  who,  sent  out  by  the  American  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  came  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  remained  among  the 
Indians  east  of  the  Cascade  Mountains.  At  their  head  was  Dr. 
Marcus  Whitman,  who  took  up  his  residence  among  the  Cayuse  In- 
dians at  Wailatpu,  in  the  Walla  Walla  Valley.  His  co-laborers  were 
Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  and  W.  H.  Gray,  who  were  stationed  among 
the  Nez  Perces  Indians,  at  Lapwai,  and  among  the  Flatheads  at 
Alpona.  The  first  two  brought  their  wives  with  them,  they  being 
the  first  women  who  crossed  the  plains.      Two  years  later   Rev. 


34  History  ok  Portland. 

Gushing  Eells  and  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker  and  their  wives  established 
another  mission  among  the  Spokane  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Colville.  Of  these  missionaries  Dr.  Whitman  was  the  one  at  this 
time  most  thoroughly  alive  to  the  importance  of  securing  Oregon  as 
an  American  possession  against  the  claims  of  Great  Britain.  He  was 
intensely  American  in  all  his  feelings;  a  man  of  indomitable  will  and 
perseverance  in  whatever  he  undertook  to  accomplish,  whom  no 
danger  could  daunt  and  no  hardship  could  deter  from  the  perform- 
ance of  anv  act  which  he  deemed  it  a  dutv  to  discharge.  Grav 
gave  up  the  mission  work  in  1842  and  settled  in  the  Willamette 
Valley,  and  was  one  of  the  most  active  supporters  of  American  inter- 
ests, and  a  determined  promoter  of  the  organization  of  the  provisional 
government. 

In  1838  the  Roman  Catholics  entered  the  field.  The  representa- 
ters  of  this  church  leaned  to  British  interests,  and  made  their  headquar- 
ters at  Vancouver.  Their  influence  and  teachings  among  the  people 
were  naturally  in  favor  of  the  authority  and  interest  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company.  They  discouraged  the  early  attempt  at  the  fonnation 
of  a  government  by  American  settlers  in  the  country-,  but  submitted  to 
it  when  established.  They  pursued  their  missionary-  labors  zealously 
throughout  the  entire  region  dominated  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, and  founded  subordinate  missions  in  many  widely  separated 
localities.  Between  them  and  the  Protestant  missionaries  bitter  hos- 
tility soon  sprang  up,  and  the  ignorant  savage  was  pulled  hither  and 
hither  and  given  to  understand  that  he  was  the  bone  of  contention 
between  the  two  religions,  the  representatives  of  each  declar- 
ing by  word  and  deed  that  the  other  was  false.  In  the  work  of 
proselyting  the  Catholics  were  the  more  successful,  and  the  Protestant 
missions,  as  such,  were  discontinued  within  ten  years. 

The  Catholic  missionaries  devoted  their  time  not  only  to  the  In- 
dians, but  ministered  to  the  Canadian  French,  who,  after  lea\4ng  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  settled  in  the  Willamette  Valley  and  on  the 
Cowlitz.  The  Willamette  Falls  was  selected  by  the  company  in  1829 
as  a  place  of  settlement  for  its  retired  servants.  It  had  previously  been 
the  policy  of  the  company  not  to  permit  settlements  to  be  made  b>' 
their  servants  whose  tenn  of  service  had  expired,  since  they  deemed 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  35 


such  settlements  detrimental  to  the  preservation  of  the  region  as  a 
fur-producing  wilderness.  But  the  company  was  bound  under  heavy 
penalties  not  to  discharge  any  of  its  servants,  even  after  they  could 
render  no  service,  and  was  therefore  forced  to  provide  homes  for  them 
where  they  could  to  a  degree  be  self-supporting.  They  were  still 
retained  on  the  company's  books  as  its  servants,  and  still  inclined,  as 
British  subjects,  to  uphold  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  country  where  they  lived.  The  settlement  at  Willam- 
ette Falls  did  not  prosper,  and  a  few  years  later  it  was  abandoned. 
The  ex-servants  then  located  near  Champoeg,  in  Marion  County,  and 
became  quite  a  flourishing  colony,  and  there  their  descendants  live  to 
the  present  day,  useful  and  industrious  citizens. 

At  the  close  of  1837  the  independent  population  of  Oregon  con- 
sisted of  forty-nine  souls,  about  equally  divided  between  Missionary 
attaches  and  settlers.  With  but  few  exceptions,  the  arrivals  during 
the  next  two  years  were  solely  of  persons  connected  with  the  various 
Missions  whose  advent  has  already  been  noted.  The  settlers  who 
followed  then  were  moved  by  no  religious  incentive.  Some  were 
independent  trappers  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  who  had  become 
enamored  of  the  beautiful  Willamette  valley,  and  had  come  here  to 
settle  down  from  their  life  of  danger  and  excitement.  Some  of 
them  were  sailors,  who  had  concluded  to  abandon  the  sea  and  dwell 
in  this  land  of  plenty,  while  still  others  were  of  that  restless,  roving 
class,  who  had  by  one  way  and  another,  reached  this  region  in 
advance  of  the  waves  of  emigration  which  swept  into  it  a  few  years 
later.  Including  the  arrivals  of  1840,  among  whom  were  Dr. 
Robert  Newell  and  Joseph  L.  Meek,  there  were  in  the  Fall  of  that 
year  (exclusive  of  the  officers  and  employees  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company),  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  Americans  in  Oregon, 
nearly  all  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  about  one-third  of  whom  were 
connected  with  the  Missions  in  some  capacity.  There  were  also  sixty 
Canadian  settlers,  former  employees  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
who  had  left  the  service  of  the  company  and  settled  in  the  Willamette 
Valley,  and  who  eventually  cast  the  weight  of  their  influence  on 
the  side  of  the  independent  American  settlers,  as  those  unconnected 
with  either  of  the  Missionary'  societies  or  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
were  called. 


36  History  of  Portland. 


Up  to  1839,  the  only  law  or  government  administered  in  this 
region,  was  the  rule  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  but  in  that 
year,  deeming  that  there  should  be  some  authority  that  settlers 
would  respect,  the  Methodist  Missionaries  appointed  two  persons  to 
act  as  magistrates.  This,  the  independent  settlers  acquiesced  in, 
although  it  had  been  done  without  their  co-operation  or  consent. 
So  far  as  the  latter  class  were  concerned  they  were,  through  the  inat- 
tention and  neglect  of  Congress,  absolutely  without  government  or 
laws  of  any  kind.  The  Missionaries  had  rules  and  regulations 
established  by  themselves  which  governed  them  in  their  social 
intercourse  with  each  other,  and  united  them  in  a  common  cause  for 
their  mutual  protection.  But  the  independent  settlers  had  not  even 
that  security  for  their  lives  or  their  property.  By  their  own  gov- 
ernment, which  ought  to  have  thrown  around  them  its  protecting 
care,  they  were  treated  literally  as  political  outcasts,  nor  was  Con- 
gress unaware  of  their  condition.  On  January  28,  1839,  Hon. 
Lewis  F.  Linn,  one  of  the  United  States  Senators  from  Missouri, 
and  the  most  zealous  and  indefatigable  champion  of  the  American 
settlers  in  Oregon  and  of  the  claims  of  the  United  States  to  the  Oregon 
Territory',  presented  to  the  Senate  a  petition  of  J.  L.  Whitcomb 
and  thirty-five  other  settlers  in  Oregon,  which  in  simple  and  touch- 
ing language  set  forth  the  conditions  of  the  countr>',  its  importance 
to  the  United  States,  its  great  natural  resources  and  necessity  of 
civil  government  for  its  inhabitants.  The  settlers  thus  plead  with 
the  Nation's  Representatives: 

''We  flatter  ourselves  that  we  are  the  germ  of  a  great  State, 
and  are  anxious  to  give  an  early  tone  to  the  moral  and  intellectual 
character  of  our  citizens — the  destiny  of  our  posterity  will  be 
intimately  affected  by  the  character  of  those  who  emigrate.  *  *  * 
But,  a  good  community  will  hardly  emigrate  to  a  countrj*  which 
promises  no  protection  to  life  or  property.  *  *  *  *  \Y'e  can 
boast  of  no  ci\H[l  code.  We  can  promise  no  protection  but  the 
ulterior  resort  of  self  defense.  *  *  *  *  \Y'e  do  not  presume  to 
suggest  the  manner  in  which  the  countr\'  should  be  occupied  by  the 
government,  nor  the  extent  to  which  our  settlement  should  be 
encouraged.  We  confide  in  the  wisdom  of  our  national  legislators 
and  leave  the  subject  to  their  candid  deliberations." 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  37 


The  petition  concluded  by  urging  the  necessity  of  assumption  of 
jurisdiction  of  the  territory  by  the  United  States,  and  of  the  inaugu- 
ration of  energetic  measures  to  secure  the  execution  of  all  laws 
aflfecting  Indian  trade  and  the  intercourse  of  white  men  and  Indians. 
*'  The  security''  said  the  petitioners,  **of  our  persons  and  our  prop- 
erty, the  hopes  and  destinies  of  our  children,  are  involved  in  the 
objects  of  our  petition." 

This  petition  was  read,  laid  on  the  table  and  neglected.  In 
June,  1840,  Senator  Linn  again  presented  a  memorial  signed  by 
seventy  citizens  of  Oregon,  praying  Congress  to  extend  Federal  juris- 
diction over  the  territory,  in  which  the  government  was  warned 
that  the  countr>'  is  too  valuable  to  be  lost,  that  attempts  were  being 
made  by  the  rival  nations  to  reduce  it  to  possession,  and  that  appear- 
ances indicated  British  intent  to  hold  exclusively  the  territory  north 
of  the  Columbia.  Then  modestly  invoking  the  attention  of  Con- 
gress to  the  region  because  of  its  national  importance,  they  concluded 
with  this  patriotic  prayer:  *  *  Your  petitioners  would  beg  leave  especially 
to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  to  this,  our  condition  as  an  infant 
colony,  without  military  force  or  civil  institutions  to  protect  their 
lives  and  property  and  children,  sanctuaries  and  tombs,  from  the 
hands  of  uncivilized  and  merciless  savages  around  them. 

**  We  respectfully  ask  for  the  civil  institutions  of  the  American 
Republic — we  pray  for  the  high  privileges  of  American  citizen- 
ship; the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  life;  the  right  of  acquiring,  possess- 
ing and  using  propert}'  and  the  imrestrained  pursuits  of  rational 
happiness." 

This  memorial,  like  the  preceding  one,  was  laid  on  the  table  and 
forgotten  by  a  majority'  of  the  Senators  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 
Senators  Linn  and  Benton  almost  alone  remained  the  true  and  tried 
friends  of  Oregon.  The  former,  during  three  tenns  of  Congress  had 
not  only  introduced  and  urged  consideration  of  bills  for  the  purpose  of 
extending  the  jurisdiction  and  laws  of  the  United  States  over  the  ter- 
tor\'  of  Or.egon,  but  had  also  urged  the  passage  of  bills  granting  do- 
nations of  the  public  lands  in  Oregon  to  citizens  who  had  settled 
there.  He  did  not  live  to  see  the  measures  he  had  so  zealously  ad- 
vocated become  laws,  but  eight  years  after  his  death  the  legislative 


I 


38  History  of  Portland. 


Assembly  of  Oregon,  in  a  spirit  of  gratitude  and  out  of  aflfectionate 
regard  for  his  memor>'  gave  his  name  to  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
productive  counties  in  the  territor>\ 

Why  Congress  suflfered  the  petitions  of  the  settlers  in  Oregon  to 
He  unheeded,  why  it  failed  to  protect  them  by  extension  of  laws  over 
the  territory,  as  the  English  government  had  done  for  British  sub- 
jects, must  remain  a  matter  of  conjecture.  But  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  at  this  time,  in  the  judgment  of  many  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  day,  Oregon  was  regarded  as  valueless  and  unpractical  for 
American  settlement  Statesmen  and  publicists  had  been  wont  to 
speak  derisively  of  the  idea  that  American  civilization  would  press 
westward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  secure  a  foot  hold  on  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific.  Among  the  first  recognition  on  the  part  of 
Congress  of  such  a  country  as  Oregon,  which  occurred  in  1825,  on 
the  introduction  of  a  bill  by  Mr.  Floyd,  of  Virginia,  **  authorizing 
the  occupation  of  the  Oregon  river,"  Senator  Dickinson,  of  New 
York,  assailed  the  measure  in  a  sarcastic  speech  in  which  he  claimed 
that  it  would  never  become  a  State,  that  it  was  4650  miles  from  the  seat 
of  the  Federal  Government,  and  that  a  young  and  able-bodied  senator 
might  travel  from  Oregon  to  Washington  and  back  once  a  year,  but  he 
could  do  nothing  more.  He  closed  his  speech  with  the  remark:  '*as 
to  Oregon  Territory-,  it  can  never  be  of  any  pecuniary  advantage  to 
the  United  States," — a  conclusion  which  subsequent  events  and  the 
present  situation  and  prosperity-  of  the  State  prove  him  to  have 
been  little  of  a  sage  and  a  miserable  failure  as  a  prophet  As  late  as 
1843,  when  Senator  Linn's  bill  was  introduced  in  the  senate  of  the 
United  States,  providing  for  granting  land  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Oregon  Territory^  a  senator  said,  in  the  discussion  of  the  bill:  "  For 
whose  benefit  are  we  bound  to  pass  this  bill  ?  Why  are  we  to  go 
there  along  the  line  of  military^  posts  and  take  possession  of  the 
only  part  of  the  territory^  fit  to  occupy — that  part  lying  upon 
the  sea  coast,  a  strip  less  than  a  hundred  miles  in  width  ;  for,  as  I 
have  already  stated,  the  rest  of  the  territory  consists  of  mountains 
almost  inaccessible,  and  low  lands  covered  with  stone  and  volcanic 
remains  ;  where  rain  never  falls  except  during  the  spring,  and  even 
upon  the  coast  no  rain   falls   from  April  to  October,  and  for  the 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  39 

remainder  of  the  year  there  is  nothing  but  rain.  Why,  sir,  of  what 
use  will  this  be  for  agricultural  purposes?  I  would  not  for  that 
purpose  give  a  pinch  of  snuflf  for  the  whole  territory.  I  would  to 
God  we  did  not  own  it.  I  wish  it  was  an  impassible  barrier  to  secure 
us  against  intrusion  of  others.  This  is  the  character  of  the  country." 
This  extract  will  give  an  idea  how  dense  was  the  ignorance  concern- 
ing Oregon  less  than  half  a  century  ago  by  a  man  presumptively  of 
more  than  average  reading  and  information. 

But  a  new  force  was  about  to  appear  on  the  scene  that  was  to 
demonstrate  the  falsity  of  the  ideas  held  by  many  pretentious  and 
assuming  statesmen;  that  was  to  prove  that  the  3,500  miles  of  land 
lying  between  the  nation's  capital  and  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
could  be  traversed  by  the  ordinary  means  of  conveyance ;  that 
was  to  settle  the  question  of  America's  right  to  the  country,  and  force 
Congress  to  extend  the  protection  and  blessings  of  our  form  of 
government  over  all  the  great  country  lying  between  the  two  oceans. 
It  was  the  home-seeking  emigrants,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
flocks  and  herds,  who  in  wagon  trains  began  to  make  the  long 
pilgrimage  across  the  plains.  This  movement,  on  the  basis  of  any 
magnitude  did  not  begin  until  after  1840.  Then  began  that  steady 
stream  of  young,  vigorous  life  which  has  annually  flowed  into  Oregon 
for  nearly  half  a  century,  the  end  of  which  will  not  be  seen  for  many 
years.  Deep  causes  existed,  which  moved  this  living  stream  to  force 
its  way  across  rocky  barriers  and  arid  plains.  Very  naturally  the 
movement  began  in  the  region  then  known  as  the  West,  and  had  its 
greatest  strength  in  Missouri,  Illinois  and  Iowa.  Trappers  returning 
to  St  Louis  had  sung  the  praises  of  the  lovely  and  fertile  valley  of 
Willamette,  where  winter  was  unknown  and  the  grass  remained  green 
all  the  year  round.  The  Western  frontiersmen  caught  up  the  refrain 
as  it  passed  from  cabin  to  cabin,  and  in  a  few  years  the  tale  was  an 
old  one  to  the  pioneers  of  the  West.  The  panic  of  1837  and 
the  consequent  stagnation  of  business,  had  produced  a  feeling  of 
despondency  in  the  West,  and  especially  in  the  States  named  where 
there  was  no  market  for  stock  or  produce;  where  credit,  public  and 
private  was  destroyed,  and  a  large  number  of  persons  were  looking 
anxiously    about  for   means  of   subsistence.     This   state   of  things 


40  History  of  Portland. 


helped  very  much  to  turn  the  public  attention  to  Oregon.  More- 
over, the  publication  of  a  book  by  Dr.  Parker,  a  missionary  who 
visited  Oregon  in  1835,  a  historical  and  descriptive  work  by  John 
Dunn,  of  the  charming  narratives  of  Bonneville  and  Astoria  by 
Washington  Irving,  and  of  a  letter  written  by  Robert  Shortess,  who 
had  come  out  in  1839,  were  well  calculated  to  fill  the  minds  of  the 
romantic  and  adventurous  with  an  interest  in  the  country  and  a 
desire  to  make  the  marvelous  journey  across  the  plains. 

Moved  by  the  impulses  just  recited,  the  first  regular  emigration 
began  the  long  journey  to  Oregon  in  the  Spring  of  1841.  It  con- 
sisted of  one  hundred  and  eleven  persons.  In  the  Fall  of  the  same 
year,  twenty-three  families  from  the  Red  River  settlement  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  came  out  and  settled  on  Cowlitz  Prairie, 
some  of  them  locating  later  in  the  Willamette  Valley.  These  were 
brought  out  as  an  offset  to  the  American  settlers,  but  they  were  too 
few  in  numbers  to  stem  the  tide  setting  Americanward,  and  were 
overwhelmed  by  the  American  emigration  of  the  next  few  years. 

In  1842,  the  first  regular  emigrant  wagon  train  started  for 
Oregon,  consisting  of  sixteen  wagons  and  one  hundred  and  nine 
people.  No  wagon  wheel  had  ever  cut  the  sod  of  the  country  over 
which  they  proposed  to  go,  and  the  region  through  which  they 
must  pass  was  practically  unknown  as  a  route  for  wagons.  With 
infinite  difficulty  the  party  advanced  as  far  as  the  old  trapping  ren- 
dezvous on  Green  River,  where  half  of  the  wagons  were  dismantled. 
The  other  half  were  taken  as  far  as  Fort  Hall  on  Snake  River,  where 
they  were  abandoned,  owing  to  the  deep-rooted  belief  that  wagons 
could  not  be  taken  through  the  Snake  River  Canyon  and  Blue 
Mountains.  In  the  train  was  Dr.  Elijah  White,  who  had  spent  three 
years  in  Oregon  in  connection  with  the  Methodist  Mission,  and  had 
now  secured  the  appointment  of  Indian  Agent  for  the  region  West 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Among  others  were  the  well  remem- 
bered names  of  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  L.  W.  Hastings,  Medorum  Crawford, 
J.  R.  Robb,  F.  X.  Matthieu,  Nathan  Coombs,  T.  J.  Shadden,  S.  W. 
Moss  and  J.  L.  Morrison,  all  of  whom  deserve  to  be  placed  in  the 
front  rank  of  Oregon's  pioneers.  Lovejoy  was  a  lawyer  from  Boston 
— the  first  lawyer  in  the  colony — and    was   prominent  in  its   affairs 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  41 


for  the  next  twenty  years,  while  Crawford  afterwards  held  various 
positions  of  honor  and  trust  under  the  National  and  State  govern- 
ments. 

The  year  1842  also  witnessed  the  first  successful  attempt  at 
independent  trade  in  Oregon.  In  July  of  that  year,  Captain  John 
H.  Couch  brought  the  ship  Chenamus  into  the  Willamette  River 
with  a  cargo  of  goods  from  Boston,  which  he  placed  on  sale  at 
Willamette  Falls.  Prior  to  this  event  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
and  the  Mission  had  a  monopoly  of  the  mercantile  business  in 
Oregon.  Couch  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  country-  that  he  gave 
up  the  sea  and  settled  in  it.  Couch's  addition  to  the  city  of  Port- 
land is  built  upon  the  land  claim  taken  up  by  him  in  1845. 

Wherever  the  American  citizen  goes  he  carries  with  him  the 
great  fundamental  principle  of  representative  democratic  govern- 
ment, and  no  better  example  of  this  great  fact  can  be  cited  than 
the  conduct  of  the  early  settlers  of  Oregon.  Hardly  had  the  first 
pioneers  erected  a  shelter  from  the  inclemency  of  the  season,  when, 
tnie  to  their  American  instincts,  they  missed  and  at  once  desired  to 
supply  the  protection  afforded  by  civil  institutions.  Too  weak  for 
self-government,  naturally  they  turned  to  the  United  States  Congress 
to  supply  their  first  necessity.  Their  petition  of  1838,  is  an 
admirable  argument  for  the  principle  that  good  order  can  only  be 
assured  by  a  **well  judged  civil  code."  In  1840,  they  eloquently 
lamented  that  they  were  without  protection  which  law  secured. 
Their  appeals  ignored  by  their  government,  they  turned  to  themselves, 
to  each  other,  and  at  once  agitated  the  question  of  establishing  a 
temporary  government 

The  first  effort  looking  toward  the  organization  of  a  civil  govern- 
ment was  made  in  1841,  at  Champoeg,  which  at  the  time  was  the 
seat  of  the  principal  settlement  in  the  Willamette  Valley.  It  origi- 
nated among  the  members  of  the  Methodist  Mission,  and  for  that 
reason  did  not  have  the  cordial  support  of  the  independent  settlers. 
The  movement  failed,  and  although  several  causes  contributed  to 
this  result,  the  main  reason  was  the  unpopularity  of  its  chief  pro- 
moters among  those  Americans  disconnected  with  the  missions.  At 
this  time,  says  an  early  pioneer,  the  people  of  Oregon  were  divided 


42  History  of  Portland. 


into  two  great  divisions  with  reference  to  their  allegiance — citizens 
of  the  United  States  and  subjects  of  the  British  sovereign.  Among 
the  people  there  were  three  classes — the  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,  who  were  considered  the  aristocratic  English  class;  the 
missionaries,  who  were  regarded  as  the  American  aristocrats,  while 
the  third  class  was  composed  of  the  ** common  people"  of  both 
nationalities,  who  refused  to  accept  the  social  position  assigned  to 
them.  Thus  jealousies  and  prejudices  were  engendered,  which 
required  time,  association  and  a  feeling  of  mutual  dependence  to 
obliterate. 

During  the  year  1842  the  subject  of  establishing  a  civil  govern- 
ment continued  to  be  agitated  by  the  members  of  the  Methodist 
Mission.  They  invited  their  fellow  residents  of  foreign  birth  to  join 
them  in  the  work  as  they  had  done  in  1841,  but  were  met  with  per- 
sistent refusal.  Although  these  eflforts  of  the  missionaries  proved 
utter  failures,  yet  the  independent  settlers  were  by  no  means  discour- 
aged or  despondent ;  they  merely  waited  for  a  convenient  opportunity 
to  take  the  matter  into  their  own  hands.  This  occurred  in  February, 
1843,  when  a  meeting  was  called  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
measures  to  protect  the  herds  of  the  settlers  from  the  depredations  of 
wild  animals,  but  actually  the  object  of  the  meeting  was  more  for  the 
purpose  of  concerting  measures  for  the  formation  of  some  kind  of  civil 
government.  At  this  meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  to  give 
notice  to  the  people  that  another  meeting  would  be  held  in  March ; 
and  fearing  that  a  full  attendance  would  not  be  secured  unless  the 
object  was  one  in  which  all  had  a  common  interest,  it  was  not  dis- 
closed that  any  action  was  intended  except  to  devise  means  to  rid  the 
country  of  destructive  animals.  At  the  March  meeting  the  real  pur- 
pose was  revealed  by  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  providing  '*  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  take  into  consideration  the  propriety  of 
taking  measures  for  the  civil  and  military'  protection  of  the  colony." 
This  committee  composed  of  Dr.  J.  L.  Babcock,  Dr.  Elijah  White, 
James  A.  O'Neil,  Robert  Shortess,  Robert  Newell,  Etienne  Lucier, 
Joseph  Gervais,  Thomas  J.  Hubbard,  John  McKay,  W.  H.  Gray, 
Solomon  Smith  and  George  Gay,  agreed  upon  a  plan  of  government, 
and  called  a  general  meeting  of  the  citizens  at  Cliampoeg,  May  2, 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  43 


to  consider  their  report.  At  this  meeting  the  report  of  the  committee, 
after  much  canvassing,  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  52  yeas  to  50 
nays.  Before  adjourning,  the  meeting  set  the  new  government  in 
motion  by  electing  a  Supreme  Judge,  sundry  subordinate  officers,  and 
a  Legislative  Committee  of  nine  persons,  namely  :  Robert  Moore, 
Robert  Shortess,  Alanson  Beers,  Thomas  J.  Hubbard,  Wm.  H.  Gray, 
James  A.  O'Neil,  Robert  Newell,  David  Hill,  and  William  P. 
Dougherty,  to  prepare  and  report  the  necessary  laws  for  the  new  gov- 
ernment, to  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people  on  the  5th  of  July. 
This  first  Legislative  Committee  duly  performed  the  work  assigned, 
and  articles  of  compact  and  a  code  of  laws,  were  ratified  by  the  peo- 
ple in  convention  assembled  on  the  day  named.  The  following 
preamble  to  the  organic  law  states  fully  and  clearly  the  object  which 
animated  the  settlers,  viz. : 

"  We,  the  people  of  Oregon  Territory,  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  protection,  and 
to  secure  peace  and  prosperity  among  ourselves,  agree  to  adopt  the  following  laws 
and  regulations,  until  such  time  as  the  United  States  of  America  extend  their  juris- 
diction over  us." 

The  bill  of  rights  adopted  guaranteed  all  the  great  safeguards  of 
individual  liberty,  freedom  of  conscience,  the  habeas  corpus  and  trial 
by  jury.  The  duty  of  encouraging  morality,  religion  and  knowledge 
by  the  support  of  schools  was  recognized.  Good  faith  to  the  Indians 
was  to  be  observed,  and  the  territory  was  forever  dedicated  to  freedom 
by  the  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  1789.  The  executive  power  was 
reposed  in  an  Executive  Committee  of  three,  two  of  whom  were  a 
quorum.  The  law-making  power  was  continued  in  the  Legislative 
Committee  of  nine,  and  a  judiciary  constituted,  consisting  of  a 
Supreme  Court,  Probate  Court  and  justices  of  the  peace.  A  whole 
system  of  laws  was  adopted  in  the  most  original  manner.  Certain 
laws  and  parts  of  laws  of  Iowa  were  declared  to  be  the  statute  laws 
of  Oregon  by  the  mere  recital  of  the  act  by  title,  or  the  section  of  the 
act,  giving  the  page  quoted.  A  land  system,  militia  law  and  other 
necessary  measures  were  duly  adopted.  The  finances  of  the  govern- 
ment were  provided  for  by  the  unique  and  very  original  plan  of 
private  subscription.     Not  only  did  the  pioneers  deem  the  consent  of 


44  History  of  Portland. 

the  governed  an  essential  thing,  but  each  citizen  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  saying  how  much  he  would  contribute,  how  much  restraint 
he  would  tolerate  by  becoming  a  part  of  the  government. 

Thus,  while  Oregon  was  claimed  and  partially  occupied  by  the 
British,  a  government  was  begun  that,  in  fonn  and  spirit,  was  purely 
American.  It  was  this  act  on  the  part  of  the  American  residents  in 
Oregon  which  settled  the  question  of  our  right  to  the  countr>%  and 
won  back  for  the  United  States  the  title  to  the  disputed  territory, 
which  national  diplomacy  had  well  nigh  lost.  The  attention  of  the 
whole  countr>^  was  soon  directed  to  the  little  republic,  which  the 
American  pioneer  had  established  on  the  Pacific,  and  none  of  the 
public  men  now  thought  of  surrendering  the  country^  to  the  control  of 
Great  Britain,  while  a  great  political  party  at  its  national  convention,  in 
1844,  declared  out  title  to  Oregon  to  be   **  clear  and  unqiiestioned. " 

Every  step  leading  up  to  the  establishment  of  provisional  gov- 
ernment was  opposed  by  the  influence  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany and  the  British  subjects  generally,  although  chief  factor,  Mc- 
Loughlin,  was  ready  to  enter  into  a  compact  or  domestic  treat}'^  for 
the  regulation  and  adjustment  of  all  points  of  dispute  or  difference 
which  might  spring  up  among  the  residents;  indeed  they  admitted 
that  it  was  time  to  establish  some  rules  based  upon  public  opinion, 
decidedly  expressed,  for  the  maintenance  of  good  order  and  individual 
rights,  but  they  felt  apprehensive  for  themselves  and  their  interests 
in  placing  extensive  law-making  power  in  the  hands  of  a  legislative 
body  composed  of  men  actuated  by  a  desire  to  secure  the  territor>' 
as  a  possession  of  the  United  States.  This  feeling,  the  organ- 
izers of  the  provincial  government  finally  overcame,  by  wise  and 
pnident  conservatism  and  consistent  democratic  recognition  of  man- 
hood, regardless  of  nativity,  and  all  the  settlers  in  Oregon,  whether 
American  citizens  or  British  subjects,  were  soon  iinited  in  hearty 
support  of  the  new  government. 

Before  the  close  of  1843  some  eight  hundred  emigrants  poured 
into  Oregon.  The  causes  which  had  prompted  the  immigrations  of 
1841  and  1842  had  become  more  potent  and  widespread  than  ever  in 
1843.  Senator  Linn  was  pressing  his  **  Oregon  Bills ''  upon  the  at- 
tention of  Congress,  one  of  which  provided  for  the  donation  of  public 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  45 


lands  to  all  who  might  settle  in  Oregon, — his  idea  being  that  a 
liberal  immigration  alone  coiild  be  relied  upon  to  win  the  Co- 
lumbia for  the  United  States,  and  that  special  indiicements  should  be 
offered  to  those  brave  and  hardy  pioneers,  who  must  constitute  the 
nation's  line  of  battle  on  the  frontier.  The  emigrant  train  of  this 
year  was  the  first  to  come  the  entire  distance  in  wagons  and  demon- 
strated the  long  disputed  fact  that  the  moiintains,  deserts  and  can- 
yons could  be  passed  by  the  wagon  of  the  emigrant. 

The  pioneers  of  1843  stood  pre-eminent  among  the  early  settlers, 
The  greatei:  number  of  them  were  pioneers  by  nature  and  occupation, 
as  their  fathers  had  been  before  them.  In  childhood,  the  story  of  their 
ancestors'  migrations  from  the  east  to  the  west,  and  then  to  the  newer 
west,  was  their  handbook  of  history.  They  were  ''home  builders'' 
in  the  texture  of  their  mental  constitution  and  most  of  them  cared 
little  for  the  amenity  of  polite  society.  Among  them  were  Jesse, 
Charles  and  Lindsey  Applegate,  Peter  H.  Burnett,  Daniel  Waldo, 
John  and  Daniel  Holman,  J.  W.  Nesmith  and  many  others '  who,  in 
later  years,  left  the  impress  of  their  personality  upon  the  formative 
p)eriod  of  Oregon's  history. 

The  immigration  of  1844  amounted  to  some  eight  hundred  per- 
sons, and  its  general  character  did  not  differ  materially  from  that  of 
the  preceding  and  subsequent  years.  From  the  account  of  one  who 
came  with  the  immigration  of  this  year,  we  are  told  that  it  was  com- 
posed for  the  most  part  of  **  frontiersmen  who  kept  in  advance  of  the 
settlements,  emanating  from  the  southern  rather  than  the  eastern 
States.  There  were  men  in  it  from  all  the  States  east  and  north, 
perhaps,  and  individuals  from  nearly  all  \he  countries  of  western 
Europe,  but  the  largest  number  traced  their  origin  to  the  Scotch  cov- 
enanters who  had  settled  in  Virginia,  Georgia  and  North  Carolina." 
The  immigration  of  1845  was  still  larger  than  that  of  either  the  two 
preceding  years,  containing  about  3,000  persons.  It  was  largely  from 
Iowa.  Fiilly  two  thousand  persons  constituted  the  immigration  of 
1846,  only  one  half  of  whom  remained  in  Oregon,  the  remainder  go- 
ing to  California.  In  1847  above  three  thousand  were  added  to  the 
population  and  an  equal  number  during  the  following  year,  so  that 
at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  territorial  government  in  1848 
there  was  a  population  of  about  15,000  in  the  country. 


46  History  of  Portland. 


After  the  influx  of  the  immigration  of  1843  and  1844,  the  com- 
mittee government  of  the  former  year  was  found  insufiicient  for  the 
population.  A  stronger  government  was  needed.  At  the  session  of 
the  legislative  committee,  June,  1844,  several  modifications  were 
made,  a  special  election  on  three  amendments  was  ordered,  and  they 
were  ratified  by  a  majority  of  203  votes,  to  take  effect  after  the  first 
Tuesday  in  June,  1845.  By  this  change  was  created  the  ofiice  of 
Governor,  in  lieu  of  the  Executive  Committee,  conferring  upon  the 
office  veto  power  instead  of  submitting  laws  to  popular  vote,  while 
the  legislative  committee  of  nine  was  superceded  by  a  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, consisting  of  not  less  than  thirteen  and  not  more  than 
sixty-one  members.  This  form  of  government,  as  amended  in  1845, 
existed  until  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  was  extended  over 
the  territory. 

George  Abemethy,  whose  arrival  in  the  territory  has  been  already 
mentioned,  was  elected  Governor  under  the  remodeled  government, 
in  1846,  and  was  annually  elected  by  popular  vote  until  the  provisional 
government  ceased  to  exist.  Medorum  Crawford,  a  pioneer  of  1842, 
says  of  him:  **  As  a  missionary  he  was  consistent  and  conscientious; 
as  a  business  man,  he  was  honorable,  enterprising  and  liberal;  as  a 
a  governor,  he  was  patriotic,  efficient  and  unselfish.  And  for  this 
he  deserves  the  respect  of  the  pioneers  and  honorable  mention  in  the 
history  of  Oregon."  Another  distinguished  pioneer  has  left  the  fol- 
lowing tribute  to  his  worth  and  character:  '*  George  Abemethy,  an 
intelligent  christian  gentleman,  unassuming,  indisposed  to  court  pop- 
ular favor,  with  strong  common  sense,  and  a  desire  to  do  his  duty 
conscientiously  and  quietly,  was  the  right  man  for  the  occasion,  and 
whatever  prejudice  may  assert  to  the  contrary,  it  was  fortunate  for 
the  colony  that  just  such  a  person  could  be  had  to  fill  the  highest 
and  most  responsible  position  in  the  pioneer  government''  A  mass 
of  concurrent  testimony  could  be  given  to  prove  that  the  foregoing 
was  the  general  verdict  of  the  pioneers  who  lived  under  his  admin- 
istration. He  was  not  a  great  man,  but  that  he  was  good,  pure  and 
patriotic,  truthful  history  must  record.  He  died  in  the  city  of  Port- 
land, May  3,  1877,  where  he  had  long  resided. 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  47 


The  provisional  government  was  admirably  adapted  to  meet  the  ex- 
igencies of  the  times  and  the  condition  of  the  people.  It  commanded 
the  support  of  all  citizens  without  distinction,  and  so  thorough  was 
the  confidence  of  the  people  **in  the  integrity  of  those  who  admin- 
istered it/'  says  Judge  Thornton,  *'  that  it  was  strong  without  either 
an  army  or  navy,  and  rich  without  a  treasury.  Property  was  safe; 
schools  were  established  and  supported;  contracts  were  enforced; 
debts  were  collected,  and  the  majesty  of  the  law  vindicated  in  a  man- 
ner that  proved  that  the  government  was  able  and  efficient,  because 
the  people  confided  in  the  patriotism,  wisdom  and  ability  of  those 
who  administered  it,  and  of  course  the  people  were  prosperous  and 
happy.'' 

Perhaps  the  most  severe  test  of  energy  and  power  the  provisional 
government   endured   was   the  prosecution   of  the   war  against  the 
Indians  which  commenced  in  the  depth  of  the  winter  of  1847-8.     On 
the  29th  of  November,   1847,  the   Cayuse   Indians  murdered   Dr. 
Whitman  and  associates  at  Wailatpu  and   the  country  east  of  the 
Cascade  Mountains  was  abandoned  by  all  the  American  missionaries 
and  settlers.       Here  was  a  most  appalling  situation.       The  danger  of 
an  uprising  of  all  the  Indians  of  the  Columbia  was  imminent,  and 
there  were  enough  of  them  to  overwhelm  the  settlement  in  the  Wil- 
lamette Valley.     To  avert  this  it  was  necessary  to  punish  the  Indians 
promptly.       In  thirteen  days  from  the   receipt   at   Oregon  City  of 
information  of  the  massacre,  a  force  of  fifty  armed  men  under  Col.  J. 
W.  Nesmith  was  in  possession  of  the  mission  station  at  the  Dalles  of 
the  Columbia  River,  having  marched  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  in  the  inclement  month  of  December.       At  the  same  time 
a  regiment  of  fourteen  companies  was  recruited  and  equipped,  iipon 
the  faith  of  the  provisional  government,  and  moved  to  the  front 
After  a   campaign   of  several   months,  in   which  two  battles  were 
fought,  the  Cayuses  were  driven  entirely  out  of  their  country,  nor 
were  they  permitted  to  occupy  it  again  in  peace  until  they  delivered 
up  five   of  the  guilty  ring-leaders  who   were   tried,  convicted  and 
executed  at  Oregon  City.     Thus  the  government  of  the   pioneers, 
without  aid  from  the  United  States,  quickly  and  efficiently  avenged 
the  murder  of  American  citizens,  and  in  doing  this  ''there  was," 


48  History  of  Portland. 


says  ex-Gov.  Curry,  in  an  address  before  the  Pioneer  Association,  **a 
display  of  energy  and  power  which  would  be  regarded  as  remarkable 
in  the  operations  of  any  government,  but  in  one  so  new  and 
inexperienced  as  that  of  the  pioneers  of  Oregon,  it  must  be  proof 
eminently  satisfactory  as  to  the  ability  and  efficiency  of  it,  that  it 
was  not  only  one  in  name,  but  a  government  formed  in  the 
esteem  and  sustained  by  the  will  and  majesty  of  the  people." 

In  the  work  of  the  pioneers,  whose  efforts  we  have  been  tracing 
up  to  this  period,  we  have  seen  that  already  the  country  was  practi- 
cally the  territory  of  the  United  States  by  the  highest  and  best  title 
in  existence,  the  actual  occupation  and  control  of  it  by  her  citizens. 
This  question  was,  therefore,  virtually  settled  by  the  inauguration  of 
the  provisional  government  in  1843,  but  from  that  time  until  the 
treaty  of  1846  was  signed  it  was  a  prominent  issue  in  American 
political  life.  Mr.  Polk,  the  democratic  candidate  for  President, 
made  his  campaign  on  a  party  platform,  which  declared  that  our  title 
to  the  whole  of  Oregon  up  to  fifty-four  degrees  and  forty  minutes 
north  latitude  was  *' clear  and  indisputable."  Negotiations  were 
promptly  resumed  after  the  inauguration  of  President  Polk,  but  the 
government  elected  upon  a  pledge  to  support  and  maintain  the  claim 
of  the  United  States  up  to  the  latitude  of  fifty-four  degrees  and  forty 
minutes,  abandoned  its  position  and  made  the  offer  of  a  line  on 
parallel  forty-nine,  which  Great  Britain  at  once  accepted,  with  a 
modification  that  all  of  Vancouver  Island  should  be  left  in  British 
territory-.  A  treaty  on  this  basis  was  concluded  and  ratified  June 
15,  1846,  whereby  the  long  disputed  question  of  title  and  joint 
occupancy  was  settled.  This  acknowledgment  of  the  American 
claim  to  Oregon  was  only  a  tomial  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the 
long  contest  for  the  occupation  of  the  country  had  tenninated  in 
favor  of  the  Oregon  pioneers. 

The  news  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  was  received  in  Oregon 
with  feelings  which  plainly  indicated  the  importance  of  the  measure. 
Joint  occupancy,  that  uncertain  tenure  by  which  power  was  held, 
was  at  an  end.  Threatened  troubles  with  the  Indians  in  Eastern 
Oregon,  before  mentioned,  now  made  the  people  anxious  that  Con- 
gress should  pass  an  act   extending   territorial   government  over  the 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  49 


country.  To  this  end  they  put  forth  every  endeavor.  That  the 
provisional  government  might  be  represented  at  Washington  by  a 
prominent  and  influential  citizen,  who  would  make  known  to  the 
President  and  to  Congress  the  exposed  condition  of  the  people,  and  to 
ask  the  necessary  legislation  to  protect  them  from  threatened  danger. 
Gov.  Abernethy  sent  Hon.  J.  Qiiinn  Thornton,  the  Supreme  Judge  of 
the  provisional  government.  Judge  Thornton  arrived  in  Boston  in 
May,  1848,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  Washington,  not  as  a  delegate,  but 
rather  as  an  embassador  from  the  little  provisional  government,  to 
the  national  government  at  Washington.  In  the  meantime  the  Whit- 
man massacre  had  occurred  and  the  citizens  were  thrown  into  a  state 
of  mingled  grief  and  alarm.  Joseph  L.  Meek  was,  thereupon,  sent 
as  a  messenger  to  Washington  under  the  sanction  of  the  provisional 
legislature,  to  impart  the  intelligence,  impress  the  authorities  with 
the  precarious  condition  of  the  colony  and  appeal  for  protection. 
The  intelligence  brought  by  Meek,  as  well  as  his  individual  efforts, 
did  much  to  aid  Mr.  Thornton  and  the  friends  of  Oregon  in  Congress 
in  securing  the  desired  legislation. 

The  most  enthusiastic  and  helpful  friend  Oregon  had  at  Wash- 
ington at  this  time  was  Senator  Benton,  who  for  twenty  years  had 
supported  every  measure  that  promised  to  advance  American  interest 
on  this  part  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  With  all  his  wonderful  energy  and 
ability  this  eminent  man  now  labored  to  secure  territorial  govern- 
ment in  Oregon.  The  bill  creating  the  territory^  drafted  by  Judge 
Thornton,  contained  a  clause  prohibiting  slavery,  and  for  this  reason 
was  objectional  to  the  slave-holding  power  in  Congress.  Under  the 
lead  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  John  C.  Calhoun,  a  vigorous  fight  against 
the  bill  was  made  in  the  Senate.  The  contest  during  the  last  two 
days  of  the  session  was  exciting  in  the  extreme  and  the  feeling  intense 
throughout  the  Union.  The  friends  of  the  measure,  however, 
under  the  lead  of  Senator  Benton,  finally  triumphed  and  on  August 
13,  1848,  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  and  a  few  hours  later  became 
a  law  by  the  signature  of  President  Polk.  The  region  specified  in 
this  act  as  Oregon  Territor>'  embraced  all  of  the  present  States  of 
Oregon  and  Washington,  and  those  portions  of  Idaho  and  Montana 
lying  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 


50  History  of  Portland. 


One  of  the  provisions  of  the  territorial  act  was  that  it  recognized 
the  validity  of  the  provisional  government  and  the  laws  passed  by  it, 
and  declared  that  they  should  remain  in  force  until  altered  or  repealed; 
and  the  officers  of  the  government  were  authorized  to  exercise  and 
perform  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices  until  their  successors 
should  be  elected  and  qualified.  No  higher  tribute  could  have  been 
paid  to  the  fitness  of  Americans  for  self  government  than  this  rati- 
fication of  all  the  essential  laws  and  acts  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment of  Oregon,  which  had  been  made  and  executed  by  the  pioneer 
settlers  for  more  than  four  years.  It  was  the  judgment  of  the  whole 
nation,  expressed  by  her  representatives,  that  Americans  could  be 
trusted  to  plant  the  standard  of  freedom,  and  to  welcome  under  its 
flag  all  friends  of  human  rights. 

President  Polk  appointed  General  Joseph  Lane,  of  Indiana,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  new  territory.  He  was  a  man  of  great  executive  ability. 
His  brilliant  services  in  Mexico  had  made  him  a  popular  hero,  and 
earned  for  him  the  title  of  the  **  Marion  of  the  Mexican  War.''  He 
immediately  started  for  his  new  field  of  duty,  and  on  the  3d  day  of 
March,  1849,  the  last  day  of  Polk's  administration,  he  issued  his 
proclamation  assuming  the  government.  On  the  same  day  Governor 
Abemethy  turned  over  to  the  new  governor  the  records  of  the  pro- 
visional government,  **  and  so,"  says  Bancroft,  '*  without  any  noise 
or  revolution  the  old  government  went  out  and  the  new  came  in. 
The  provisional  government  was  voluntarily  laid  down  as  it  had 
voluntarily  been  taken  up.  It  was  an  experiment  on  the  part  of  the 
American  people,  who  represented  in  this  small  and  isolated  commu- 
nity, the  principles  of  self  government  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the 
republican  sentiment  supposed  to  underlie  the  Federal  Union  by 
which  a  local  population  could  constitute  an  independent  State,  and 
yet  be  loyal  to  the  general  government." 

The  act  organizing  the  territory  of  Oregon  will  ever  be  memorable 
in  our  national  history  for  two  reasons:  First,  because  of  the  pro- 
visions for  public  education  which  granted  the  sixteenth  and  thirty- 
sixth  section  in  each  township  and  forever  dedicated  their  proceeds 
as  an  irreducible  fund,  the  interest  of  which  should  be  devoted  to 
public  schools.      This  was  a  grant  twice  as  large  as  that  of  1787, 


Early  History  of  Oregon.  51 


which  had  previously  been  the  precedent  observed  by  Congress  in 
creating  territories  out  of  the  public  domain.  The  act  of  1848  now 
became  the  precedent  and  has  ever  since  been  observed.  It  gave  to 
the  original  territory  of  Oregon  over  16,000  square  miles  of  land  for 
public  schools,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  grant  of  more  than 
26,000,000  acres  in  the  nine  States,  including  Oregon,  admitted  to 
the  Union  since  1848.  The  idea  of  this  magnificent  donation,  which 
will  be  of  inestimable  value  to  future  generations,  originated  with 
Judge  Thornton  who  framed  the  section  in  the  territorial  act,  and 
who  zealously  labored  to  overcome  the  opposition  it  encountered  at 
Washington.  It  was  the  inauguration  of  a  liberal  national  policy  in 
behalf  of  free  education  which  shoiild  give  imperishable  fame  to  its 
author,  a  distinguished  representative  of  the  Oregon  pioneers. 

The  other  fact  which  marks  the  creation  of  Oregon  Territory  as 

a  grand  and  inspiring  event  was  the  clause  relating  to  the  entire  and 

absolute  exclusion  of  chattel  slavery.       This  was  in  accord  with  the 

general  wish  of  the  pioneers.     Their  new  empire  on  the  Pacific;  their 

toil  to  win  it;  their  test  of  self  government,  all  bore  the  seal  of  liberty. 

In  piitting  slavery'  under  perpetual  ban  in  Oregon  the  whole  region 

From  the  Rocky  Moimtains  to  the  Pacific,  was  under  pledge  for  the 

x^ghts  of  man  regardless  of  color  or  race. 

Thus  briefly  have  we  attempted  to  summarise  the  leading  events 
i  n  Oregon,  from  the  time  of  the  first  explorations  along  the  Pacific 
Coast  till,  under  the  strong  hand  of  the  whole  nation,  it  rose  from  the 
"Xveakness  of  a  hiimble  colony  of  adventurers  to  the  rank  and  power 
of  a  co-ordinate  member  of  the  American  Union.  The  event  which 
'^he  old  pioneers  had  so  long  waited  and  hoped  for  had  come  and  they 
"vrere  no  longer  counted  exiles  on  a  doubtful  domain,  but  rightful 
Cellow  heirs  and  owners  of  the  country. 

That  the  United  States  is  indebted  to  the  pioneers  for  the  confinn- 
^tion  of  its  title  to  the  American  possessions  west  of  the  Rocky 
fountains,  will,  perhaps,  never  be  questioned.  To  the  pioneer  is  due 
5ill  the  honor  mankind  willingly  gives  to  the  founders  of  States  and 
the  creators  of  civilization  in  savage  lands.  But  that  these 
^ere  the  motives  which  led  to  the  colonization  of  Oregon,  as  some 
i^^riters  have  intimated,  is  contradicted  by  patent  facts  and  contrary-  to 
common  sense.     The  early  emigrants  did  not  undertake  the  toilsome 


52  History  of  Portland. 


journey  across  the  plains  in  the  face  of  dangers  and  privations 
animated  by  a  patriotic  desire  to  save  this  land  to  the  United  States 
and  plant  the  banner  of  republican  liberty  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 
For  the  most  part  they  were  men  of  limited  means  who  sought  a 
country  where  the  restraints  of  civil  and  social  institutions  would 
press  less  hard  upon  individual  freedom,  and  who  in  their  plain  way 
would  have  answered  an  inquiry  for  their  motive  in  coming  west  with 
the  common  response  that  they  had  come  to  better  their  fortunes  and 
in  order  that  their  children  might  **grow  up  with  the  country." 
They  were  actuated  by  the  same  strong  courage  that  has  character- 
ized the  enterprising  frontiersmen  in  all  our  States.  Circumstances 
called  them  to  act  a  part  which,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  is 
shown  to  have  been  of  the  utmost  importance,  securing  to  their 
country  dominion  over  a  vast  empire. 

If,  however,  they  did  not  come  with  an  inspiration  as  absorbing 
as  that  which  moved  the  old  crusaders,  it  was  one  far  more  intelli- 
gent— ^an  inspiration  to  seize  the  golden  moments  when  peacefully, 
with  their  small  means,  they  might  possess  themselves  of  homes, 
where  prudence  and  economy  after  some  discipline  of  pioneer  hard- 
ship and  privation  would  be  sure  of  just  rewards,  and  where  ample 
means  for  the  nurture  and  education  of  their  children  should  be 
within  the  reach  of  every  industrious  citizen.  Animated  by  high 
purposes  they  laid  the  foundations  of  this  commonwealth  in  industry, 
frugality  and  the  domestic  virtues,  and  their  descendants  who  enjoy 
all  the  blessings  of  their  toils  and  privations,  their  trials  and  danger, 
will  hold  them  in  loving  remembrance. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  work  it  is  unnecessar\'  to  follow  the 
further  steps  of  these  State  builders,  whose  priidence,  loyalty  and 
courage  saved  Oregon  to  the  Union.  In  the  fullness  of  time  Oregon 
was  decked  with  the  honors  of  Statehood  under  the  same  perpetual 
dedication  to  equal  rights  and  universal  liberty  for  which  its  founders 
had  so  nobly  battled.  Its  people  may  well  take  pride  in  the  State, 
whether  they  contemplate  it  simply  in  its  own  greatness,  or  in  com- 
parison with  other  States.  In  the  main  its  record  is  a  clear  one, 
bearing  upon  it  few  marks  that  one  would  care  to  erase.  It  has  been 
steadily  advancing  with  strong  and  even  pace,  and  has  more  than 
kept  good  the  wonderful  promise  of  its  earliest  years. 


Position  and  Advantages.  53 


CHAPTER  II. 

position  and  advantages  of  PORTLAND. 

The  Modem  City — A  More  Perfect  Adaptation  to  Human  Wants — Value  of  the 
Records  of  Such  a  City  as  Portland — Geographical  Position — At  the  Intersection  of 
the  Great  Natural  Lines  of  Travel  and  Commerce  of  the  Northwest  Pacific  Coast — 
Topography — Extent  and  Beauty  of  Surface — Natural  Advantages  for  Commerce,  for 
Manufacturing,  for  Residence — ^The  Natural  Center  of  the  North  Pacific  Coast. 

ALTHOUGH  of  a  different  order,  the  history  of  the  modem  city 
should  be  no  less  interesting  than  that  of  an  ancient  metropolis 
like  Jerusalem  or  Athens.     It  treats  no  less  of  human  endeavor,  and 
no  less  segregates  and  epitomizes  human  life.     If  that  in  which  men 
busy  themselves,  and  that  which  they  produce  is  anywhere,  or  at  any 
time,  calculated  to  attract  attention  and  demand  investigation  and 
analysis,  why  not  here  in  Oregon,  on  the  banks  of  the  Willamette,  as 
'Well  as  five  to  ten  thousand  miles  away,  in  Spain  or  in  Turkey? 

Unlike  the  ancient  or  medieval  city,  it  does  not  embrace  within 
its  walls — in  fact,  boasting  no  walls — the  whole  life  and  history  of  a 
j)eople.     The  Roman  Empire  without  Rome  would  be  like  Hamlet 
"^thout  Hamlet.      But  America  without  New  York  City  would  still 
\ye  America,  lacking  only  some  million  and  a  half  of  people.     In  our 
snodem  life  the  process  of  civil  and  social  organization  has  gone  so 
"Car  that  the  center  of  supreme  interest  is  in  the  whole  confederation, 
in  the  whole  national  life,  or  broadly,  in  the  people  themselves,  and 
:xiot  restricted  to  any  one  locality,  individual  or  race.     It  would,  there- 
:ibre,  be  impossible  to  discover  in  any  one  American  city  a  civil  or 
apolitical  principle  apart  from  that  of  the  surrounding  country.      Fur- 
thermore, the  motives  or  inducements  that  led  to  the  building  of  a 
«ty  in  bygone  times  were  unlike  those  of  the  present.     Then  a  town 
"was  established  by  a  tribe  who  first  believed,  or  soon  assumed  that  all 
its  members  had  a  common  descent  from  some  hero,  or  some  patri- 
arch, or  from  some  divinity,  who  was  still  patron  and  guardian.    They 
threw  around  themselves  the  walls  of  a  city  in  order  to  be  secure  from 
dispersion  and  from  intermixture  with  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  to 
have  a  place  where  they  might  cultivate  their  own  religion,  practice 
their  own  customs,  celebrate  their  own  festivals,  and  rear  their  children 


54  History  of  Portland. 

in  their  own  traditions.  For  this  purpose  they  chose  a  secure  retreat, 
where  they  might  easily  put  up  fortifications,  and  cover  the  approaches 
by  forts  or  walls.  A  cliff,  a  peak,  or  some  huge  rock,  commended 
itself  to  their  purposes.  Jerusalem  was  set  upon  a  high  hill  sur- 
rounded by  mountains.  The  Acropolis  in  Athens,  a  rocky  eminence 
with  level  top  and  steep  sides,  was  the  site  of  the  original  city.  At 
Rome  the  Tarpeian  Rock  and  kindred  heights  fixed  the  site  of  the 
mistress  of  the  world.  The  termination  **  Tun,''  or  **  Ton ''  (Town), 
of  many  cities  throughout  England  signifies  a  rock  or  bluff,  and  the 
'*  Burg''  of  the  Germans  has  a  kindred  meaning;  all  going  to  show 
how  the  people  in  old  times,  and  almost  to  the  present,  were  accus- 
tomed to  look  around  for  a  hill  or  crag  as  a  site  for  their  tribal  or 
family  seat.  Round  about  these  bluffs  and  hilltops  the  cities  grew. 
Those  cities  which  were  successful  gained  in  population  by  simple 
natural  increase,  or  by  means  of  raiding  of  other  tribes  and  bringing 
in  captives,  who  were  set  to  work  upon  the  outlying  fields,  in  the 
shops,  in  erecting  fortifications,  or  in  constructing  royal  palaces.  Free 
migration  was  practically  unknown;  for,  although  the  citizens  of  one 
city  might  go  on  military  or  commercial,  or  occasional  literar>'  excur- 
sions to  other  places,  it  was  unusual  for  them  to  abjure  their  rights 
in  their  native  seat,  or  to  acquire  privileges  elsewhere.  The  ancient 
city  was  a  social  aggregation  which  had  its  origin  in  an  intense  tribal 
idea,  dominating  religion  and  controlling  social  life,  naturally  allying 
itself  to  a  military  type,  since  only  by  force  of  arms  could  its  existence 
be  preserved  or  its  dominion  be  extended.  Commerce  was  a  second- 
ary or  even  more  remote  consideration,  and  the  free  exchange  of 
residence  was,  with  few  exceptions,  impossible. 

How  unlike  all  this  is  a  modem  American  town!  A  city  here  is 
but  a  spot  where  population  is  more  dense  than  elsewhere.  The 
residents  claim  no  blood  relationship,  have  no  common  traditions  or 
religion,  and  seek  its  limits  only  from  eligibility  of  life.  The  wants 
of  commerce  or  manufacturing  chiefly  determine  its  site,  while  all  the 
uses  and  advantages  of  existence  add  their  interest.  There  is  absolutely 
no  compulsion,  either  of  ancestr>',  religion,  tradition,  social  or  political 
necessity;  or  fear  of  death,  slavery,  or  loss  of  standing,  or  of  wealth, 
impelling  an  American  to  live  in  one  corporation  rather  than  another, 


Position  and  Advantages.  55 


or  to  forsake  the  fields  for  the  city.  The  arm  of  law  rests  over  each  of 
the  seventy  million  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  and  upon  every 
acre  of  the  national  domain.  Upon  the  high  seas  also,  and  in  fact, 
in  almost  every  part  of  the  world,  every  American  feels  the  potent 
protection  of  the  flag  of  his  country.  Residence  is  therefore  simply 
a  matter  of  personal  choice.  One  suits  his  place  of  abode  to  his 
business,  to  his  aim  in  life,  or  to  his  physicial  or  moral  necessity.  If 
his  object  be  the  acquisition  of  wealth  he  goes  where  he  can  get 
money  fastest.  If  he  have  some  special  field  of  labor,  as  invention, 
art,  or  literature,  he  seeks  that  center  which  affords  him  the  highest 
advantages.  Some  are  guided  to  a  choice  by  a  religious  or  philan- 
thropic mission  to  which  they  have  deemed  themselves  called. 
Multitudes  have  no  other  incentive  than  an  eagerness  for  amusement, 
or  excitement,  or  the  attraction  of  noise,  and  the  exhiliration  of 
being  in  a  large  place.  The  motive  which  impels  the  moving  crowd 
on  the  street  to  press  as  near  as  possible  to  the  scene  of  an  accident  or 
of  excitement  causes  the  more  mercurial  in  the  community  to  betake 
themselves  to  a  large  city  in  order  to  be  near  the  animating  events  of 
the  time  as  they  occur.  But  without  exhaustive  enumeration,  it 
need  only  be  remembered  that  whether  the  motive  of  residence  be 
grave  or  trifling,  it  is  wholly  free,  and  accordant  with  the  aims  and 
uses  of  the  individual  life. 

The  growth  of  the  city  in  our  times  is  therefore  much  more  than 
of  old  an  accommodation  to  human  wants  and  needs.  Although  the 
purpose  to  live  in  a  certain  municipality  may,  in  many  cases,  spring 
from  sordidness,  in  any  case  the  choice  is  made  from  some  sort  of 
personal  attraction  which  frequently,  perhaps  commonly,  rises  to  a 
feeling  of  affection,  making  the  attachment  of  oiir  citizens  to  their 
cities  one  of  almost  passionate  energy.  No  ancient  city  ever  com- 
manded from  its  most  eminent  people  a  more  enthusiastic  devotion 
than  is  accorded  to  our  American  cities  by  those  who  dwell  in  them ; 
and  in  none  of  our  urban  life  is  found  a  half  or  two-thirds  of  the 
population  held  by  chains  to  a  locality  that  is  hateful  to  them. 

In  modem  times  the  principal  thing  that  determines  the  building 
of  a  city  at  a  particular  place  is  the  fact  that  at  the  point  of  its  site  the 
requirements  of  human  life  are  found  to  exist  in  greater  abundance 


56  History  of  Portland. 


than  elsewhere  in  the  near  surroundings.  Its  growth  is  but  the 
unfolding  of  its  natural  advantages;  together  with  the  attractions, 
facilities,  and  amenities  that  may  be  added  by  man.  The  natural  ad- 
vantages, however,  are  the  dominating  principle,  since  improvements 
will  not  and  indeed  can  never  be  added  to  any  great  extent  where 
there  is  a  natural  obstacle.  In  the  fierce  competition  of  modem  life, 
natural  advantages  will  play  more  and  more  a  controlling  part.  The 
man  who  can  lift  one  pound  more  than  his  antagonist  will  just  as 
surely  surpass  him  as  if  the  difference  were  one  hundred  pounds. 
The  city  that  has  commercial  or  manufacturing  advantages  over 
others  of  even  a  small  part  of  one  per  cent  will  make  that  advantage 
tell  in  every  transaction,  and  this  will  be  just  the  feather  that  turns 
the  scale.  However  great  may  be  the  enterprise  of  the  opponent,  or 
however  willing  it  may  be  of  sacrifice,  it  will  find  itself  at  last 
beyond  its  strength  and  its  hopes  must  perish. 

In  this  view  the  growth  of  a  modem  city  is  of  vast  interest; 
necessarily  so  to  the  business  man,  for  he  must  know  precisely  what 
are  those  circumstances  which  give  empire  to  a  town.  Otherwise, 
he  will  fail  to  make  the  best  investments.  To  the  student  of  human 
life  and  social  science  it  is  no  less  attractive,  for  he  is  thereby 
assured  of  the  laws  or  principle  which  guides  the  human  mind  when 
acting  individually  arid  freely.  It  also  illustrates  how  nature,  and 
through  nature  providence,  is  the  maker  of  the  centers  of  our  modem 
life,  and  thereby,  determines,  or  predetermines,  the  lines  and  bounds 
of  civilization. 

In  entering,  therefore,  upon  this  history  of  Portland  as  we 
withdraw  our  view  from  the  larger  circle  of  the  early  history  of 
Oregon,  we  should  not  be  understood  as  regarding  it  worthy  of 
occupying  a  sphere  of  equal  size  with  that  of  the  nation,  or  of  some 
ancient  city  which  filled  the  Old  World;  but  as  treating  of  human 
action  in  an  interesting  phase,  and  as  making  clear  what  has  been 
done  in  a  city  which  will  one  day  play  an  important  part  in  the 
progress  of  our  country'.  It  will  be  nothing  against  it,  that,  as  in  a 
home  or  family  it  treats  of  men  that  we  have  known  personally. 
History  in  all  departments  is  ever  pushing  more  closely  to  the  roots 
of  individual  life,  and  what  was  once  deemed  beneath  the  dignity  of 


Position  and  Advantages.  57 


the  historian's  pen,  as  altogether  too  insignificant  for  notice,  is  now 
eagerly  studied  as  making  clear  the  progress  of  events.  The  crown 
and  scepter  and  the  false  magnificence  of  antique  pomp  have  at  last 
fallen  from  the  pages  of  history  and  the  every  day  doings  of  people 
on  the  streets,  in  their  homes  and  fields  are  seen  to  contain  the 
potency  of  civilization.  No  human  feelings  or  motives  are  despised, 
but  are  all  recognized  as  the  fountain  from  which  are  gathered  the 
stately  river  of  national  life  and  social  advancement.  In  no  place 
can  these  primar>'  endeavors  be  better  examined  or  comprehended 
than  in  a  young  city  like  Portland. 

GEOGRAPHICAL   POSITION   AND    TOPOGRAPHY. 

The  western  side  of  North  America  is  laid  out  on  a  large  scale, 

SL   land   of   the  *'Jotuns,"   a  region   of  magnificent   distances.      It 

fronts  the  largest  ocean;  it  has  the  most  ample  harbors,  it  is  built  out 

of  the  most  continuous   mountain  ranges,  and  is  watered  by  great 

XI vers.     It  has  large  valleys  and  immense  plateaus.     Its  geographical 

^sections,  the.  portions  naturally  connected  by  a  coast,  river,  or  moun- 

"^ain  system,  are  wide  and  long,  but  the  points   which   command 

xiatural  ingress  and  egress  to  and  from  any  one  such  section  are 

^X)inparatively  few.     Thus,  on  the  whole  of  California's  coast  line  of 

^x  hundred  miles  or  more,  there  is  but  one  natural  exit  to  the  sea, 

^uid  but  one   point   from  which  the  whole  region  may  be  touched 

^direct.      But  that  point,   San   Francisco,   commands    the   situation 

;j)erfectly. 

The  mountain  formation  of  the  region  north  of  California,  giving 
^iharacter  to  the  whole  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  possesses  a  simi- 
lar integrity.     It  has  a  geometrical  precision  which  all  the  variations 
^^f  lateral    ranges,   lone  peaks  and  inter-ranges,   do  not   materially 
'xnodify.     Upon  the  eastern  boundary'  the  Rocky  Mountains,  which 
:ibrm  the  crest  of  the  continent,  set   off  by  itself  the  Valley  of  the 
<^olumbia.      The    Cascade  Mountains  lying  two  hundred  to  three 
Iiundred  miles  westward  of  the  Rocky  range  form  the  opposite  rim  of 
"toe  basin  making  space  for  one   of  the  most  extensive,  impressive, 
Araried  and  fertile  sections  in  the  entire  world.      On  the  south,  near 
^e  Oregon  line,  the  elevated  plains  rise  up  in  the  Nevada  Deserts, 


58  History  of  Portland. 


and  on  the  north  far  above  the  boundary  of  British  Columbia  the 
Selkirk  Mountains  and  the  Gold  Range  draw  a  jagged  line  between 
the  waters  of  the  Columbia  and  those  of  the  Thompson  and  Fraser. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  this  Columbia  Basin — perhaps  four 
hundred  by  eight  hundred  miles  in  extent — is  circled  round  by 
mountains  of  primitive  rocks,  bearing  deposits  of  gold  and  veins  of 
silver;  beds  of  iron  and  of  coal  of  unknown  extent;  lead,  copper, 
and  the  other  useful  metals;  and  hills  of  marble,  serpentine  and  other 
building  stones;  with  abundant  stores  of  g\'psum  and  other  sulphates; 
one  will  perceive  what  a  seat  of  empire  is  embraced  within  these 
ranges.  Moreover,  on  the  top  of  these  rocks,  and  in  the  illuvial 
valleys  between  is  spread  as  fertile  a  soil  as  the  world  knows. 

The  Cascade  Mountains  make  almost  a  straight  line  from  south  to 
north;  high,  steep  and  turreted  by  a  score  of  volcanic  peaks  which 
always  wear  the  ennine  of  sovereignt>'. 

A  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  is  the  lower  but 
nevertheless  eminent  Coast  Range  presenting  headlands  to  the  sea 
and  making  difficult  any  passage  inland  from  the  ocean  shore. 

As  the  most  striking  and,  to  this  work,  the  most  pertinent  geo- 
graphical featiire  is  the  series  of  valleys  from  California  to  Puget 
Sound,  lying  between  the  Cascade  and  Coast  Mountains  and  swelling 
or  contracting  to  a  width  not  far  from  fifty  miles  from  west  to  east. 
Here  are  the  Willamette,  the  Umpqiia  and  the  Rogue  River  Valleys 
in  Oregon.  In  Washington  the  valleys  of  the  Lewis  River,  the 
Chehalis,  the  Cowlitz;  of  the  Puyallup,  and  of  the  Snoqualamie;  with 
the  gravel  plains  about  the  head  of  Puget  Sound.  All  are  of  extra- 
ordinary beauty  and  almost  universally  fertile,  and  the  sheltered 
passage  way  which  they  form  within  the  ranges  will  be  like  an 
imperial  roadway  from  north  to  south.  Indeed  this  raceway  of  travel 
and  commerce  does  not  stop  at  either  Puget  Sound  on  the  north  or 
the  Siskiyou  Mountains  on  the  California  border  toward  the  south. 
It  continues  northward  down  Puget  Sound,  through  the  waterways  of 
the  Georgian  Gulf  and  the  straits  and  passages  of  Western  Alaska 
to  the  far  north — the  region  of  fish,  of  fiirs,  and  mountains  of  precious 
metals.  At  the  other  extremity  it  crosses  the  back  of  the  Siskiyou 
Mountains  and  passes  through  the  valleys  of  California,  finding  easy 


Position  and  Advantages.  59 


exit  upoa  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  California.  This  passage  by 
land  and  water  of  two  thousand  miles  through  some  of  the  most 
charming  and  productive  portions  of  the  western  world  will  necessa- 
rily pulsate  with  the  tides  of  trade  and  travel. 

Now,  to  focalize  our  view,  if  we  draw  a  line  from  the  head  of  the 
Gulf  of  California  to  Mt.  St.  Elias  in  Alaska,  by  this  chain  of  valleys 
and  waterways,  where  do  we  find  a  cross  line  opening  from  the  ocean 
to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  allowing  trade  and  travel  to  pass  east 
and  west  as  well  as  north  and  south?  This  cross  line  has  been 
determined  by  the  channel  of  flowing  waters  drawn  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  across  the  Cascade  and  Coast  Ranges  to  the  Pacific — the 
Columbia  River.  A  line  of  two  thousand  miles,  a  cross  line  of  five 
hundred  miles — these  will  ever  be  the  thoroughfares  of  commerce 
and  travel  on  the  western  Pacific  shore.  What  is  the  natural  place 
for  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  region  ?  At  the  point  of  inter- 
section of  the  two.  This  is  the  geographical  position  of  Portland. 
Although  on  the  banks  of  the  Willamette,  she  is  also  practically  on 
the  banks  of  the  Columbia,  her  business  portion  constantly  extending 
towards  the  imperial  river.  This,  then  is  the  most  comprehensive 
description  of  Portland's  geographical  situation — At  the  cross-roads 
of  a  natural  depression  from  California  to  Alaska  and  of  the  pathway 
of  the  Columbia  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

To  define  her  position  in  more  particular  terms,  she  is  located  in 
latitude  forty-five  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  north;  longitude  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  degrees  and  twenty-seven  minutes  west  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Willamette  River,  twelve  miles  below  the  Falls 
of  that  stream  at  Oregon  City,  and  ten  miles  above  its  confluence 
with  the  Columbia.  It  is  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  from  the  city 
by  the  Willamette  and  Columbia  Rivers  to  the  debouchure  of  the 
latter  stream  into  the  Pacific.  As  for  distance  to  other  well  known 
points,  it  is  about  seven  hundred  miles  to  San  Francisco  by  water, 
six  hundred  by  rail;  to  the  Cascades  of  the  Columbia  it  is  sixty 
miles;  to  the  Dalles,  ninety  miles;  to  Walla  Walla,  two  hundred  and 
forty-five  miles;  to  Spokane  Falls,  three  hundred  and  seventy;  to 
Lewiston,  three  hundred  and  fifty;  to  Salt  Lake  City,  nine  hundred; 
to   Helena,  Montana,  seven   hundred   and   fifty;    to   Chicago,    two 


60  History  of  Portland. 


thousand  four  hundred;  to  New  York,  three  thousand  three  hundred. 
On  the  north  to  Olympia  by  rail  it  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles; 
to  Tacoma,  one  hundred  and  fifty;  to  Seattle,  one  hundred  and 
eighty;  to  Port  Townsend,  two  hundred  and  fifty;  to  Victoria,  three 
hundred;  to  Vancouver,  B.  C,  four  hundred;  to  Sitka,  nine  hundred; 
On  the  south  to  Salem,  the  capital  of  Oregon,  it  is  fifty  miles;  to 
Eugene  City,  the  site  of  the  State  University,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five;  to  Roseburgh,  in  the  Umpqua  Valley,  two  hundred;  to 
Jacksonville,  in  Rogue  River  Valley,  three  hundred. 

Portland  sits  at  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  Valley,  and  practi- 
cally at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  Basin.  To  pass  from  San 
Francisco  by  rail  to  Puget  Sound,  or  vice  versa,  one  must  go  by 
Portland.  To  pass  by  water  from  the  sea  coast  to  the  Inland  Empire, 
as  the  Columbia  Basin  is  sometimes  termed,  one  must  pass  Portland. 
Take  a  map,  make  Portland  a  center,  and  draw  from  this  center 
lines  along  the  natural  gaps  and  depressions  to  other  parts  of  the 
Pacific  Northwest,  and  there  will  be  formed  a  circle  of  which  these 
lines  are  approximately  the  radii. 

Topographically  considered  Portland  is  laid  out  by  nature  on  a 
scale  commensurate  with  the  geographical  environment  of  which  she 
is  the  center.  All  along  the  south  bank  of  the  Columbia,  and  the 
west  bank  of  the  Willamette,  from  the  ocean  for  more  than  one 
hundred  miles,  even  to  the  Falls  of  the  Willamette  at  Oregon  City, 
there  is  a  range  of  low  mountains  or  hills,  lying  almost  the  entire 
distance  against  the  waters  of  these  rivers  and  in  many  places  jutting 
upon  them  in  a  heads  and  escarpments.  These  highlands,  for  fifty 
miles  of  their  distance  from  the  sea,  are  the  broken  terminals  of  the 
Coast  Mountains,  laid  open  by  the  flow  of  the  Columbia.  For  the 
remainder  of  their  extent  they  break  down  into  lower  elevations, 
known  as  the  Scappoose  Hills,  or  still  further  south,  as  the  Portland 
Hills.  They  are  an  older  formation,  containing  much  of  sandstone 
and  Andesite,  and  are  in  many  cases  wholly  lacking  the  basaltic 
covering  which  is  well  nigh  imiversal  in  this  northwestern  region. 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  one  finds  a  delta,  which  on  the 
south,  is  embraced  by  the  ann  of  the  river  that  was  formerly  called 
in  the  Indian  language  by  the  liquid  name  of  Multnomah.     From 


Position  and  Advantages.  61 


this  water,  now  termed  Willamette  Slough,  which  separates  the 
largest  of  the  islands  of  the  delta  from  the  main  land,  the  hills  rise 
abruptly,  with  but  a  narrow  strip  of  alluvial  soil  unfit  for  building. 
Following  up  this  slough  to  its  point  of  departure  from  the  main 
river,  the  hills  still  impend  upon  the  west,  their  natural  abruptness 
being  much  emphasized  by  the  dense  growth  of  evergreen  forests 
whose  unbroken  wall  of  tops  add  some  hundreds  of  feet  to  their 
apparent  altitude.  At  a  point  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Willamette,  however,  one  finds  a  great  bend  in  the  river,  which  now 
comes  directly  from  the  south,  whereas,  hitherto  one  found  it  flowing 
from  the  southeast       Here  has  been  formed  the  site  of  Portland. 

By  the  casting  up  of  alluvium  against  the  foot  of  the  hills,  and 
the  formation  of  the  river  bank  at  some  distance  eastward,  shallow 
lagoons  have  been  formed,  which  during  seasons  of  flood  are 
united  with  the  general  flow  of  the  river  making  a  continuous  body 
of  water.  Here  are  Balch's,  Guild's  and  Couch's  Lakes.  From  the 
shore  of  the  latter,  as  well  as  from  the  banks  of  the  river,  the  land 
rises  at  an  easy  gradient,  reaching  at  a  distance  of  half  a  mile  from 
the  river  a  plateau  one  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  water.  At 
a  distance  of  about  a  mile  from  the  river,  the  plateau  joins  abruptly 
the  chain  of  hills,  which  here  lift  their  fronts  sharply  six  hundred 
feet  above  the  Willamette.  From  Couch's  Lake  on  the  north  to  the 
end  of  the  sloping  plateau  on  the  south,  where  the  impending  hills 
again  approach  the  river,  and  terminate  the  prospect,  it  is  a  distance 
of  two  and  one-half  miles.  It  is  nowhere  above  a  mile  wide.  It  is 
moreover  cleft  by  a  small  stream  coming  from  the  west — ^Tanner 
Creek — which  throws  one  portion  of  the  site  of  the  city  toward  the 
south,  with  rounded  surface,  against  the  foot  of  the  southern  bosses 
of  the  hill  chains,  and  the  other  portion  toward  the  north  with 
various  undulations,  against  the  northern  and  more  retrogradient 
peaks.  The  cleft,  however,  is  not  deep,  nor  abrupt,  and  gives  a 
delightful  and  expressive  variation  to  the  face  of  the  site.  This, 
then,  is  the  topography  of  the  city — a  gentle  slope,  rising  up  from 
the  river  and  lake  to  the  hills  a  mile  back,  within  the  elbow  of  the 
river,  and  under  the  shelter  of  the  highlands.  The  plat  slopes  north- 
east, and  embraces  somewhat  less  than  three  square  miles  in  area.     It 


62  History  of  Portland. 


is  cosy,  protected  from  the  southern  storm,  sufficiently  well  watered  to 
be. green  the  year  around,  and  is  constantly  fanned  by  the  breezes  of 
the  river. 

But  while  this  formed  the  limits  of  the  original  city,  the  additions 
have  spread  far  beyond  these  bounds,  and  manifestly  if  the  city  is  to 
grow  it  must  overflow,  as  it  has  already  done  far  beyond  its  two  or 
three  square  miles.  The  surface  of  the  surrounding  region,  far  from 
forbidding  such  extension,  is  favorable  and  inviting  to  it  It  has 
recently  been  recognized  that  the  outlying  hills  are  most  advanta- 
geous for  residence.  They  rise  up  in  separate  spurs  and  are  steep  and 
abrupt,  having  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  cut  into  their  present 
form  by  the  erosion  of  sea  waves,  as  was  undoubtedly  the  case 
when  the  general  level  of  Oregon  was  so  much  depressed  in  remote 
times,  as  to  allow  the  flow  of  ocean  water  over  the  entire  surface 
of  the  Willamette  Valley.  There  may  be  reckoned  at  least  six  of 
these  prominences.  Beginning  on  the  north  back  of  Couch's  Lake, 
we  have  Willamette  Heights;  next  south  are  King's  Heights,  over- 
looking the  City  Park.  South  of  this  across  the  deep  canyon  of 
Tanner  Creek  is  Carter's  Hill,  which  was  the  first  to  be  called 
Portland  Heights.  Next  in  order  is  Robinson's  Hill,  succeeded  by 
Marquam's  Hill,  upon  which  is  located  the  addition  sometimes  called 
Portland  Homestead.  To  close  the  view  are  the  South  Portland 
Heights.  There  are  upon  all  these  highlands  many  knobs  and  knolls, 
separated  from  one  another  by  small  ravines  all  of  which  make  back 
and  disappear  at  length  in  the  solid  body  of  the  chain.  The  elevation 
attained  by  these  heights  is  from  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred  feet 
But  they  roll  upward  and  finally  culminate  in  a  commanding  ridge 
whose  eastern  terminus  rises  highest  of  all  and  is  named  Mt  Zion, 
over  1,000  feet  in  altitude.  It  looks  eastward  across  the  river.  The 
western  extension  of  the  same  ridge,  Humphrey's  Mountain,  com- 
mands the  prospect  toward  the  Tualatin  plains  and  the  Coast 
Mountains.  These  heights,  having  an  infinite  variety  of  surface, 
with  innumerable  networks  of  ravines,  afford  an  almost  countless 
variety  of  sitely  building  spots.  An  exposure  facing  any  sun  or 
wind  may  be  obtained  and  in  the  deeper  depressions  locations  sheltered 
from  all  the  storms  may  be  readily  found.     South  and  east  of  Tanner 


Position  and  Advantages.  63 


Creek  canyon,  the  heights,  including  Mt.  Zion  and  Humphrey's 
Mountain,  with  their  skirts  and  flanks,  compose  a  region  of  about 
six  square  miles.  North  and  west  of  the  canyon,  the  ridge  is  some 
three  miles  broad,  and  extends  parallel  with  the  river  indefinitely. 
"Ten  square  miles  are  within  easy  reach  of  the  city.  Still  south  of 
the  heights  proper  the  chain  of  hills  continue,  although  it  breaks 
down  to  a  much  lower  altitude,  and  form  a  rolling  plateau  two  miles 
T)road,  by  four  or  five  in  length.  This  makes  a  region  extraordinaril}- 
sightly  and  sunny,  and  while  not  so  much  diversified  as  the  heights, 
it  is  much  more  easily  reduced  to  form  and  use — indeed  not  betraying 
by  contour  its  elevation,  but  presenting  the  appearance  of  an  undula- 
ting plain.  It  is  easily  accessible  to  the  city,  and  will  one  day  be  a 
portion  of  it. 

From  the  highest  points  of  all  the  elevations  named  the  scenery  is 
unrivaled.  They  command  the  prospect  of  the  Willamette  River, 
its  winding  and  silvery  way  to  its  delta  and  union  with  the  Columbia; 
and  for  many  miles  a  connected  view  of  that  greater  stream  and  its 
path  from  the  heart  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  and  the  chasm  in  their 
walls  out  of  which  it  proceeds.  There  are  also  embraced  wide  strips 
of  meadow  land,  plains,  illimitable  forests,  buttes  and  romantic  hills; 
the  vanishing  wall  of  the  Cascade  Mountains,  with  Hood,  St.  Helens, 
Rainier,  Adams,  Jefferson,  all  being  volcanic  peaks  covered  with 
perpetual  snow,  in  unobstructed  view.  Seldom  is  there  such  a  com- 
bination of  water,  valley,  hill  and  mountain  scenery  to  be  embraced 
in  one  prospect.  All  in  all  there  are  twenty-five  (or  a  much  larger 
number  if  necessary)  square  miles  of  land  ready  for  the  use  of  Portland 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Willamette. 

But  this  is  exclusive  of  the  east  side,  which  by  many  is  deemed 
the  fairer  of  the  two.  Its  surface  is  totally  different  from  that 
which  has  just  been  considered,  since  it  is  not  at  all  mountainous,  and 
little  broken.  It  is  on  the  other  hand,  an  imperial  plain,  with  long 
easy  slopes,  wide  expanses,  and  but  occasional  elevations.  Beginning 
six  miles  below  Portland  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  one  finds  at 
St  Johns  the  first  highland,  north  of  which  are  river  bottoms  and 
illuvial  plains  subject  to  the  overflow  of  the  Columbia.  This  eleva- 
tion rises  sharply  one  hundred  feet  above  the  river  and  making  a  slow 


64  History  of  Portland. 


ascent  gains  another  hundred  feet  of  altimde  before  reaching  its 
maximum.  Its  slopes  are  long  and  sweeping,  maintaining  their 
elevation  with  more  or  less  regularity  up  to  Albina  nearly  opposite 
Portland.  Back  some  distance  from  the  river  the  plain  rises  again 
fifty  feet,  or  possibly  in  some  places  one  hundred  feet  more,  to  a  con- 
tinuous ridge,  a  bank  of  ancient  washed  gravel,  brought  down  in 
long  ages  past  by  torrents  from  the  Cascade  Mountains,  and  here 
deposited  while  yet  the  sea  rolled  in.  The  gravel  ridge  once  attained, 
the  surface  steadily  falls  to  seek  the  level  of  the  Columbia  on  the 
farther  side.  Highland,  Piedmont,  Columbia  Heights,  and  other 
names  significant  of  the  elevated  region  are  bestowed  upon  various 
portions  of  this  gravel  ridge.  From  Albina  southward  the  surface 
sinks  by  small  degrees,  broken  here  and  there  by  ravines,  until  at  the 
site  of  East  Portland,  three  profound  chasms  or  gulches,  unite  to 
form  an  illuvial  bottom,  making  easy  ingress  from  the  river,  but  a 
bad  water  front.  The  first  of  these  on  the  north  is  Sullivan's  Gulch, 
fifty  feet  deep  and  two  hundred  yards  across;  its  bed  a  morass.  It  is 
down  this  cleft  that  the  O.  R.  &  N.  R.  R.  finds  a  passage  from  the 
plain  to  the  river  level.  Next  south  is  Asylum  Gulch,  leading  back 
to  a  powerful  spring  which  leaps  from  under  the  plain  behind,  giving 
birth  to  a  stream  of  water  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  the  water  works 
of  East  Portland.  A  mile  south  of  this  is  Stephens  Gulch,  bearing 
off  another  clear  stream,  of  many  times  the  volume  of  the  foregoing, 
which  also  springs  bodily  from  the  ground.  It  is  by  this  depression 
that  the  O.  &  C.  R.  R.  passes  out  of  the  cit>\  South  of  the  mouth  of 
Stephens  Gulch,  the  ground  once  more  rises,  gaining  an  altitude 
about  the  same  as  that  of  Albina,  and  it  is  called  Brookland.  On  the 
obverse  slope,  however,  it  sinks  to  a  considerable  vale. 

The  strip  of  alluvium  in  front  of  East  Portland,  at  the  mouth  ot 
the  gulches,  is  but  a  few  hundred  paces  across,  and  thence  the  sur- 
face rises  easily,  nowhere  attaining  an  elevation  of  more  than  one 
hundred  feet,  and  develops  into  a  plain  with  many  variations  of 
surface  leading  out  three  miles  further  to  Mt.  Tabor.  This  is  a 
solitary  hill  seven  hundred  feet  in  height  with  a  commanding  front 
and  long  approaches.  Its  slopes  are  most  inviting  for  residence 
property,  the  soil  is  congenial  to  gardens  and  orchard  trees,  and  its 


Position  and  Advantages.  65 


rocks  of  basalt  give  birth  to  a  multitude  of  delicious  springs.  It  is 
in  truth  a  reservoir  of  water,  as  are  the  hills  on  the  west.  East  of 
Mt  Tabor  the  plains  extend  for  many  miles  with  an  occasional  little 
butte  or  ridge;  and  to  the  south  the  surface  rolls  away  in  a  woody 
expanse  with  frequent  hills  which  break  down  at  length  on  the 
margin  of  the  Clackamas,  a  half  score  of  miles  distant.  Comprehen- 
sively, therefore,  the  east  side  of  the  river  opposite  Portland  is  a  plain 
— with  undulations  and  a  few  hills — eight  or  ten  miles  long,  and  as 
many  wide.  The  site  of  Portland  may  therefore  be  briefly  described  as 
a  sloping  plateau  within  the  elbow  of  the  Willamette,  surrounded  by 
hills,  opposite  a  great  undulating  plain.  This  situation  is  unsur- 
passed for  a  great  city. 

The  Willamette  river,  immediately  above  the  city,  spread  out  in 
shallows  and  enlarged  by  alluvial  islands,  is  there  above  half  a  mile 
wide.  Obstructed,  however,  by  the  high  point  of  Brookland,  and 
thrown  from  the  east  to  the  west  shore,  it  rapidly  narrows,  being 
but  fourteen  hundred  feet  across  at  Morrison  street,  near  the  center 
of  the  city.  Thrown  again  from  the  solid  bank  of  the  plat  on  which 
the  city  stands  to  the  east  shore,  striking  a  mile  further  down  upon 
the  elevated  plains  of  East  Portland,  below  the  gulches,  it  is  forced 
into  one  strong  deep  channel,  wearing  the  face  of  the  upland  into  an 
almost  perpendicular  bluff  fifty  feet  high — the  formation  exposed 
being  lacustrine  clay,  over-lying  a  mixture  of  coarse  sand  and  washed 
gravel.  At  this  point  the  river  is  but  eight  hundred  feet  across.  It 
thence  expands  slightly ;  still  wearing  the  Albina  shore,  as  its  course  is 
deflected  westward;  swelling  at  Swan  Island  to  as  great  a  width  as  at 
Ross  Island.  The  depth  of  water  at  Ross  Island  is  but  nine  feet. 
Below  this  obstruction  the  depth  rapidly  increases,  reaching  sixty  feet 
off  the  lower  wharves  of  the  city,  near  the  railroad  bridge.  At  Swan 
Island  the  narrow  channel  hugging  the  east  shore  gives  a  depth  of 
twenty-six  feet  which  is  frequently  doubled  by  the  vast  rise  of  the 
Columbia  in  the  summer. 

NATURAL   advantages. 

The  term  ** advantages''  is  relative,  being  always  used  with 
reference  to  the  purpose  in  view.  The  advantages  of  a  city  relate 
to  its   adaptation   to   the    uses   of    commerce,    manufacturing   and 


66  History  of  Portland. 


residence.  Uuder  the  head  of  commerce,  facility  for  both  water  and 
land  communication  is  to  be  regarded,  together  with  the  extent  and 
variety  of  commodities  available  for  exchange.  Under  manufactur- 
ing advantages,  power,  labor,  and  availabilit>'  of  raw  material,  fall  into 
the  account  As  to  residence  one  must  consider  salubrity,  beauty  of 
natural  surroundings  and  contiguit>'  to  his  business  operations, 
together  with  social,  educational  and  religious  privileges. 

The  geographical  position  of  Portland,  which  has  already  been 
described,  gives  her  superior  advantages  as  a  commercial  center. 
That  will  be  a  commanding  commercial  point  which  readily  eflFects 
exchanges  of  commodities  and  equates  supply  and  demand.  Chicago 
is  a  center  of  lumber  trade,  controlling  this  great  branch  of  business 
throughout  the  Lake  basin  and  the  Mississippi  valley,  for  the  reason 
that  she  can  most  readily  reach  the  lumber  manufacturing  districts  of 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  Canada,  and  can  keep  in  supply 
millions  of  feet  of  seasoned  and  assorted  lumber,  ready  for  the 
greatest  number  of  places  in  the  surrounding  regions.  Her  control 
of  this  trade  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  due  to  the  superior  enterprise 
of  her  merchants.  But  this  is  true  only  in  a  secondary  degree. 
From  the  circumstance  of  her  geographical  position  there  is  a  greater 
number  of  builders  and  others  who  can  more  easily  find  at  her  yards 
the  lumber  they  desire,  than  at  any  other  cit>-.  They  find  the 
quickest  and  cheapest  route  between  them  and  the  sawmills,  to  lead 
through  Chicago.  If  they  can  save  a  few  hours  time  and  a  few 
dollars  in  money  upon  ever)-  bill,  they  are  certain  to  send  to  Chicago. 
The  extent  of  patronage,  the  rapidity  of  their  sales,  the  speedy  return 
of  their  money  and  the  consequent  large  margins  of  profit,  enable  the 
Chicago  dealers  to  enlarge  their  stock  and  to  supply  still  more 
quickly  and  satisfactorily  all  the  needs  of  their  customers,  and  by 
this  to  attract  more  and  more  business,  and  finally  to  under-sell  the 
smaller  and  less  equipped  houses  of  even  distant  cities.  In  like  man- 
ner from  her  proximit\^  to  the  grain  fields,  and  from  her  shipping 
facilities,  she  largely  controls  the  wheat  business  ;  in  like  manner  she 
is  a  center  for  market  and  sale  of  the  beef  and  pork  of  the  Mississippi 
valley. 


Position  and  Advantages.  67 


Any  great  commercial  city,  as  London,  New  York,  or  the  younger 
cities  of  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  would  serve  an  equally  good 
purpose  by  way  of  illustration.  A  commercial  city  is  the  point  of 
storage,  account  and  exchange  for  the  commodities  of  the  region. 

The  advantages  of  Portland  as  such  a  center  are  at  once  apparent 
As  noticed  above  she  is  the  **  cross- ways  '^  of  the  track  between  the 
mountains  from  California  to  Alaska,  and  the  path  made  by  the 
Columbia  River  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
At  this  point  are  made  four  right  angles,  fixing  the  center  of  a  circle 
a  radius  of  which  a  hundred  miles  long  embraces  solid  land  only,  and 
at  four  hundred  miles  includes  within  the  western  arc  a  portion  of  the 
ocean,  which  is  by  no  means  an  unproductive  segment  It  must  fol- 
low from  this  position  that  she  can  reach  a  greater  number  of 
producers  and  consumers  than  any  point  not  located  at  such  a  natural 
center.  This  fact,  other  things  being  equal,  simply  assures  her  com- 
mercial pre-eminence. 

But  to  make  this  commanding  position  certain  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  be  assured  as  to  the  avenues  of  approach  from  the  four 
cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  If  it  be  true  that  Portland  is  at  the 
natural  center  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  a  region  six  hundred  miles 
square,  and  the  avenues  of  approach  are  easy  and  secure,  no  one  can 
doubt  that  she  will  continue  to  be  the  metropolis  of  this  country,  and 
perhaps  rival  San  Francisco,  as  being  the  center  of  a  region  more 
extensive  and  productive.  This  is  no  fancy,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
impression  made  in  by-gone  times  upon  commercial  men  as  they 
examined  her  geographical  situation.  Looking  at  the  map  of  old 
Oregon,  while  he  was  still  in  Boston  half  a  century'  or  more  ago. 
Hall  J.  Kelley,  a  patriot,  and  originator  of  a  scheme  which  was  much 
patronized  by  leading  men  in  Massachusetts,  laid  off  a  great  city  as  a 
capital  for  the  new  commonwealth  which  he  was  to  establish  on  the 
Pacific  coast  He  put  this  chief  city  on  his  map  at  the  junction  of  the 
Willamette  with  the  Columbia,  not  knowing  that  this  site  was  flood 
land.  Portland  now  occupies  the  spot  nearest  available  to  Kelley' s 
city.  Still  further,  when  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  wished  to  build 
a  fort  from  which  to  reach  most  easily  all  points  of  the  Northwest,  both 
by  land  and  sea,  they  selected  a  site  as  near  to  our  city  as  their 


68  History  of  Portland. 


necessities  would  admit — ^building  a  fort  at  Vancouver.  They  would 
probably  have  brought  it  nearer  the  Willamette,  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Columbia  if  the  land  had  been  fit  for  building,  and  if  they  had 
not  anticipated  that  England  would  not  secure  the  south  bank.  This 
tells  the  tale  of  the  natural  center  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 

To  examine  the  avenues  of  approach  and  to  see  if  they  are  suffi- 
cient to  supplement  this  imperial  position,  it  will  be  most  convenient 
to  begin  our  scrutiny  from  the  west.  Here  is  found  a  water-way  at 
tide  level  of  over  a  mile  in  width  leading  up  from  the  Pacific  between 
the  hills  to  the  docks  of  our  city.  The  Columbia  River  on  this  lower 
course,  is  one  of  the  most  majestic  of  streams,  and  is  unrivaled  for 
navigation.  Its  fresh  waters  destroy  those  forms  of  marine  life  inimi- 
cal to  dock-yards  and  wooden  piling,  and  clear  the  ships  of  their 
accretions  of  barnacles,  as  they  come  in  from  the  sea.  It  is  true  that 
it  is  obstructed  to  some  extent  by  a  bar  at  its  entrance,  but  under  the 
operation  of  the  jetty  constructed  by  the  government  this  is  being 
constantly  cut  down  by  confinement  of  the  waters,  and  a  depth  of 
thirty  feet  or  perhaps  more,  at  low  water,  sufficient  for  the  deepest 
vessels  will  be  secured.  There  is  now  a  sure  depth  of  twenty-six  feet 
at  low  water.  By  the  use  of  dredgers,  jetties,  and  wing  dams  the 
bars  in  the  river  between  the  sea  and  Portland,  are  rapidly  disappear- 
ing and  in  a  very  few  years  all  obstrudlions  will  have  ceased  to  exist. 
It  is  simply  a  matter  of  improvement,  which  is  wholly  practicable, 
to  make  the  lower  Columbia  and  Willamette  fit  for  the  largest  craft 
that  floats.  This  improvement  is  now  progressing  and  the  commerce 
of  all  the  world,  or  such  part  of  it  as  floats  on  ships,  may  therefore  be 
brought  to  Portland.  The  entrance  from  the  sea  could  not  be  more 
advantageous.  It  is  not  so  deep  or  wide  as  the  Straits  of  Fuca,  and 
Puget  Sound.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  one  or  two  hundred  feet 
of  depth  or  five  miles  of  width  more  than  necessary  would  give  even 
the  Straits  of  Fuca  any  decided  advantage.  Both  are  royal  water 
ways  from  the  sea,  naturally,  or  easily  made,  ample  for  the  largest 
vessels.  The  superior  width  of  the  Straits  allows  of  sailing  more 
easily  than  in  the  Columbia,  while  the  fresh  water  of  our  river  is  a 
great  advantage  to  foul  keels. 


Position  and  Advantages.  69 


The  gap  through  the  coast  mountains  formed  by  the  passage  of  the 
Columbia  makes  also  a  pass  at  tide  level  for  the  coustrudlion  of  rail- 
ways from  the  ocean  to  Portland.  The  route  is  easy  and  diredl,  and 
from  Hunter's  point,  opposite  Kalama  to  Portland  it  is  occupied  by  the 
track  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  The  convenience  and  speed  attained 
on  the  river  has  retarded  rather  than  otherwise  the  constru6lion  of  a 
road  from  Astoria,  but  there  is  no  natural  obstru6lion. 

Toward  the  North,  to  Puget  Sound,  British  Columbia  and  Alaska, 
there  is  a  natural  route,  passing  through  the  valley  of  Cowlitz  River 
and  thence  by  water,  or,  as  ultimately  will  be  the  case,  the  whole 
distance  by  rail.  On  the  whole  course  of  the  lower  Columbia 
numerous  small  rivers  enter  the  great  stream,  navigable  by  steamers 
of  light  draft,  the  towns  beside  which  are,  and  will  be  more  and  more 
supplied  from  the  markets  of  Portland.  The  numerous  sea  coast 
towns,  at  the  mouth  of  the  small  rivers,  and  on  the  small  bays,  con- 
veniently find  a  market  and  emporium  at  Portland. 

Toward  the  south  extends  the  Willamette  Valley,  making  a  way 
practically  level  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Beyond  this  the  gen- 
eral slope  of  the  country  is  still  upward — across  hills  and  valleys — to 
the  crest  of  the  granite  Siskiyou  Mountains  three  hundred  miles  dis- 
tant on  the  California  border.  This  whole  region  of  Western  Oregon, 
most  productive  in  grain  and  fruit,  finds  its  emporium  at  Portland. 
It  is  large  enough  and  has  the  resources  for  sustaining  a  population  of 
four  millions.  When  this  figure  is  reached,  one-sixth  this  number 
will  be  found  at  Portland.  Not  only  may  this  country  of  Western 
Oregon  be  reached  from  Portland  by  lines  of  rail  which  slope  thither, 
but  a  very  large  portion  of  the  Willamette  River  is  a  water-way 
directly  to  her  docks.  This  is  an  easy  and  inviting  path  to  enterpris- 
ing steamers,  and  while  not  now  bearing  and  perhaps  not  likely  to 
bear  the  great  bulk  of  freight,  has  great  and  permanent  value  in 
preventing  railroad  monopoly  and  in  keeping  freight  rates  at  a  normal 
figure.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  value  of  water  as  an  agent 
for  moving  heavy  and  bulky  products  will  be  more  and  more  recog- 
nized by  the  agricultural  population,  and  the  hundred  streams  that 
meander  from  the  mountains  to  the  Willamette,  across  level  plains 
and  through   deep  valleys,  will  be  cleared  of  drift  wood,    deepened 


70  History  of  Portland. 


and  straightened,  and  as  they  flow  on  will  carry  also  along  with  them 
a  multitude  of  loaded  barges.  Each  such  stream  is  the  basis  of  a 
canal,  and  this  abundance  of  water  will  make  every  farming  commu- 
nity independent,  and  forever  keep  down  extortionate  rates  of  trans- 
portation. As  all  the  water  of  this  great  valley  flows  past  Portland, 
so  must  all  the  commerce  which  it  bears. 

But  broad  and  easy  as  are  the  avenues  of  approach  from  the  west, 
the  north,  and  the  south,  and  large  as  is.  the  region  thus  brought 
within  the  reach  of  her  commerce,  it  is  from  the  east  that  the  greatest 
portion  of  her  trade  must  come  ;  and  it  is  true  beyond  all  controversy 
that  the  city  which  is  the  emporium  for  the  Columbia  Basin  will 
lead  all  others.  On  those  immense  plains  and  uplands  with  multitudes 
of  valleys  upon  their  environs,  leading  back  into  the  old  hills  and 
towering  mountains,  there  is  room  for  the  seat  of  a  nation  equal  to 
France.  Here  are  two-thirds  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  all  Idaho, 
and  large  parts  of  Montana  and  British  Columbia.  It  is  a  region 
where  the  cereals  average  twice  as  much  per  acre  as  in  Dakota  ; 
where  fruits  flourish  in  sheltered  localities  as  in  the  deep  valleys,  beside 
lakes,  and  along  the  rivers  ;  where  live  stock  of  all  kinds  transform 
the  wealth  of  the  pastures  into  value,  and  where  mineral  treasures 
are  of  vast  and  unknown  extent. 

By  many  it  will  be  strenously  denied  that  Portland  can  be  the 
emporium  for  this  region.  Some  other  point  it  is  contended,  as  upon 
Puget  Sound,  will  most  readily  command  the  trade.  But  Portland's 
strength  is  assured  by  the  following  considerations  :  The  trade  of 
the  Columbia  Basin  will  flow  westward  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  will 
seek  the  most  direct  and  easy  route  thither,  since  thereby  its  producers 
will  pay  less  rates  for  transportation  of  their  products.  The  tributa- 
ries of  the  Columbia,  from  the  borders  of  Utah,  to  the  borders  of 
British  Columbia  and  from  the  eastern  flanks  of  the  Cascade  Moun- 
tains spread  out  like  the  ribs  of  a  fan ;  all  converge  upon  the  main 
Columbia,  and  thus  unitedly  pass  through  the  gap  of  the  Cascade 
Mountains  on  to  Portland.  It  is  simply  a  principle  of  physics  that 
any  body,  whether  a  ball  or  a  train  of  cars,  will  roll  most  readily 
down  an  inclined  plane,  and  that  friction  or  traction  is  increased  by 
the  attempt  to  go  up  hill.     But  from  the  head  of  Snake  river  to  the 


Position  and  Advantages.  71 


head  of  the  Colnmbia,  or  of  any  tributary  of  either  river,  to  Portland, 
is  an  inclined  plane  hither.  To  be  sure  the  canyons  of  both  these 
rivers  and  of  many  of  their  tributaries,  are  rugged,  but  once  let  a  road 
be  laid  alongside  their  banks  or  down  the  general  valley,  and  there 
is  a  preceptibly  down  grade  the  entire  distance,  adding  the  force  of 
gravity  to  the  wheels  of  the  engines  to  help  them  with  their  loaded 
trains.  The  gap  of  the  Columbia  is  the  only  pass  through  the  chain 
of  the  Cascade  Mountains  at  the  level  of  tide  water.  All  other  passes 
lead  over  the  main  axis  of  the  range  at  an  elevation  of  three  to  four 
thousand  feet.  It  is  manifestly  more  expensive  of  time  and  force  to 
draw  a  train  over  the  back  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  to  Puget  Sound 
than  to  bring  it  through  the  gap  of  the  Columbia  on  a  down  grade.  It  is 
the  inland  farmer  and  merchant  who  must  pay  the  difference,  and 
however  slow  they  may  be  in  recognizing  this,  they  will,  with  the 
certainty  of  water  finding  its  level,  choose  the  route  which  makes 
their  bill  the  least.  It  is  true  that  the  roads  to  Portland  may  not 
always  charge  their  minimum,  but  if  they  are  able,  by  reason  of  nat- 
ural advantages,  to  carry  at  a  less  rate  than  is  possible  for  the  roads 
across  the  mountains,  they  will  at  the  scratch  come  down  to  it,  and 
make  that  advantage  the  make-weight  in  their  struggle.  Any  road 
which  can  persistently  carry  merchandise  at  one  cent  per  hundred  or 
even  per  ton,  less  than  its  rivals,  will  beat  them  in  the  long  run. 
The  natural  grade  to  Portland  from  all  parts  of  the  inland  countr>' 
gives  her  thus  much  advantage.  But,  to  complete  the  circle  of  ex- 
change, if  the  wheat,  live  stock  and  ores  of  the  upper  country  come 
down  to  Portland,  this  will  be  the  most  advantageous  point  at  which 
to  procure  merchandise  and  necessaries  for  that  entire  region.  Port- 
land can  thereby  most  readily  receive  the  products  of  the  Columbia 
basin,  and  supply  the  mercantile  wants  of  her  people. 

The  above  reasoning  not  presented  as  a  special  plea  in  favor  of 
Portland,  but  simply  as  a  statement  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  is 
absolutely  conclusive  of  the  natural  pre-eminence  of  the  city  at  the 
entrance  to  the  gateway  of  the  upper  Columbia. 

But  this  only  half  states  the  case.  While  the  waters  of  the 
Columbia  and  its  tributaries  have  made  passes  to  all  parts  of  the  river 
basin  for  the  railroad,  they  are  themselves  a  means  of  transportation 


72  History  of  Portland. 


of  the  most  gigantic  power.  To  be  sure,  this  river,  and  the  rivers 
which  feed  it,  are  wild  and  violent  streams.  They  flow  with  great 
force,  often  break  into  rapids,  and  are  at  many  places  obstructed  by 
rocks.  The  Columbia  has  four  impassable  rapids,  or  cataracts,  and 
half  a  dozen  others  of  such  strength  as  to  strain  a  strong  steamer  in 
passing.  The  Snake  river  is  swift  and  turbulent  through  a  large 
part  of  its  course  and  boasts  the  highest  water  fall  of  any  great  river 
in  North  America.  Such  streams  as  the  Deschutes,  John  Day, 
Klickitat,  Yakima,  Spokane,  Palouse,  Fend  d' Oreille,  Okanagon  and 
Kootenai,  or  the  tributaries  of  the  Snake,  for  the  larger  portions  of 
their  way  are  fierce  torrents  cutting  their  canyons  hundreds  and  in 
places  thousands  of  feet  deep  into  solid  rock.  But  it  is  by  no  means 
impossible  to  bring  most  of  these  rivers  into  use  for  the  purposes  of 
commerce.  By  canals,  locks,  boat  railways,  wing  dams  and  removal 
of  obstructions,  the  Columbia  may  be  made  navigable  for  all  sorts  of 
river  craft,  for  one  thousand  miles.  It  will  thereby  become  an  artery 
of  commerce  bearing  a  fleet  of  steamers  and  barges  loaded  with  grain 
and  ores.  Any  product  might  thus  be  brought  even  from  the  British 
line  at  prices  which  literally  '^defy  competition."  The  opening  of 
the  Snake  river  to  its  head  waters  would  be  a  matter  of  more  difficulty, 
but  to  the  Salmon  Falls  the  river  may  be  improved  so  as  to 
accommodate  steamboats  of  all  kinds.  Ever>'  one  of  the  hundred 
minor  streams  might  likewise  be  made  fit  for  bearing  off"  the  abundant 
products  of  the  soil.  The  time  may  come  when  a  net  work  of  canals, 
both  for  irrigation  and  for  the  uses  of  commerce  will  cover  the  surface 
of  the  Columbia  Basin.  Such  commerce  will  necessarily  flow  to  the 
Columbia,  and  to  Portland.  The  value  of  water  will  be  better 
understood.  The  railroad  as  an  agent  for  transportation  has  been 
exaggerated  somewhat  out  of  its  natural  proportions.  Its  great  speed 
will  always  commend  it  to  travelers,  but  in  the  movement  of  such 
hea\y  articles  as  grain  and  minerals,  rocks  and  wood,  the  slower  but 
less  expensive  water  will  play  a  ver\^  important  part.  As  population 
increases  in  the  continental  areas,  there  will  spring  up  a  class  of 
hydraulic  engineers  and  inland  navigators  bringing  our  numberless 
rivers  to  their  highest  use  as  generators  of  power,  as  means  of 
irrigation  and  of  transportation. 


Position  and  Advantages.  73 


As  was  noticed  in  reference  to  the  waters  of  the  Willamette 
Valley  these  streams  of  the  Columbia  Basin  will  have  a  high  value 
in  restraining  railroads  from  extortionate  charges.  This  will  make 
the  people  of  the  upper  country  independent,  and  they  will  naturally 
look  to  the  city  which  they  reach  at  minimum  expenditure  for 
supplies  and  make  it  their  commercial  center. 

It  is  clear  beyond  all  contradiction  that,  with  the  Columbia  river 
and  its  tributaries  open  to  navigation,  Portland  commands  the 
interior  as  no  other  city  on  tide  water.  By  no  possibility  can  any 
|X)rt  on  Puget  Sound  have  two  thousand  miles  of  river  navigation, 
laying  open  the  continent  as  far  as  Idaho,  Montana  and  British 
Columbia,  By  choice  of  rail  or  river,  and  by  the  judicious  use  of 
each,  Portland  and  her  inland  customers  will  be  brought  into 
communication  at  the  greatest  possible  economy  of  both  time  and 
money,  and  the  business  between  them  will  therefore  flourish  at  the 
least  possible  expense. 

It  is  sound  policy,  therefore,  for  the  people  of  Portland  to  push 
vigorously  for  the  opening  of  the  upper  Columbia.  The  work  at 
the  Cascades,  however,  is  progressing,  and  no  doubt  within  ten 
years  the  two  thousand  miles  of  inland  navigation  will  no  longer  be 
locked  up  by  rocks  and  shoals. 

By  the  foregoing  examination  it  appears  that  while  Portland  sits 
at  the  cross  roads  of  the  great  North,  South,  East  and  West  tracks 
of  commerce,  her  avenues  of  approach  from  every  quarter  are 
perfect,  or  certainly  capable  of  being  made  so.  If  this  does  not 
enable  her  to  do  a  wider,  more  expeditious,  more  direct  and 
comprehensive  business  than  any  other  place  on  the  North  Pacific 
Coast,  there  is  nothing  in  position.  Such  are  her  commercial 
advantages. 

While  noting  these  advantages  as  pre-eminent,  it  will  not  be 
contended  that  there  is  no  room  for  other  great  cities  on  the  Coast. 
Puget  Sound  will  certainly  have  three  or  four  ;  the  Inland  Empire, 
half  a  dozen.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  there  will  be  a  large 
lumbering,  coaling,  and  shipping  city.  At  Yaquina,  at  Coos  Bay, 
and  in  Southern  Oregon  there  will  be  large  towns.  But  the  larger 
and  more  active  these  surrounding  places,   the   more  populous  and 


74.  History  of  Portland. 


energetic  will  be  the  center,  for  through  it  can  they  all  most  readily 
reach  each  other,  and  the  business  which  is  common  to  the  whole 
section  must  be  transacted  here. 

Next  in  line  comes  consideration  of  Portland's  advantages  as  a 
manufacturing  point.  First,  as  to  raw  material.  It  scarcely  need  be 
said  that  if  Portland  can  reach  even*  part  of  the  Northwest  by  natural 
channels  and  roadways,  she  can  readily  obtain  all  raw  materials 
produced  in  the  section.  Logs  for  manufacturing  lumber  may  be 
brought  up  the  Columbia  or  floated  down  it,  or  floated  down  the 
Willamette,  or  brought  on  rail  cars  from  the  forests  to  left  or  right 
Materials  for  the  manufacture  of  paper  are  found  near.  Woods  for 
excelsior,  furniture  and  ship-building  are  no  less  at  hand.  Wheat, 
oats,  r\e,  barley,  for  bread  stuffs  and  meals;  wool,  flax,  hemp,  for 
cloths,  twines  and  ropes;  broom  com;  manilla  (from  abroad)  for 
ropes;  tar  and  turpentine;  ores  of  lead,  silver,  gold,  copper  and  quick- 
silver, nickel  and  manganese  from  the  whole  circle  of  mountains; 
limestone;  cement  rock,  marble,  all  may  be  obtained  from  places 
comparatively  near.  Iron,  the  sine  qua  non  of  modem  civilization, 
lies  in  hills  of  limonite  six  miles  north,  and  also  eight  miles  south, 
and  exists  to  even  a  greater  extent  in  portions  of  Columbia  County 
distant  twentv  to  fortv  miles.  Other  iron  beds  are  accessible  from 
all  parts  of  the  Northwest  Such  a  list  of  materials  for  manufac- 
tures at  her  ver>'  doors,  which  must  in  truth  pass  by  her  to  go  else 
where  for  working  up,  shows  that  Portland  has  no  lack  of  stuff*  to 
begin  on. 

While  material  is  thus  abundant — inexhaustible — power  equal  to 
it  may  be  found  as  near.  Coal  exists  in  vast  deposits  in  the  mountains 
forty  miles  northwest,  and  may  be  obtained  also  in  ships  or  by  car- 
loads from  a  dozen  other  points.  But  the  great  source  of  power  is  the 
Fall  of  the  Willamette  at  Oregon  Cit>',  twelve  miles  south.  This  is 
one  half  greater  in  energy*  than  the  fall  of  St  Anthony,  in  the  Miss- 
issippi, at  Minneapolis.  It  is  forty  feet  high  at  low  water  of  the 
Columbia,  and  is  six  hundred  feet  across  and  never  ice  bound. 
Streams  might  be  led  out  from  above  this  fall  and  conducted  in 
flumes  along  the  hillsides  to  Portland,  and  there  be  made  to  energize 
machinery'.   But  it  is  now  a  more  popular  method  to  reduce  this  power 


Position  and  Advantages.  75 


T3y  means  of  dynamos,  to  electricity,  and  convey  it  upon  wires  direct  to 
tlie  machine  rooms  in  the  factories  at  Portland.  The  los^  is  found 
"to  be  but  eighteen  per  cent. 

As  if  this  fall  of  the  Willamette  were  not  enough — ^sufficient  to 
<:3rive  the  looms  of  Manchester — there  are  sixty  miles  distant  the  Cas- 
^z^ades  of  the  Columbia,  of  one  hundred  times  greater  strength — prac- 
ically  unlimited  and  infinite.  At  this  point  the  Columbia  falls  thirty 
eet  in  less  than  three  miles,  with  a  volume  varying  according  to  the 
ason  from  ten  million  to  seventy  million  cubic  feet  per  minute 
quite  equal  to  that  of  the    Mississippi   at  its  mouth.     There  is  no 


lace  in  the  world  were  there  is  such  an  aggregate  of  water  power  on 
"fcide  water,  as  at  Portland,  obtaining  its  supply  from  these  two 
^zrataracts.  Power  for  manufacturing,  like  raw  material,  is  found  here 
^sxisting  to  an  extent  beyond  all  calculation.  It  only  remains  to  put 
•^he  two  together  to  do  the  manufacturing  of  the  world.  Of  course 
:sneans  of  exit  and  transport  of  the  manufactured  articles  are  as  good 
the  means  of  bringing  in  the  raw  materials. 
It  only  remains  to  consider  the  supply  of  labor  to  close  the  circle 
f  manufacturing.  Laborers  by  the  thousands  may  be  gotten  in  a 
:f  ew  weeks  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  question  is  whether  the 
^x>nditions  are  such  that  once  here  they  can  work  as  cheap  and 
efficiently  as  elsewhere.  It  seems  likely  that  in  a  region  where  food 
^ind  fuel  are  unusually  plentiful  and  cheap,  and  where  from  the 
Tinildness  of  the  climate  fuel  is  not  used  to  so  great  an  extent  as  in 
<older  regions,  the  cost  of  living  would  be  so  much  reduced  that  a 
laborer  could  afford  to  work  for  at  least  as  small  wages  here  as 
elsewhere.  Nor,  with  proper  sanitary  regulations  does  any  reason 
appear  why  they  should  not  work  as  efficiently.  Particularly,  as 
seems  likely  if  the  laborers  made  homes  on  the  cheaper  lands  of  the 
hills  northwest  of  the  city,  or  on  the  highlands  northeast,  the  greater 
salubrity  of  these  elevations  should  impart  unusual  force  and  vigor 
both  of  body  and  mind.  The  healthfulness  of  Portland  is  equal  to 
that  of  Philadelphia,  the  great  manufacturing  city  of  America. 

With  command  of  unlimited  material,  power  and  labor,  Portland 
has  advantages  for  manufacturing  in  excess  of  any  city  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  if  not  in  the  world.  Indeed,  it  is  unique  and  remarkable  in 
this  regard. 


76  History  of  Portland. 


The  subject  of  salubrity  and  advantages  of  scenery,  education 
and  society — partly  natural,  partly  artificial — will  appear  farther  on 
in  this  volume,  and  may  be  omitted  here. 

As  to  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  topography,  the 
description  of  the  city's  site,  with  reference  to  the  hills  and  river  as 
given  above,  exhibits  its  abundance  of  water  front ;  its  low  lands 
easy  for  the  use  of  wholesale  houses  and  heavy  business,  for  elevators, 
manufactories  and  mills  ;  its  easy  slopes,  well  adapted  to  the  use  of 
hotels,  retail  houses,  offices  and  shops  ;  and  the  circle  of  highlands, 
whose  eminences,  knolls  and  peaks  lift  the  residence  portion  some 
hundreds  of  feet  above  the  smoke,  surcharged  air,  mist  and  malaria 
to  be  met  more  or  less  at  or  near  the  river  level.  Indeed  the 
atmosphere  of  the  Portland  hills  is  remarkably  delicate  and  pure, 
having  come  for  the  most  part  from  the  west  as  a  sea  breeze,  bearing 
the  salty  and  tonic  properties  of  its  native  region,  which  are  destructive 
to  the  land-born  germs  of  microbes  and  bacteria.  It  is  rendered 
moreover  perceptibly  odoriferous  and  balsamic  by  its  passage  over  the 
forests  of  fir  trees. 

For  a  g^eat  shipping  point  or  harbor,  one  might  think  the 
Willamette  too  narrow.  But  as  the  need  of  more  room  is  felt  it  will 
be  entirely  practicable,  as  has  been  suggested  by  government 
engineers,  to  cut  slips  into  the  alluvium  and  lagoons  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  city  for  dock  room  and  ship  accommodations  of  any  desired 
dimensions. 


78  History  of  Portland. 


and  concluded,  being  Americans,  that  they  had  as  much  right  to  the 
place  as  any  one,  and  accordingly  began  building  a  city.  A  year  of 
this  occupancy  did  as  much  for  the  growth  of  the  place  as  had  the 
preceding  eleven  of  a  British  rule.  Indeed  McLoughlin  was  so 
benevolent  as  to  permit  the  Americans  to  use  his  squared  timbers  for 
their  own  edifices.  Oregon  City  grew  to  her  supremacy  long  before 
the  first  nail  was  driven  in  a  Portland  roof.  If  any  one  of  these  three 
early  emporiums  of  the  primitive  times  had  possessed  the  position  to 
be  the  principal  places  that  they  once  aspired  to  become,  they  had 
abundant  opportunity  for  realizing  their  hopes. 

On  the  Willamette  and  the  Columbia,  numberless  other  points 
strove  to  become  the  place.  It  was  well  enough  understood  that  on 
this  strip  of  water  must  somewhere  be  located  the  metropolis  of  the 
Northwest,  and  every  new  settler  so  fortunate  as  to  own  a  piece  of 
land  on  either  side  of  the  river  hoped  to  make  it  the  center  of  the 
capital.  Opposite  Oregon  City,  Robert  Moore,  from  Pennsylvania, 
found  indications  of  iron  in  the  soil,  and  here  laid  off  Linn  City  in 
1843,  and  persisted  in  living  upon  his  site,  although  he  was  well 
laughed  at  by  one  of  our  naval  officers  for  his  extravagant  hopes. 
His  city  later  on  became  known  by  the  less  ambitious  but  more 
attractive  name  of  Robin's  Nest.  Below  Moore's,  Hugh  Bums,  an 
Irishman,  laid  off  Multnomah  City  and  started  the  place  by  setting 
up  a  blacksmith  shop.  Some  years  later  (1847),  Lot  Whitcomb,  of 
Illinois,  a  man  of  rare  enterprise,  united  with  Seth  Luelling  and 
later  with  Captain  Joseph  Kellogg,  to  make  Milwaukie  the  New  York 
of  the  Pacific  Coast,  Below  the  present  site  of  Portland,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Willamette,  was  St.  Johns,  founded  by  John  Johns, 
whose  brick  store  is  still  a  conspicuous  mark  on  the  green  slope  of 
this  beautiful  little  spot.  At  the  head  of  Sauvies'  Island  was 
Linnton,  a  most  ambitious  point,  established  as  early  as  1844  by 
M.  M.  McCarver,  with  the  assistance  of  Peter  Burnett,  both  of  whom 
were  brainy  and  stalwart  men,  famous  in  early  history.  The  former 
is  said  to  have  declared  that  his  cit}-  would  beat  anything  on  the 
coast  if  they  could  only  get  nails  enough  there.  Near  the  mouth  of 
the  Willamette  Slough  was  Milton,  founded  in  1846  by  Captain 
Nathaniel  Crosby.     On  the  Oregon  shore  opposite  the  lower  end  of 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  79 


Sauvies'  Island  where  the  lower  mouth  of  the  Willamette  unites  with 
the  Columbia  was  set  St.  Helens  on  a  natural  site  of  g^eat  beauty. 
It  was  established  about  1845-46  by  Captain  Knighton  and  others. 
The  geographical  position  of  all  these  embryo  cities  was  equal  to 
that  of  Portland,  and  the  latter  had  but  little  advantage  over  any  of 
them  in  priority  of  date  of  establishment,  or  in  thrift  and  ability 
upon  which  to  begin.      All  these  points  were  energetic  and  were 
possessed  of  unbounded  ambition  to  be  first  in  empire.     During  those 
early  years  before  1850  the  whole  lower  Willamette  was  in  a  state  of 
agitation  and  excitement,  striving  to  find  some  point,  or  node,  of 
crystalization  for   the  coming  grandeur  of  population  and  wealth. 
T^his  had  been  going  on  some  years  before  Portland  was  thought  of, 
and  she  seems  to  have  been  selected  by  nature  as  the  outcome  of  the 
struggle  for  survival. 

In  proceeding  with  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  this  city  it 
may  be  well  to  say  that  more  of  it  has  been  forgotten  than  will  ever 
be  put  on  paper.  Written  data  are  few  and  meagre,  and  what  has 
been  prepared  for  history  is  in  some  cases  ludicrously  erroneous,  as 
when — probably  by  mistake  of  the  compositor,  which  the  proof 
reader  and  editor  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  correct — ^a  man  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  at  the  time  is  affirmed  to  have  founded  Portland  on 
the  Willamette.  A  considerable  number  of  the  original  settlers  are 
still  living,  and  in  the  case  of  son^e,  recollection  is  distinct  and  most 
interesting;  while  others  find  themselves  at  fault  in  trying  to  re- 
member incidents  so  long  past,  by  them  deemed  trivial  at  the  time. 

But  without  further  explanation  the  threads  of  tradition  and  story 
as  to  the  most  remote  times  of  the  city  may  be  joined  so  as  to  form 
as  well  as  possible  an  historical  plexus. 

Long  before  its  selection  for  a  city  the  site  was  not  unnoticed. 
Travelers  now  and  then  stepped  off  from  their  canoes  or  bateaux, 
even  from  times  so  remote  as  that  of  Lewis  and  Clark;  one  of  whom 
mentions  spending  a  night  at  a  great  bend  in  the  Willamette  twelve 
miles  from  its  mouth  where  he  was  entertained  in  the  lodge  of  a  very 
intelligent  Indian  chief,  who  told  long  stories  of  his  own  people  and 
the  great  tribe  of  Calapooiah,  many  days  toward  the  mid-day  sun.     In 

1829,  one  Etienne  Lucier,    a   Frenchman   who   crossed   the  plains 
[•J 


80  History  of  Portland. 


with  Hunt  in  1811  but  afterwards  took  service  with  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  was  settled  by  McLoughlin  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river  opposite  Portland,  but  soon  went  on  to  French  Prairie. 

The  ver\'  first  who  set  foot  on  the  original  site  of  Portland  with  a 
view  to  assuming  ownership  was  William  Overton.  It  has  been 
almost  universally  stated  that  he  took  the  '"claim"  in  1843.  In  the 
first  directory-  of  Portland,  published  in  1863,  there  is  found  an 
historical  sketch,  doubtless  compiled  with  care,  which  has  become  the 
basis  of  almost  everything  written  upon  the  subject  since,  that  gives 
the  stor>'  of  beginnings  as  fgllows:  ''During  the  month  of  November, 
1843,  Hon.  A.L.  Lovejoy  (at  present  residing  at  Oregon  City)  and  a 
gentleman  named  0\'erton,  stepped  ashore  at  this  point  from  an 
Indian  canoe,  while  en  route  from  Vancouver  to  Oregon  Cit}',  and  hav- 
ing examined  the  topography  of  the  surrounding  country'  concluded, 
at  once  that  this  was  the  most  eligible  position  for  a  town  site"  It 
goes  on  to  say  that  during  the  ensuing  winter  they  made  preparations  to 
erect  a  cabin,  but  before  completing  their  arrangements  for  a  dwell- 
ing, Overton  disposed  of  his  interest  to  Mr.  F.  W.  Petty-grove,  who  in 
conjunction  with  Mr.  Lovejoy  had  the  site  sur\-eyed  and  the  bound- 
aries established,  during  the  summer  of  1844.  ''During  the  winter 
of  the  same  year  Messrs.  Lovejoy  and  Pettygrove  hired  a  man  to  com- 
mence clearing  off  timber  and  to  procure  logs  suitable  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  dwelling  hou.se  but  a  change  was  made  in  the  location, 
the  proprietors  deeming  it  more  prudent  to  commence  operations 
nearer  the  center  of  their  claim.  Immediate  preparations  were  made 
to  clear  off  the  ground  adjacent  to  where  the  Columbia  Hotel  at  present 
stands  (near  the  foot  of  Washington  Street)  and  accordingly  a  log 
house  was  erected  on  the  spot  and  occupied  by  their  employe  during 
the  winter.  The  building  completed,  and  a  portion  of  the  land 
cleared,  the  proprietors  detennined  upon  having  a  more  accurate 
survey  of  their  claim,  and,  in  the  summer  of  1845,  Thos.  A.  Brown 
was  employed  to  do  so." 

The  circumstances  as  to  time  are  quite  different  from  the  account 
given  by  Mrs.  Lovejoy,  wife  of  the  man  named  above.  She  herself 
came  to  Oregon  in  1843  and  was  soon  after  married  and  lived  with  her 
husband  at  Oregon  City.     According  to  her  memory  it  was  not  until 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  81 


the  autumn  of  1844  that  Overton  set  his  stakes  on  the  claim,  and  the 
story  of  first  occupation  runs  something  as  follows  : 

Though  the  shore  and  plateau  upon  which  Portland  now  stands 
was  at  first  a  dense  forest  with  interminable  underbrush,  there  was 
along  the  bank  from  about  Washington  street  to  Jefferson  something 
of  an  opening,  the  underwood  having  been  cleared  away,  perhaps  by 
Indian  campers.  There  were  maple  and  oak  trees  on  the  spot. 
Being  a  delightfully  shady  place  and  about  half  way  between  Oregon 
City  and  Vancouver,  it  became  convenient  as  a  stopping  place  for 
parties  on  the  river  to  land  for  a  mid-day  meal.  Lovejoy  going  upon 
business  in  November  of  '44  from  his  home  at  Oregon  City  to 
Vancouver,  fell  in,  at  the  latter  place,  with  the  young  man  Overton, 
and  as  it  suited  the  convenience  of  both,  the  two  arranged  for  making 
together  the  return  trip  to  Oregon  City.  As  they  were  passing  up 
the  Willamette  and  arrived  at  the  grove,  the  two  men  went  ashore, 
and  Overton  was  pleased  to  show  his  friend  about  the  place,  saying 
that  it  was  his  '*  claim,"  taken  but  a  few  weeks  before.  Lovejoy, 
with  a  critical  eye,  noticed  the  apparent  depth  of  water  off  shore, 
and  the  indications  at  the  bank  that  ships  had  made  this  a  stopping 
place.  Overton  now  disclosed  the  fact  that  he  had  no  means  to  take 
the  legal  steps  to  secure  the  claim  according  to  law,  and  offered 
Lovejoy  a  half  interest  in  the  claim  for  the  expense  of  recording, 
and  the  latter  closed  the  bargain.  By  this  means  our  city's  site  fell 
into  the  hands  of  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  capable  men  then 
in  the  territory. 

Of  Overton  very  little  is  known.  His  name  does  not  appear  on 
any  list  of  immigrants  from  the  East,  and  it  is  surmised  that  he 
drifted  in  from  the  sea,  or  came  up  in  '43  from  California  with  the 
company  who  journeyed  hither  with  Joseph  Gale,  a  still  older  pioneer, 
and  his  herd  of  cattle.  It  has  been  remarked  of  him  in  humorous 
phrase,  **This  man  Overton  stalks  through  the  twilight  of  these 
early  annals  like  a  phantom  of  tradition,  so  little  is  known  of  his 
history,  character  and  fate."  Col.  Nesmith  says  he  **was  a  desperate, 
rollicking  fellow  and  sought  his  fortunes  in  Texas,  where,  as  I  have 
heard,  his  career  was  brought  to  a  sudden  termination  by  a  halter." 
It  is  agreed  that  he  came  from  Tennessee;  and  that  after  his  short 


82  History  of  Portland. 


residence  in  Oregon  he  went  to  Texas.  According  to  the  recollection 
of  Mrs.  Lovejoy,  he  was  an  agreeable,  well  appearing  young  man, 
and  she  discredits  the  report  of  his  hanging  in  the  Lone  Star  State. 
From  his  name  and  native  country  it  has  been  conjectured  that  he 
was  a  member  of  the  family  of  Overtons  in  Memphis,  who  were 
among  the  founders  of  that  city.  But  whatever  his  character  or  fate, 
he  played  only  an  incidental  part  in  our  history.  Soon  after 
completing  his  settlement  he  was  seeking  to  sell  his  interest  in  the 
claim,  on  the  ground  that  he  must  go  to  his  mother  who,  as  he  now 
heard,  was  sick  in  Texas.  He  succeeded  in  disposing  of  this  to  F. 
W.  Petty  grove  for  an  **  outfit,"  worth  perhaps  fifty  dollars.^ 

General  Lovejoy  was,  on  the  other  hand,  one  whose  name  and 
history  are  clear  and  bright  throughout  the  whole  of  the  old  Oregon ; 
a  dashing,  dauntless  sort  of  a  man  with  many  popular  and 
commanding  qualities,  whose  career  is  closely  interwoven  with  that 
of  the  whole  Northwest.  The  most  successful  of  the  business  men 
of  Portland  have  come  from  New  England  or  New  York,  and  it  was 
perhaps  as  a  sort  of  augiir>'  of  this  fact  that  the  first  real  owner  of 
soil  here  should  be  from  the  old  Bay  State.  Lovejoy  was  a  native  of 
Groton.  He  studied  at  Cambridge,  but  was  an  alumnus  at  Amherst 
college.  He  became  a  lawyer  and  was  among  the  first  of  the  legal 
profession  that  came  to  this  coast  On  both  sides  of  his  house  he  was 
of  excellent  family,  his  mother's  people  being  the  Lawrences,  of  fame 
on  the  east  coast.  Soon  after  finishing  his  professional  studies  he 
was  led  by  that  spirit  of  romance  and  adventure,  which  in  men  takes 
the  form  of  action — in  women  emotion,  in  poets  imagination — to 
push  out  to  the  west  and  follow  the  steps  of  such  enthusiasts  as  Kelly 
and  Wyeth,  and  other  idealists  and  discoverers,  who  had  set  out  from 
the  little  rocky  hills  and  stem  shores  of  the  *' downcast"  to  thrid 


1  The  first  owner  of  the  Portland  land-claim  was  William  Overton,  a  Tennessean, 
who  came  to  Oregon  about  184-3,  and  presently  took  possession  of  the  place, 
where  he  made  shingles  for  a  time,  but  being  of  a  restless  disposition,  went  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  returning  dissatisfied  and  out  of  health,  resolved  to  go  to 
Texas.  Meeting  with  A.  L.  Lovejoy  at  Vancouver,  and  returning  with  him  to  Port- 
land in  a  canoe,  he  offered  to  resign  the  claim  to  him,  but  subsequently  changed  his 
mind,  thinking  to  remain,  yet  giving  Lovejoy  half  on  condition  that  he  would  aid  in 
improving  it;  for  the  latter,   as  he  says  in  his  Founding  of  Portland,  MSS  30 — 34, 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  83 

the  labyrinths  of  the  North  American  continent.  He  reached 
Missouri  and  began  practicing  law.  Here  he  came  upon  Dr.  Elijah 
White,  the  physician  and  missionary  who  had  spent  several  years  in 
Oregon  at  Chemawa,  near  Salem,  had  returned  east,  and  now  was  on 
the  way  west  again,  with  considerable  dignity  and  pomp  as  United 
States  sub-Indian  agent  for  Oregon  ;  and,  better  yet,  was  the  leader 
of  a  party  of  above  one  hundred  to  this  remote  region.  Joining 
himself  to  the  company,  Lovejoy  became  an  active  and  daring  rover 
of  the  plains,  and  together  with  Hastings,  another  scion  of  a  good 
eastern  family,  became  the  subject  of  a  romantic  adventure  by  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  savages  at  Independence  Rock.  It  was 
customary  to  cut  one*s  name  on  this  conspicuous  pile,  and  he  was 
carving  his  own  in  large  characters  when,  stepping  back  to  view  his 
work,  having  drawn  a  flourish  over  the  **  Y,*'  he  was  embraced  by  a 
very  large  Indian.  A  band  of  Sioux  was  soon  on  the  spot,  and  the 
two  young  men  separated  from  their  train,  were  threatened  with 
instant  massacre.  The  savages  were  especially  fierce  in  their 
demonstrations  against  Lovejoy,  leaving  Hastings  almost  unnoticed. 
This  was  attributed  by  the  former  to  the  fact  that  the  latter  was  of 
a  very  dark  complexion,  and  was  perhaps  supposed  to  be  of  kith  to 
the  captors.  Happily,  the  guide,  Fitzpatrick,  saw  the  affair  from  the 
train,  which  was  a  few  miles  distant,  and  Dr.  White  came  to  the  rescue 
with  some  tobacco  and  trinkets,  which  were  on  the  whole  more 
valuable  to  the  strolling  Sioux  than  two  white  men,  dead  or  alive. 

Reaching  the  Walla  Walla  Valley  in  October,  Lovejoy  found  Dr. 
Whitman,  the  devoted  missionary  and  intrepid  pioneer,  at  Wailatpu, 
anxious  to  go  to  Washington  and  Boston.  Although  having  just 
performed  a  trip  that  was  most  fatiguing,  Lovejoy  had  the  courage  to 
join  himself  to  the  doctor  as  a  comrade  and  to  ride  back  across  the 


observed  the  masts  and  booms  of  vessels  which  had  been  left  there,  and  it  occurred 
to  him  that  this  was  the  place  for  a  town. 

After  some  clearing  preparatory  to  building  a  house,  Overton  again  determined  to 
leave  Oregon,   and  sold  his  half  of  the  claim  to  P.  W.  Pettygrove,  for  a  small  sum, 
and  went  to  Texas,  where,  it  has  been  said,  he  was  hanged.     Bancroft's  History  of 
Northwest  Coast,  Vol  11.  p.  8—9. 

Bancroft,  however,   states  in  a  note  further  down  that  Overton  came  to  Portland 
&om  the  Sandwich  Islands  on  the  Toulon  in  1846,  after  his  reported  removal  to  Texas. 


84  History  of  Portland. 


continent ;  now,  however,  making  the  journey  in  the  dead  of  winter. 
Long  marches,  snow  storms,  bitter  winds,  crossing  of  violent  half- 
frozen  streams  ;  wanderings,  bewilderments,  frost  bites  and  starvation 
diet — sometimes  eating  dog  meat — ^and  riding  jaded  animals,  this  was 
the  order  of  the  exercises  from  November  to  February.  Their  route 
led  by  Santa  Fe. 

In  the  season  of  '43  he  joined  the  emigrants  and  made  the  journey 
once  more  across  the  plains  and  mountains,  reaching  Fort  Vancouver 
in  the  autumn. 

Such  was  Amos  Lawrence  Lovejoy,  a  frank-faced,  open-hearted 
man  with  blue  eyes,  fair  complexion  and  dark,  auburn  hair,  who 
stepped  ashore  with  the  Tennessean,  and  laid  claim  to  the  site  of 
Portland.  The  two  peered  about  in  the  deep  woods  more  or  less,  but 
soon  went  on  to  Oregon  City  for  their  abode,  while  making  ready  to 
hew  out  a  site  among  the  big  trees  at  Portland.  By  purchase  from 
Overton,  F.  W.  Pettygrove,  who  had  come  from  the  State  of  Maine, 
now  became  a  partner  of  Lovejoy' s.  The  same  year  a  cabin  was 
built  of  logs  near  the  foot  of  Washington  street  as  it  now  runs. 

Francis  W.  Pettygrove  was  a  representative  man  of  the  mercan- 
tile class  of  half  a  century  ago.  He  was  bom  in  Calais,  Me.,  in 
1812,  received  a  common  school  education  in  his  native  place,  and 
afterwards  engaged  in  independent  business  ventures.  At  the  age  of 
thirty  he  accepted  the  offer  of  an  eastern  mercantile  company  to 
bring  to  Oregon  a  stock  of  goods.  He  shipped  his  articles  and  took 
passage  with  his  wife  and  child  on  the  bark  Victoria^  but  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands  was  obliged  to  transfer  to  the  bark  FamBy  Capt 
Nye.  Upon  this  vessel  he  came  to  the  Columbia  river  and  ascended 
to  Fort  Vancouver.  To  transport  his  goods  to  Oregon  City,  the 
point  for  which  he  was  aiming,  he  was  obliged  to  engage  the  services 
of  a  schooner  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Once  at  the  Falls, 
after  hi^  arduous  and  somewhat  troublesome  passage  hither,  he  met 
with  good  success  in  the  sale  of  his  merchandise.  After  disposing 
of  this,  he  engaged  in  the  fur  trade,  and  erecting  a  warehouse  at  Oregon 
City  was  enabled  to  control  to  quite  an  extent  the  wheat  trade  of 
French  Prairie.  His  labors  in  establishing  Portland  were  crowned 
with  success  and  he  became  a  valued  and  trusted  friend  of  General 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  85 


Lovejoy,  and  was  universally  known  throughout  the  entire  territor}- 
as  a  capable  man  of  business  and  honorable  in  all  the  relations  of 
life.  Although  fortune  would  have  awaited  him  here,  the  opening 
of  the  forests  and  breaking  of  the  soil  so  far  induced  malarial 
troubles  that  he  was  led  to  seek  the  sea  coast  for  the  sake  of 
his  health.  It  was  in  1851  that  he  sold  out  his  remaining 
interests  at  Portland,  and  embarking  on  a  schooner  sailed  away 
together  with  several  other  Portland  people  to  the  straits  of  Fuca, 
establishing  the  city  of  Port  Townsend,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death  in  1887. 

The  work  of  these  earliest  founders  may  be  easily  imagined. 
Lovejoy  spent  the  most  of  his  time  in  the  Isfw  office  at  the  Falls 
wrestling  with  legal  problems  with  the  new  arrivals  in  his  profession, 
or  urging  on  the  course  pf  politics,  and  therefore  did  not  give 
largely  of  his  time  to  manual  labor.  The  story  is  told,  however, 
that  he  **struck  the  first  blow,"  that  is,  we  suppose  that  he  was  the 
first  to  lay  hold  of  an  axe  and  fell  a  fir  tree — becoming  thereby,  the 
first  to  set  in  motion  the  wild  music  in  our  woods,  which  since  that 
day  has  almost  constantly  sounded  on  the  Portland  site  and  still  rings 
in  the  decimated  forests  on  the  environs.  By  the  printed  accounts  it 
appears  that  it  was  a  hired  man  who  felled  the  trees  for  the  cabin, 
and  built  the  establishment  Undoubtedly,  both  Pettygrove  and 
Lovejoy  did  not  hesitate  to  take  off  their  coats,  and  lift  with  the 
crowbar.  From  the  long  connection  of  the  former  with  the  '  *shingle 
store,"  it  seems  only  natural  that  he  did  some  of  the  shake-laying  on 
the  roof  of  this  first  shanty,  which  the  records  refer  to  so  respectfully 
as  a  * 'dwelling."  It  seems  to  have  been  originally  intended  to  put 
the  house  on  a  spot  near  the  ravine  where  the  Portland  steam  saw- 
mill first  stood,  at  the  foot  of  Jefferson  street,  but  the  site  near  the 
foot  of  Washington  street  was  afterward  selected.  In  1845  the  land 
was  surveyed  and  some  four  streets  were  laid  off,  making  a  plat  of 
sixteen  blocks.  The  portion  east  of  Front  street  to  the  river  was 
not  platted,  or  rather  the  whole  street  and  shore  were  left  as  one 
broad  street  and  called  * 'Water."  It  was  perhaps  expected  that  this 
should  always  be  free  for  the  use  of  the  public,  and  that  the  row  of 
blocks   between    Front  street  and  the  river  should  not  be  held  bv 


86  History  of  Portland. 


private  parties.  For  a  village,  without  docks  or  warehouses,  it  was, 
at  any  rate,  a  liberal  plan.  The  streets  were  laid  sixty  feet  wide  and 
the  lots  stood  fifty  feet  front  by  one  hundred  feet  deep,  with  eight  in  a 
block.  These  dimensions,  especially  as  to  width  of  streets  are  now 
rather  straitened  for  our  compact  and  busy  city,  but  in  the  primitive 
days  seemed  ample,  particularly  in  consideration  of  the  immense 
timber  to  be  felled  and  cleared  away. 

In  due  time  arose  the  necessity  of  naming  the  place.  The 
christening  was  done  in  quite  an  informal  and  characteristic  man- 
ner. Lovejoy  and  wife,  Pettygrove  and  wife,  and  a  Mr.  Wilson 
being  at  dinner  in  their  residence  at  Oregon  City  a  little  banter  began 
to  flow  back  and  forth  about  the  prospects  of  the  city  a  dozen  miles 
below.  It  was  soon  inquired  by  what  appellation  it  should  be  known 
the  world  over.  Lovejoy,  being  from  Massachusetts,  wished  to  name 
it  Boston;  Pettygrove,  of  Maine,  favored  Portland.  It  was  jestingly 
agreed  to  decide  the  controversy  by  tossing  a  penny.  Pettygrove 
happening  to  have  a  copper — a.  memento  of  old  times  **Down  East" 
— gave  the  skillful  flip  which  secured  his  pet  name  for  the  city  of  one 
log  cabin.  At  the  first  throw  he  was  successful,  and  to  please  his 
antagonist  a  trial  by  three  throws  was  made,  Pettygrove  securing 
two. 

It  was  comparatively  an  active  time  on  the  river  that  season.  In 
the  autumn  arrived  a  large  immigration  from  across  the  mountains, 
and  as  they  passed  by  in  boat  loads  they  stopped  to  exchange  greetings, 
and  to  make  inquiries.  Some  of  them,  as  James  Field,  and  James 
Terwilliger,  stopped  off"  to  stay,  and  to  help  build  the  city.  In  the 
fall  also  arrived  the  Toulon,  under  Capt.  Crosby,  and  the  crew  of  the 
vessel  came  ashore  to  help  Terwilliger  to  erect  his  cabin. 

In  1846  another  of  the  noted  men  of  early  times  appeared  as  owner 
of  a  part  of  the  site  of  our  city.  This  was  John  H.  Couch.-  He  had 
been  to  Oregon  six  years  before  as  a  ship-master.  He  was  a  Yankee, 
hailing  from  Newburyport,  Mass. ,  and  one  who  had  grown  up  in 
mercantile  and  nautical  life,  having  early  sailed  to  the  West  Indies. 
In  1839,  he  was  commissioned  Captain  of  the  brig  Matyland  hy  John 
and  Caleb  Cushing,  of  Newburyport,  to  take  a  cargo  of  merchandise 
to  the  Columbia  river.     It  was  planned  to  sell  the  goods  in  Oregon, 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  87 


load  up  with  salmon  in  the  Columbia  river  and  sail  to  the  Sandwich 

Islands.     There  exchanging  his  cargo  of  fish  for  oil,  he  should  return 

home,  doubling  his  money  at  each   turn.     The  plan  was  good  and 

Couch  made  the  trip  out  in  safety.      He  brought  his  brig  over  the 

Columbia  Bar,  having  no  pilot  nor  chart,  and  in  the  summer  of  IS^O 

landed  at  Oregon  City.     He  met  with  no  success,  however,  in  disposing 

of  his    goods,   being   unable   to   compete   with    the  Hudson^ s  Bay 

Company.     He  had  no  better  fortune  in  obtaining  salmon  and  went 

empty  to  the  Islands,  where  he  sold  his  brig  and  secured  passage 

home  in  a  whaler.     The  Cushings  were  ready,    however,   to  try  the 

experiment  again,  and  the  bark  Chenamus  was  built  under  the  eye 

of  Couch,  modeled,  it  is  said,  after  an  Indian  canoe  and  named  for 

Chenamus,  a  Chinook  chieftan.      Couch  on  the  second  voyage  came 

J>repared  to  stay  with  his  goods,  to  sell   them   out  on  credit  and  to 

^^stablish  a  Yankee  store.     He  met  thereby  with  better  success.      In 

;{>assing  up  and  down  the  lower  Willamette,  he  soon  discovered  the 

"^^Thereabouts  of  the  Clackamas  shoals  near  Oregon  City  and   the  Ross 

slatid  Bar  just  above  Portland.      He  was  obliged  on  one  occasion  to 

se  batteaux  to  lighter  up  his  goods  to  market.      He  looked,  therefore, 

uite   sharply  for  the  place  nearest  the  center   of  population  fit  to 

the  point  of  transfer  of  goods  from  the  sea  vessels  to  the  river 

ft,  or  to  land  conveyance.     He  had  been  advised  on  his  first  voyage 

o  drop  down  from  Oregon  City  below  the  Ross  Island  Bar,  in  order 

o  avoid  being  caught  above  the  shoals  when  the  water  fell,  and  had, 

Tierefore,  passed  down  and   come  to  anchor  off  Portland.      By  this 

circumstance,  and  by  further  examination,  he  decided  that  Portland 

as  the  proper  place  and  took  up  the  claim  adjoining  that  of  Lovejoy 

nd   Pettygrove  on  the  north.     Although    returning   for  a  visit  to 

assachusetts  he  came  again  to  his   possession,    bought   back  the 

sortion  claimed  by  another,  and  thereafter  became  eminent  in  building 

p  the  city. 

The  early  settlers  of  Portland — to  use  an  expression  of  Judge 

ourgee's — *' squatted   hard"    and   struggled   mightily  against  the 

vironment  of  fir  trees.     Pettygrove  built  a  store,  Terwilliger  started 

blacksmith  shop.     John  Waymire  put  up  a  double  log  cabin  and 

eld  his  oxen  in  readiness  for  hauling  goods  from  any  chance  ship 


88  History  of  Portland. 


that  might  come  to  port.  Whip-saws  that  had  been  brought  across 
the  plains  were  gotten  out  of  the  Missouri  wagons,  scoured  up  and 
made  smooth  with  bacon  grease,  and  with  long,  lank  stroke  the 
backwoodsman  began  to  worry  through  the  sappy  and  pitchy  fir  logs 
to  make  boards  of  divers  widths  and  thickness.  To  those  accustomed 
to  the  hard  wood,  or  even  the  white  pine  of  the  East,  our  fir  trees 
were  rude  and  formidable,  and  many  a  raw  hand  emerged  from  the 
forest  sore  and  distressed,  and  like  Noah's  ark  pitched  inside  and  out 
with  pitch.  Bennett  and  some  other  young  men  set  up  a  shingle 
camp.  D.  H.  Lownsdale  was  enticed  ashore  by  the  eligibility  of  the 
site,  took  up  a  claim  west  of  Pettygrove's  and  started  a  tannery. 
William  Johnson,  whose  Indian  wife  is  always  mentioned  in  connection 
with  his  name,  built  a  cabin  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Garuthers 
place,  smuggling  his  domicile  in  an  opening  in  the  timber  where  a 
stream  made  the  spot  inimical  to  the  fir  trees.  Daniel  Lunt,  off  the 
Cbenamus,  took  up  the  land  next  south.  James  Stephens  occupied 
the  claim  just  across  the  river.  The  town  got  occasional  accretions 
and  made  little  growths,  and  life  rolled  on  in  its  toils  and  perversities, 
as  well  as  enjoyments  and  triumphs,  toward  the  year  1849.  Public 
events  were  few,  and  the  stream  of  life  and  incident  is  so  slender  that 
it  will  be  quite  impossible  to  follow  it  in  its  details.  With  the  coming 
of  the  year  of  gold  there  was  a  great  change,  and  this  account  of 
the  primitive  times  from  1845  to  1849  may  now  be  filled  out  by  a 
resume  of  the  people,  the  houses  and  the  ships  that  one  would  see  or 
meet  with  in  antique  Portland.  This  work  being  quite  largely  for 
reference  must  be  pardoned  for  adopting  a  somewhat  cyclopediac 
form,  and  its  pages  will  be  regarded  rather  as  a  record  of  people  and 
works  than  as  a  moving  panorama  of  events. 

As  well  worthy  to  head  the  list  of  early  residents,  after  the 
founders,  may  be  mentioned  Mr.  D.  H.  Lownsdale,  who  arrived  in 
Oregon  in  1845,  and  not  long  afterwards  occupied  the  section  west 
of  the  town  site,  establishing  a  tannery  near  the  present  place  of  the 
industrial  exposition  building.  He  sold  this  in  1848  to  Messrs. 
Ebson  and  Balance.  Following  these  in  possession  came  Mr.  A.  M. 
King,  who  still  owns  the  place,  and  is  now  one  of  Portland's 
millionaires.     He  crossed  the  plains  in  1845,  from  Missouri,  and  first 


90  History  of  Portland. 


In  March,  1846,  came  Mr.  Job  McNemee,  of  Ohio,  who  had  also 
crossed  the  continent  the  year  previous.  He  brought  with  him  a 
family  of  wife  and  four  children,  three  sons  and  a  daughter,  the  latter 
of  whom  all  Portlanders  now  know  as  Mrs.  E.  J.  Northrup,  one  of  our 
most  worthy  and  representative  women.  Upon  the  arrival  of  £amiilies 
began  those  more  refined  wa\'s  and  sprung  up  those  interests  which 
take  the  edge  off  of  the  semi-barbarism  of  a  simple  shipping  station 
or  stopping  point 

John  Wa>'mire,  a  Missourian,  an  immigrant  of  1845,  came  to 
Lovejoy's  claim  in  1846.  He  found  occupation  here  in  boating 
goods  to  Oregon  City  from  the  ships  that  anchored  at  Portland.  In 
this  emplo\Tnent  he  made  use  of  the  oxen  which  he  had  brought 
across  the  plains;  and,  in  fact,  monopolized  the  express  business.  He 
also  kept  open  house  at  his  cabin  for  travelers,  although  in  those 
early  times  those  who  passed  to  and  fro,  either  by  canoe  or  by  ca>mse 
pony,  carried  their  blankets  with  them,  and  were  always  welcome  to 
eat  and  sleep  at  any  hut  to  which  they  came,  particularly  if  they 
happened  upon  that  of  one  whom  they  had  known  on  the  plains. 
In  addition  to  these  labors,  Mr.  Waymire  set  up  a  saw-mill  on  Front 
street,  the  sole  machiner\'  being  a  whip-saw,  operated  by  one  man 
who  stood  on  the  log  above  and  did  the  up  stroke,  and  by  another 
who  stood  below  and  did  the  down  stroke  and  got  the  dust  This 
active  pioneer,  who  has  for  many  years  been  a  prominent  resident  cf 
Polk  count\',  accomplished  ver>-  much  for  the  early  commerce  of 
Portland. 

There  was,  moreover,  a  camp  of  shingle  makers  who  preyed  upon 
the  beautiftil  cedar  trees  that  grew  among  the  fir  and  hemlocks, — 
bachelor  boys;  among  whom  are  to  be  reckoned  \Vm.  H.  Bennett,  a 
nephew  of  G.  \V.  Ebbert  the  octogenarian  of  Washington  count\*, 
who  came  out  to  the  Rocky  mountains  with  Joseph  L.  Meek  in  1829; 
and  Richard  E.  Wiley.     Both  were  intelligent,  active  men. 

Dr.  Ralph  Wilcox  of  New  York,  a  pioneer  of  1843,  was  the  first 
physician,  and  also  the  first  school  teacher.  In  a  little  frame  building 
on  Front  and  Taylor  Streets  put  up  by  Mr.  McXemee  he  kept  a 
school  of  about  a  dozen  scholars.  Dr.  Wilcox  was  for  manv  vears 
prominent  before  the   public  as  a  citizen  of  Portland,  and  afterwards 


92  History  of  Portland. 


in  any  community.''  After  Col.  King  came  to  Portland,  if  there 
was  anything  going  on  he  was  sure  to  have  a  hand  in  it,  and  perhaps 
to  be  very  near  the  bottom  of  it. 

Captain  Nathaniel  Crosby  was  from  Cape  Cod,  Massachusetts.  In 
early  life  he  went  to  sea,  rose  at  length  to  the  position  of  master  and 
finally  owner  of  a  vessel.  He  was,  next  after  Couch,  the  first  to 
engage  in  a  regular  trade  at  Portland,  and  accomplished  as  much  as 
any  one  for  the  establishment  of  our  commerce.  After  leaving 
Portland,  and  not  succeeding  to  his  mind  in  building  up  a  city  at 
the  lower  mouth  of  the  Willamette,  he  removed  to  Puget  Sound  and 
engaged  in  milling  at  Tumwater,  near  Olympia.  He  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  and  most  prominent  citizens  of  Washington  Territory. 

Benjamin  Stark,  a  name  so  well  known  in  Portland  and 
perpetuated  in  Stark  street,  was  bom  in  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
January  26,  1822.  He  was  graduated  from  Union  School,  New 
London,  Connecticut,  in  1835.  Here  he  entered  upon  a  business 
career,  beginning  in  a  counting  house  in  New  York  City,  and  became 
a  merchant.  In  1845  he  came  to  Oregon  as  supercargo  on  the  bark 
Toulon  and  engaged  in  trade.  He  afterwards  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  1850.  He  now  rapidly  rose  in  public  preferment 
and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Territorial  House  of  the  Legislature, 
and  in  1 861  was  appointed  U.  S.  Senator  by  Governor  Whiteaker  to 
fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Col.  E.  D.  Baker.  He  served  to  December 
1,  1862.  He  was  prominent  in  politics  as  a  Democrat,  acting  as 
delegate  from  Oregon  to  the  National  Convention  of  the  Democratic 
party  at  Chicago  in  1864,  and  in  1868  from  Connecticut  to  the 
Convention  in  New  York.  He  has  for  many  years  been  a  resident  of 
New  London,  Connecticut. 

From  the  above  enumeration  it  will  be  seen  that  even  in  the 
primitive  days  Portland  had  a  considerable  community  of  intelligent 
and  wideawake  people.  Being  frontiersmen,  or  at  any  rate  having 
acquired  the  frontier  habits  and  manners  in  coming  hither,  they  were 
exceptionally  sociable  and  hospitable.  They  kept  the  evenings 
lively  around  their  hearthstones,  and  had  candy  pulls  and  parties  and 
took  pleasure  rides  in  their  canoes  on  the  river.  The  coming  of  a 
ship,  the  erection  of  a  new  house,  or  the  felling  of  the  immense 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  93 


trees,  formed  items  of  news  and  topics  of  conversation  fully  as 
valuable  and  interesting  as  the  staple  of  to-day.  School  was  kept 
up,  and  religious  meetings  were  by  no  means  neglected.  In  this 
latter  regard  the  Methodists  were  the  advanced  guard  ;  Rev.  J.  S. 
Smith  or  Father  Kelly  coming  down  from  their  homes  at  stated 
times  to  hold  worship  in  the  cooper  shop,  which  was  the  most 
commodious  building  for  the  purpose. 

How  it  looked  at  Portland  then  was  about  how  it  looks  now  at 
any  one  of  the  score  of  river  villages  in  the  woods  to  be  seen  on  the 
lower  Columbia.  The  forest  was  a  little  notched.  Grand  trees  lay 
almost  three  hundred  feet  long  on  the  ground,  and  so  big  and  burly 
that  the  settler  felt  grimly  after  his  day's  labor  in  chopping  one  down, 
that  he  had  only  made  matters  worse  by  getting  it  in  the  way.  He 
examined  his  sore  muscles  and  blistered  hands  and  wondered  where 
the  strength  was  to  come  from  to  remove  the  monster  ;  while  his  cow 
lifted  up  her  nose  at  the  shaggy  bark  and  impending  boughs,  finding 
the  path  that  she  had  made  through  the  underbrush  at  many  days' 
toil  once  more  hopelessly  closed.  So  much  for  background.  On  the 
river  bank  was  a  small  wharf ;  at  the  foot  of  Salmon  street  a  fishery. 
On  Front  street  at  the  foot  of  Washington  stood  Pettygrove's  new 
store,  an  ambitious  building,  made  of  hewn  logs  and  covered  with 
shingles,  giving  by  its  peculiar  style  and  ensemble  something  of  a 
shock  to  the  architectural  feelings  of  the  new  comer.  On  the  same 
block  stood  Pettygrove's  house,  also  a  pretentious  structure.  The 
cooper  shop  stood  on  the  site  of  the  Skidmore  dnig  store,  and  on  Second 
street  was  a  building  which  the  old  timers  still  speak  of  with  more 
respect  than  they  now  accord  to  the  Hotel  Portland.  This  was  Capt. 
Crosby's  story  and  half  residence  with  dormer  windows;  which  is  the 
sole  dwelling  of  our  antique  grandeur,  and  now  stands  on  Fourth 
street  There  was  one  cabin  put  up  by  O' Bryant  which  was  covered 
with  a  rustic  of  split  cedar  boards,  but  of  the  ten  or  fifteen  others 
— ^not  named  above — the  most  were  constructed  of  round  logs. 

A  description  by  Mr.  James  Field  of  the  houses  in  the  village  in 
February,  1847,  is  quite  explicit,  and  although  to  a  certain  extent  a 
repetition  of  the  foregoing,  may  be  inserted  here.  Approaching  the 
town  from  the  lower  river  one  noticed  about  the  foot  of  B  street  on 


94  History  of  Portland. 


the  shore,  a  log  hut;  sometimes  used  by  Capt  Couch  as  a  place  of 
storage  for  goods,  and  possibly  for  occupation  for  himself  when  off 
ship.  Coming  further  up,  past  a  stumpy  shore,  you  saw  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  Front  and  Washington  streets  Pettygrove's  store 
and  house.  Near  by  was  Whittaker's  small  one-story  frame  building. 
On  Alder  and  Front  was  situated  Job  McNemee's  two-story  residence, 
and  on  the  same  block  was  a  house  occupied  by  Thos.  Tallantyre, 
who  had  on  the  river  bank  in  front  an  establishment  for  cutting 
lumber  with  a  whip-saw.  On  the  comer  of  Taylor  and  Front  streets 
appeared  the  double  log  cabin  of  John  Waymire,  in  many  respects  the 
most  important  structure  in  the  city.  Next  south,  in  the  middle  of 
the  block,  was  the  house  of  Dr.  Ralph  Wilcox.  On  the  north  side 
of  Taylor,  between  Front  and  First,  stood  a  little  cabin  7x9, 
which  for  many  years  led  a  sort  of  uncertain  and  wandering  life, 
such  as  its  exceeding  smallness  made  quite  possible.  On  Main  street 
between  First  and  Second  was  the  blacksmith  shop  of  James  Terwilli- 
ger  and  his  house  stood  near.  On  the  south  side  of  Taylor  was  the 
cabin  of  Mr.  Doane.  There  were  also  one  or  two  houses,  or  cabins, 
on  the  back  streets  in  the  gloaming  of  the  fir  trees.  This  baker's 
dozen  of  separate  roofs  comprised  all  Portland  forty-three  years  ago. 

The  streets  were,  of  course,  little  more  than  ox  paths,  and  skid- 
ways  among  the  stumps;  gouged  out,  tramped,  bemired  in  the  rainy 
winter  weather;  and  in  the  dry  times  raw  and  dusty.  The  city  was  in 
those  days  only  large  enough  to  grow,  but  the  swift  years  were  on 
the  way  to  bring  it  to  metropolitan  honors.  So  much  for  the  people 
and  houses;  now  for  the  ships. 

The  river  front  was,  comparatively  speaking,  lively  with  crafts 
during  these  four  or  five  years.  In  1844  Capt.  Couch  brought  the 
Chenamus  up  to  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette,  and  boated  his  goods 
thence  to  Oregon  City.  In  1845  Capt.  Nathaniel  Crosby  brought 
the  bark  Toulon  into  the  river,  unloading  her  at  Portland;  and  from 
that  time  made  regular  trips.  He  put  up  and  kept  a  small  storehouse 
at  the  city  front,  but  for  the  most  part  his  goods  were  boated  up  to 
Oregon  City.  In  the  summer  of  1847,  there  were  three  large  crafts 
in  the  river  at  Portland ;  the  Toulon,  the  Whittony  and  the  Brig 
Henry,     The  Whitton  was  from  New  York,  a  swift,  trim  bark,  under 


96  History  of  Portland. 


British  Lion,  and  taken  service  on  the  old  frigate  Constitution.  I 
have  frequently  listened  to  his  narrative  of  the  action  between  the 
old  Ironsides  and  the  Guerriere^  on  which  occasion  he  served  with  the 
boarding  party.  He  used  to  exhibit  an  ugly  scar  on  his  head  made 
in  that  memorable  action,  by  a  British  cutlass,  and  attributed  his 
escape  from  death  to  the  fact  that  he  had  a  couple  of  pieces  of  hoop 
iron  crossed  in  his  cap,  which  arrested  the  cutlass  and  saved  his  life." 
Besides  such  live  specimens  of  Maryatt's  and  Cooper's  heroes  to  afford 
nights  of  entertainment,  there  were  occasional  excitements  and 
stirring  scenes.  It  appears  that  the  place  was  some  times  infested  by 
Indians,  who  somehow  got  hold  of  **blue  ruin,"  a  vile  sort  of 
intoxicating  liquor,  and  made  night  hideous  with  their  carousals. 
As,  upon  one  occasion,  their  orgies  were  becoming  unbearable,  and 
Joseph  L.  Meek,  the  Marshal  of  the  Territory,  happened  to  be  coming 
in  at  the  time  from  the  country,  riding  upon  a  magnificent  white 
horse  that  would  respond  to  the  slightest  touch  of  the  rein,  the  propri- 
etors of  the  place  appealed  to  him  to  rid  the  town  of  the  savages. 
Providing  himself  with  a  long  stout  rawhide  rope,  he  mounted  his 
horse  and  charged  upon  the  camp  of  the  Red  Men,  laying  his  strap 
over  their  shoulders  to  right  and  left,  and  soon  dispersed  the  tribe 
into  the  woods,  all  terror-stricken  at  his  condign  punishment  of 
drunkenness. 

Here,  moreover,  may  be  quoted  Judge  Boise's  description  of  the 
place  as  he  found  it  some  years  later  :  **Then,  as  now,  a  place  of 
supply,  and  containing  an  abundance  of  sugar  and  coffee  and  some 
whisky,  which  latter  was  often  purchased  by  the  hardy  pioneer  in 
moderate  quantities  just  to  keep  out  the  wet  in  returning  home  on 
his  long,  slow  journey,  while  he  slept  by  his  wagon,  often  covered 
by  a  cloudy  sky  and  exposed  to  the  Oregon  mist. ' '  Stories  are  told 
also  of  Madame  Cooper  and  her  supply  of  gin  on  board  a  craft  off 
shore. 

From  the  foregoing,  the  reader  may  infer  that  the  primitive  days 
were  very  rude  and  the  early  population  very  intemperate.  These 
incidents,  however,  are  given  only  as  illustrating  a  certain  phase  of 
life  to  be  seen  at  the  time.  Situated  between  the  very  strict  and 
upright  community   at  Oregon   City,    and   the  very   decorous  and 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  97 


perfunctory  English  society  at  Vancouver,  the  renegadoes  of  the  two, 
who  did  not  carry  their  dignity  or  national  preference  to  a  high  pitch, 
used  to  slip  oflF  and  together  grow  hilarious  somewhere  between  the 
lines.  But  the  men  who  made  Portland  maintained  a  high  character 
even  though  sometimes  under  a  plain  garb  of  frontiersmen's  buckskin 
clothing. 

PROPRIETORS  AND  GROWTH. 

As  a  resume  of  the  foregoing,  and  for  the  sake  of  gaining  a  clear 
idea  of  early  movements,  the  order  of  acquisition  of  property  is  given 
herewith.  Overton  laid  the  first  claim,  divided  with  Lovejoy,  and 
sold  his  interests  to  Pettygrove.  A  few  streets  and  blocks  were  laid 
oflF,  and  the  beginnings  were  made  on  lots  sold  at  nominal  prices  or 
given  away  for  the  sake  of  improvements  to  be  made  on  them. 
Couch  laid  the  first  claim  to  the  section  north,  and  Ramsay  north  of 
him.  William  Johnson  lived  on  the  claim  south  of  the  town 
{Caruthers)  and  Daniel  Lunt  south  of  him,  but  sold  to  Terwilliger. 
South  of  this  was  Thos.  Stephens.  On  the  southwest, — the  heights 
— ^the  land  lay  vacant  until  claimed  in  1850  by  Thos.  Carter,  who 
came  to  Portland  some  years  before,  and  with  his  family  was  one  of 
the  most  useful  members  of  the  young  society.  On  the  east  side  of 
the  river  James  B.  Stephens  and  Jacob  Wheeler  laid  claims,  covering 
the  water  front.  These  original  places  were,  therefore,  in  1849,  in 
about  their  present  shape.  But  the  section  upon  which  the  city  was 
started,  the  Lovejoy  claim,  was  to  pass  into  other  hands  before  the 
city  made  a  decided  growth. 

There  were  three  that  were  usually  termed  the  Portland  proprietors, 

and  who  so  far  broadened  and  deepened  the  movements  of  things   as 

to  be  called  with  some  propriety  the  founders  of  the  place — not, 

however,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  honors  due  to  the  first  trio.     Of 

these  proprietors,  the  first  on  the  scene  was  D.  H.  Lownsdale,  whose 

name  is  most  honorably  perpetuated  among  us  in  the  person  of  his 

<^on,  J.  P.  O.  Lownsdale.     He  was  one  of  the  representative  men  of 

^he  nation  of  half  a  century  ago;  intelligent,  restless,  and  strongly 

^patriotic,   making   the   needs   of  his  country   an  active   motive   in 

determining  his   choices.       He  was   sprung   from   one   of  the   old 

families  of  Kentucky,  and  at  an  early   age  moved  with  his  wife  to 


98  History  of  Portland. 

Indiana.  On  this  remote  frontier  he  was  much  distressed  by  the  loss 
of  his  companion  by  death,  and  returned  home,  but  soon  went  to 
Georgia,  engaging  in  the  mercantile  business.  In  a  few  years,  owing 
to  failure  of  health,  he  traveled  abroad,  making  a  prolonged  tour  of 
Europe,  and  spent  thus  the  time  from  1842  to  1844.  Returning  to 
the  United  States  he  found  the  American  public  much  excited  upon 
the  Oregon  question,  and  with  no  hesitation  decided  to  come  to  the 
Pacific  shore,  and  help  hold  it  against  the  aggressions  of  the  British. 
Reaching  the  Columbia  in  1845,  he  looked  about  for  a  location,  and 
found  none  superior  to  that  of  Portland.  He  laid  his  claim  as  near 
the  river  as  he  was  able,  taking  the  place  now  owned  by  A.  N.  King. 
This  was  then  a  dense  woods,  much  of  the  timber  being  hemlock. 
The  presence  of  these  trees  and  the  abundance  of  hides  in  the 
territory,  led  Mr.  Lownsdale  to  establish,  as  a  means  of  livelihood, 
a  tanner>',  upon  the  small  creek  which  flowed  along  the  eastern  side 
of  his  claim,  and  which,  from  the  fact  of  the  business  thus  established 
has  become  known  as  Tanner's  Creek.  This  was  the  first  leather 
making  establishment  of  any  importance  on  the  coast  and  well  nigh 
made  Portland.  Lownsdale  was  fully  impressed  with  the  value  of 
Portland  as  a  prospectively  great  city,  and  sought  to  gain  a  holding 
on  the  river  front  In  1848  he  found  the  opportunity.  Lovejoy  had 
sold  his  interest  to  Stark,  and  now  Pettygrove  was  becoming  so  much 
shaken  by  ague  as  to  desire  to  retreat  to  the  coast  Lownsdale 
accordingly  bought  of  the  latter  his  whole  interest,  paying  therefor 
$5000  in  leather — specie  not  then  being  current  in  Oregon. 

Being  now  owner  of  the  whole  site — afterwards  coming  to  an 
agreement  with  Stark  by  which  the  latter  had  the  triangular  strip 
now  included  between  Stark  and  A  streets,  and  the  river — Lownsdale 
set  in  operation  as  many  plans  as  he  could  devise  for  the  increase  of 
the  place.  He  sold  lots  at  small  prices,  or  even  gave  them  away,  for 
the  sake  of  improvements.  He  saw  quite  early  the  need  of  a  partner 
in  this  work  and  found  the  right  man  in  Stephen  CoflSn,  then  of 
Oregon  City,  to  whom  he  sold  a  half  interest. 

CoflSn,  who  became  during  the  troubled  times  of  1861-62 
Brigadier-General  of  the  Oregon  Militia  by  appointment  of  Governor 
Gibbs,  was  one  of  those  men  of  noble  presence,  fine  bearing  and 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  99 

generous  feelings,  for  which  the  early  days  of  our  State  were 
distinguished.  He  is  described  as  possessing  a  most  benevolent  face 
and  in  his  later  years  a  crown  of  abundant  white  hair  upon  his  head. 
He  also  was  a  ' '  Down  Easter, ' '  having  been  bom  at  Bangor,  Maine, 
in  1807.  While  still  young  he  went  to  Ohio,  and  as  early  as  1847 
arrived  in  Oregon.  The  first  two  years  of  his  life  in  our  State  were 
spent  in  hard  work  at  Oregon  City  so  successfully  as  to  enable  him  to 
take  advantage  of  Lownsdale's  offer. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  the  third  partner,  William  W. 
Chapman,  was  admitted  to  the  partnership,  making  a  very  strong 
triumvirate.  Chapman  was  a  Virginian  by  birth.  Early  deprived 
by  death  of  his  father,  he  was  left  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world, 
with  what  assistance  might  be  rendered  him  by  a  kind  brother  and 
affectionate  mother.  He  succeeded  in  gaining  a  substantial  education 
and  a  recognized  position  as  a  lawyer  before  the  Virginia  Bar.  While 
still  young  he  went  with  his  family  to  Iowa,  and  soon  took  the  lead 
among  the  lawyers  of  that  region — in  a  day  so  early  that  the  Hawkeye 
State  was  still  a  part  of  Michigan.  He  was  soon  appointed  U.  S. 
District  Attorney,  and- in  this  office  made  so  good  a  record  that  when 
Iowa  was  set  off  as  a  separate  Territory  he  was  chosen  delegate.  At 
Washington  he  made  his  mark  as  the  defender  of  Iowa's  claim  to  the 
strip  of  territory  on  the  south  border  which  was  also  desired  and  at 
length  contested  for  by  Missouri  ;  and  against  heavy  odds  he  was 
entirely  successful.  In  the  convention  to  form  a  constitution  for  Iowa 
upon  its  admission  as  a  State,  he  was  very  influential  and  became  the 
father  of  the  measure  to  transfer  the  gift  of  public  lands  from 
public  improvements  (roads)  to  the  use  of  public  schools,  and 
to  provide  for  judges  by  popular  election.  Both  these  were 
new  and  untried  measures,  but  have  now  been  incorporated  into 
the  organic  law  of  the  Western  and  of  even  some  of  the  Atlantic 
States.  He  was  also,  either  in  Congress  or  out  of  it,  the  origin- 
ator of  other  important  legislation,  such  as  the  pre-emption  law 
for  settlers. 

He  had  come  to  Oregon  in  1847,  settling  first  at  Corvallis  and 
later  at  Salem.  He  was  also  much  at  Oregon  City,  and  was  making  a 
study  of  the  points  most  likely  to  rise  to  commercial  importance.     He 


100  History  of  Portland. 

was  ultimately  convinced  that  as  at  Portland  transportation  by  water 
could  most  conveniently  reach  that  by  land,  this  must  be  the  place 
for  a  city 

Of  the  company  thus  formed,  Coffin  was  the  President,  and 
Chapman,  Secretary,  and  the  land  was  held  as  an  undivided  interest 
Schemes  for  the  growth  of  the  place  began  to  be  elaborated,  and  all 
three  of  the  men  worked  with  untiring  energy.  The  section  was 
surveyed  and  platted,  The  new  streets  running  north  and  south 
were  made  eighty  feet  wide.  The  river  was  examined,  and  at  Swan 
Island  a  large  log  that  was  a  menace  to  navigation  in  the  narrow 
channel  was  removed. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  simple  natural  advantages  can  ever 
make  a  city.  It  is  pre-supposed  that  as  much  energy  and  intelligence 
are  put  forth  in  its  interests  as  in  that  of  some  rival  point.  It  is  only 
by  making  the  human  factor  equal  to  that  in  other  places  that  the 
factor  of  better  natural  facilities  is  ever  made  preponderating.  In  the 
early  days  of  Portland,  the  proprietors  had  to  work  like  heroes  day 
and  night  to  hold  their  city  up  to  its  advantages.  It  had  a  number 
of  exceedingly  strong  and  pugnacious  rivals.  Oregon  City  was 
rather  easily  letting  go  the  race  for  commercial  supremacy,  holding 
on  confidently  to  its  position  as  the  political  capital,  but  Milwaukie 
was  coming  into  the  race  with  great  vigor.  The  proprietor.  Lot 
Whitcomb,  was  a  man  of  as  much  ambition  as  ever  lived  in  Oregon, 
and  had  staked  his  last  dollar  and  his  whole  hope  of  fortune  upon 
the  supremacy  of  the  city  that  he  had  laid  oflF  on  his  claim.  It  was 
for  him  a  serious  matter  to  miss  having  the  greatest  city  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  upon  his  farm.  In  1847  he  began  his  operations,  and  in  '4f8 
was  greatly  strengthened  by  the  arrival  at  the  place  of  Captain  Joseph 
Kellogg,  who  at  once  entered  into  his  purpose  to  build  the  city.  A 
sawmill  was  erected,  and  soon  ships  loaded  with  lumber  and  produce 
were  dispatched  from  her  wharf  down  the  Coast  to  San  Francisco. 
The  avails  of  some  of  these*  trips  were  so  great  that  a  vessel,  the 
old  bark  Lausanne^  was  purchased  out  of  the  profits.  The  transaction 
was  made  at  San  Francisco,  and  the  bark  happened  to  have  at  that 
time  a  pair  of  engines  and  all  necessary  machinery  for  a  steamer, 
which  were  included  in  the  bargain.     Coming  into  possession  of  this 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  101 


steam  engine,  Whitcomb  determined  to  build  a  river  racer  to  make 
sure  the  advantages  of  his  city.  By  Christmas  day,  1850,  his  task 
was  done,  and  the  steamer  Lot  Whitcomb^  amid  the  tumultuous 
rejoicing  of  the  people,  slid  down  the  ways  into  the  Willamette.  She 
was  a  first-class,  commodious  boat,  staunch  and  moderately  swift, 
and  at  once  began  making  a  trip  to  Astoria,  charging  $15  fare,  and 
passing  by  Portland,  as  she  steamed  to  and  fro,  without  so  much  as 
giving  a  salute. 

St.  Helens  was  also  a  formidable  rival.  The  Pacific  Mail  Steam- 
ship Company,  who  first  made  Astoria  their  stopping  point,  soon 
bought  at  St  Helens  a  large  land  interest  and  made  this  the  terminus 
of  their  line.  By  the  terms  of  existing  navigation  in  the  winter  of 
'50-' 51,  Milwaukie  was  the  head  of  river  and  St.  Helens  the  head 
of  ocean  steam  navigation;  and  Portland  was  left  forlornly  in  the 
^nidst  unprovided  for.  But  before  seeing  how  the  proprietors 
extricated  themselves  from  this  difficulty  it  would  be  more  accordant 
^th  chronology,  and  indeed  the  order  of  growth,  to  see  what  class 
of  citizens  and  what  improvements  were  being  added  to  the  city. 

During  the  summer  of  1849  the  rush  to  the  gold  mines  became 
so  general  that  the  city  was  well  nigh  depopulated,  but  three  men 
Temaining  within  its  limits.  These  were  Lownsdale,  Warren  and 
Col.  King.  This  out-going  tide  was  necessarily  calculated  to  leave 
Portland  high  and  dry  on  her  alluvium.  But  there  is  never  an  ebb 
that  is  not  followed  by  a  flow,  and  the  autumn  of  that  year,  and  the 
winter  following,  saw  the  Portlanders  flocking  back  again.  Losses 
were  more  than  made  up,  and  the  **dust"  from  California  set  in 
motion  the  wheels  of  enterprise  in  a  wonderful  way.  We  are  told 
that  "the  year  passed  out  and  1850  was  enthroned  with  brighter 
promise.  The  prices  of  wheat,  flour,  lumber,  fruit  and  vegetables, 
went  up  to  fabulous  figures  in  San  Francisco,  and  Oregon  began  to 
reap  a  splendid  harvest  from  her  fertile  soil.  By  and  by,  too,  the 
miners  began  to  return.  They  were  not  much  to  look  at — tanned, 
tattered,  inhabited,  maybe,  but  under  their  frowsy  gaberdines  was  a 
complete  mail  of  money  belts,  and  they  were  just  as  good  as  gold. 
Business  revived  and  enterprise  got  upon  its  legs. 


102  History  of  Portland. 

Besides  Chapman  and  Coffin,  there  was  a  considerable  number  of 
new  men  who  added  force  and  brain  to  the  little  community.  Deacon 
Homan  M.  Humphrey,  who  gave  name  to  Humphrey's  Mountain 
by  taking  there  his  claim,  settled  in  1849.  A  descendant  of  an  old 
Eastern  family,  he  had  for  some  years  before  coming  to  Oregon  been 
a  pioneer  of  Iowa,  and  incorporated  in  his  character  the  inflexible 
virtues  of  his  ancestry  and  the  added  facility  and  adaptability  of 
mind  gained  from  Western  life.  Thomas  Carter  located  his  claim  a 
little  later,  and  one  Jones,  farther  up  the  canyon,  made  his  beginning 
on  the  land  now  occupied  by  the  Poor  Farm. 

Religious  societies  began  to  be  formed.  Rev.  George  H.  Atkinson, 
whose  name  will  always  be  known  in  Oregon  as  one  of  the  most  able 
and  self-denying  of  her  missionaries  and  pioneers  of  civilization,  had 
come  to  Oregon  the  year  before  and  located  at  Oregon  City.  While 
attending  to  his  own  field,  he  was  also  seeking  to  establish  churches 
at  other  points,  and  for  the  work  at  Portland  was  urging  his  society 
to  provide  a  pastor.  Designated  for  this  field  was  Rev.  Horace 
Lyman,  together  with  his  wife,  who  sailed  fix>m  New  York  in 
November,  1848,  on  the  bark  WbittoDy  making  the  passage  around 
Cape  Horn  in  six  months  to  San  Francisco.  From  that  city  they 
voyaged  up  to  the  Columbia  Bar  on  the  Toulon^  which  was  a  month 
or  more  on  the  water,  often  rocking  on  the  idle  swells  and  lying  too, 
in  the  murk  of  a  very  smoky  autumn,  waiting  for  a  west  wind,  and 
at  length  running  upon  a  sand  flat  once  inside  the  breakers.  Up 
the  rivers  to  Portland  they  were  accommodated  on  the  prim 
little  Sarah  McFarland^  while  the  brig  worked  up  on  the  tides 
so  slowly  that  the  passengers  had  ample  time  to  go  ashore  and 
hunt  bear,  or  go  fowling  for  geese  and  ducks.  Mr.  Lyman  was 
from  Massachusetts,  bom  in  1815  at  East  Hampton;  an  alumnus 
of  William's  College,  and  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 
Arrived  in  Portland,  he  found  accommodations  for  himself  and 
wife  in  a  building  erected  to  serve  as  a  stable.  The  first  winter 
was  spent  by  him  in  teaching  school  and  in  preaching,  and  making 
ready  for  a  church  organization  and  a  church  building.  He  was 
exceedingly  active  in  religious,  educational,  benevolent  and  tem- 
perance enterprises,  and  soon  became  known  over  the  whole  State  as 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  103 

among  the  foremost  in  these  endeavors.  He  cleared  with  his  own 
hands  the  ground  occupied  by  the  First  Congregational  Church  at 
Second  and  JeflFerson  streets. 

Even  more  widely  known  was  the  first  Methodist  minister,  Father 
Wilbur,  who  arrived  upon  the  scene  at  about  the  same  time.     He 
was  a  New  Yorker,  having  been  bom  at  Lowville  in  that  State  in 
1811.     This  was  out  in  the  wilderness  in  those  distant  days,  and  as 
he  grew  up  the  boy  had  the  struggle  to  make  with  labor  and  self- 
denial.     By  his  Presbyterian  parents  he  was  rigorously  brought  up; 
taught  that  the  chief  end  of  man  was  not  in  the  trifling  pleasures  of 
the  world.     With  this  creed  he  was  not,  during  his  younger  days,  in  full 
accord,  but  bent  himself  to  the  acquisition  of  fortune  and  the  accom- 
plishment of  secular  ends.     At  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  however,  but 
a  month  after  his  marriage,  he  gave  up  wholly  his  worldly  aims  and 
offered  himself  to  preach  the  Gospel.     His  services  were  accepted  by 
the  Methodist   Episcopal  Church,  and  he  was  licensed  to  exhort. 
Having  obtained  a  fair  academic  education,  he  was  able  to  perform 
satisfactory  work,  and  labored  with  much  zeal  and  fidelity  in  the 
Black  River  Conference.     In  1846  he  was  sought  as  a  missionary  to 
Oregon.     He  came  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  and  was  accustomed  to 
perform  labors  on  the  vessel  for  the  sake  of  relieving  the  tedium  of 
physical  inaction.     Arriving  in  Oregon,  June  27, 1847,  he  passed  by 
Portland,  in  its  woods,  to  Salem,  and  at  that  place  and  Oregon  City 
x^tnained  two  years.     After  this  he  was  appointed  to  the  Portland 
oircuiL     Being  a  man  of  great  physical  force  and  power,  he  not  only 
^id  the  work  of  pastor,  but  also  performed  much  manual  labor.     His 
"^oils  at  that  early  day  are  well  described  by  Rev.  H.  K.  Hines  in 
^he  following  language:     **Stalwart  and  strong,  the  great  forest  that 
^tood  where  the  church  (Taylor  Street)  now  stands,   fell  before  his 
^axe.     Versatile  and  resolute,  the  walls  of  the  old  church  and  academy 
^Yose  by  his  saw  and  hammer,  or  grew  white  and  beautiful  under  the 
^weep  of  his  brush.     Tireless  and  evangelical,  Sunday  listened  with 
~  gladness  to  his  earnest  preaching  of  the  Gospel.     Poverty  was  fed 
«it  his  table.     Weariness  rested  on  his  couch.     Sickness  was  cured 
l)y  his  medicine." 


104  History  of  Portland. 


An  ambitious  man,  full  of  plans  and  endeavors  for  the  promotion 
of  religious  and  humane  enterprises,  Father  Wilbur  was  a  central 
figure  in  the  community  in  which  he  adled.  He  was  one  of  the 
radical  men  of  the  early  days. 

Another  man  noted  for  his  urbanity,  generosity,  and  ability  was 
Hiram  Smith.     He  came  to  Oregon  first  in  1845,  as  a  sort  of  scout 
of  civilization,  to  spy  out  the  new  promised  land   for  the  restless 
millions  behind.     He  was  sometimes  known  as  ''Red  Shirt  Smith," 
to  distinguish  him  from  the  other  Smiths,  who  bore  such  pseudonyms 
as  "Chickamin,''  ''Carving  Knife,"  "Three  Fingered,"  or  "Blubber 
Mouth. ' '     Such  soubriquets  as  these  were  by  no  means  a  sign  of 
contempt,  but  rather  a  mark  of  familiarity  and  good  fellowship,  and 
illustrates  how  the  early  pioneers  enlivened  their  difficult  circum- 
stances by  broad  humor.     In  1849  he  dispatched  goods  by  way  of 
Cape   Horn,    in  the  care  of  his   brother   Isaac,    and   a  store   was 
established  at  Portland  in  1850.     Himself  with  a  large  company 
came  across  the  plains  in  1851.     Captain  Smith,  as  he  was  frequently 
called,  was  a  man  of  much   business  experience,   having  been  a 
manufacturer  of  fanning  mills  in   Ohio,   and  was  wealthy,  having 
acquired  a  fortune  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.     He  used  much 
of  his  money  in  coming  to  Oregon,  and  in  assisting  immigrants* 
During  one  season  he  went  out  toward  the  Snake  River  with  a^supply 
of  provisions  to  meet  the  incoming  train  of  immigrants,  but  found 
so  many  of  them  destitute  of  means,  and  being  unable  to  refuse  any 
of  them,  whether  rich  or  poor,  the  necessaries  they  so  greatly  needed, 
he  finally  gave  away  the  most  of  his  flour  and  beef,  without  money 
or  price.     Some  of  those  benefitted  finally  paid  him ;  as  a  man  who 
came  into  town  a  few  years  later  bringing  to  his  store  an  enormous 
dressed  hog  as  principal  and  interest,  and  also  unburdened  himself  of 
a  long  meditated  apology  for  having  cursed  him  because  he  had  not 
been   allowed   more.      But   many    never  did.      To   the   poor   and 
unfortunate   in   the   city    Hiram    Smith   was   a   sort   of    angel    of 
deliverance,  and  made  a  special  point  of  putting  broken  or  dispirited 
men  on  their  feet  once  more.     Since  his  death  unknown  benevolences 
have  come  to  light,  and  his  gifts  during  the  Oregon  Indian  wars,   for 
the  relief  of  settlers  and  wounded  soldiers,  and  his  fund  placed  at 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  105 


service  in  his  old  home  in  Ohio  for  the  widows  of  soldiers  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  reflect  a  world  of  credit  not  only  upon  his 
own  name,  bnt  no  less  upon  Portland. 

Dr.  D.  S.  Baker,  who  became  the  millionaire  of  Walla  Walla, 
was  one  of  the  men  of  this  day  in  our  city. 

In  1850  William  S.  Ladd  stepped  ashore  at  the  little  primitive 
wharf.  He  is  a  Vermonter  by  birth,  although  his  early  life  was 
spent  in  New  Hampshire.  He  developed  his  energies  upon  a  farm, 
bringing  into  productiveness  one  of  the  most  stumpy  and  rocky 
pieces  of  land  in  the  Granite  State.  Engaging  early  in  the  work  of 
school  teaching,  he  amplified  his  academic  acquisitions,  and  as 
employe  at  the  railroad  station  in  his  place  of  residence  gained 
business  habits  and  breadth  of  outlook.  He  became  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  products  and  resources  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  and 
upon  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  reasoned  that 
not  the  region  of  the  mines,  but  that  from  which  provisions 
came  to  the  mines  would  ultimately  get  most  wealth.  Finding  that 
the  Willamette  valley  sustained  this  relation  to  California,  he 
determined  to  come  to  our  territory.  He  stopped  at  San  Francisco 
on  the  way  and  conferred  there  with  an  old  friend  of  his,  C.  E. 
Tilton,  but  not  being  able  to  persuade  him  to  go  into  the  business  of 
selling  at  retail  the  goods  he  was  receiving  from  New  York,  came  on 
up  to  Portland,  bringing  a  few  articles  of  merchandise  with  him,  and 
started  a  small  store  on  the  ground  opposite  the  present  site  of  the 
Hsmond  Hotel.  Mr.  H.  W.  Corbett  also  belongs  to  this  era.  Of 
this  gentleman,  as  of  the  others  foregoing,  a  full  account  is  given  in 
another  portion  of  this  volume.  H.  McDonald,  an  architect  and 
builder  of  skill,  from  Rhode  Island,  who  did  some  government  work 
and  put  up  an  opera  house  at  San  Francisco,  and  A.  R.  Shipley, 
now  of  Oswego,  were  also  * 'Forty-niners.*'  W.  P.  Abrams,  a  mill- 
wright, a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  public  spirit,  arrived  with 
his  family  the  succeeding  year.  A  native  of  Grafton,  New 
Hampshire,  he  always  '  carried  his  New  England  thrift  and 
conscientiousness,  together  with  great  kindliness  and  generosity,  into 
his  daily  life.  For  a  few  years  before  coming  to  Oregon  he  had  lived 
in  Alabama.     While  in  San  Francisco  he  was  sought  out  and  secured 


106  History  of  Portland. 

by.  Stephen  Coffin  to  come  to  Portland  and  build  the  first  steam  saw 
mill.  Upon  arriving  in  our  city  he  successfully  accomplished  this 
task,  and  for  many  years  thereafter  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  lumber  at  Portland  or  The  Dalles.  In  January  of  1850  Mr.  Cyrus 
A.  Reed,  Oregon's  landscape  painter,  arrived  in  the  city,  having 
made  the  voyage  from  San  Francisco  on  the  Brig  Sequin^  under 
command  of  Captain  Norton.  He,  also,  was  a  New  Englander,  a 
native  of  Grafton,  New  Hampshire,  and  had  received  there  a 
substantial  education.  In  1849  he  set  sail  for  California,  and 
engaging  in  his  trade,  as  painter  of  signs,  was  very  successful 
financially.  With  Mr.  Abrams,  however,  he  came  to  Portland,  and 
has  been  a  devoted  lover  of  Oregon  from  the  day  of  his  arrival. 

Much  interesting  and  characteristic  incident  is  related  as  to  the 
building  of  the  old  steam  sawmill.  It  was  begun  in  December, 
1849,  and  finished  in  the  summer  of  1850.  The  main  portion  being 
forty  by  eighty  feet,  and  the  timbers  solid  fir  beams  sixteen  inches 
square,  it  was  found  impossible  to  obtain  men  enough  in  the  city  to 
'*  raise  "  it  Coffin  set  off"  for  Oregon  City  with  a  flat  boat  for  help, 
but  even  thus  could  not  secure  a  sufficient  force.  The  very  painful 
and  somewhat  ridiculous  predicament  appeared  of  having  a  mill  too 
big  to  be  put  together  by  all  the  available  men  in  Oregon.  At  this 
juncture  Mr.  Reed,  who  had  been  employed  from  the  first  in  all  sorts 
of  work  about  the  building,  offered  to  build  a  derrick,  agreeing  to 
forfeit  one  hundred  dollars  of  his  wages  if  he  failed.  By  means  of 
derrick,  blocks  and  tackle,  he  enabled  the  men  present  to  lift  every 
timber  to  its  place,  and  the  work  went  on  swimmingly.  In  1852, 
after  teaching  a  term  of  school,  he  became  a  partner  in  the  miill, 
which  was  operated  under  the  firm  name  of  Abrams,  Reed  &  Co. 
Among  the  workmen  on  this  structure  was  J.  W.  Trutch,  afterwards 
Surveyor-General  of  British  Columbia.  In  1852,  John  Gates, 
Portland's  great  inventor,  came  up  from  San  Francisco  and  joined 
the  company,  acting  as  engineer.  General  Coffin  was  still  a  silent 
partner,  dealing  much  in  lumber,  shipping  it  to  San  Francisco.  On 
one  occasion — to  show  the  uncertainty  of  business — ^he  is  said  to  have 
consigned  two  ship  loads  to  Winter  &  Latimer,  of  that  city,  who 
reported  a  low  market  and  advised  at  length  that  they  were  compelled 


108  History  of  Portland. 


Mr.  Nelson  Northrup,  long  known  as  a  merchant  in  old  Oregon, 
was  bom  in  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  and  coming  to  Oregon  engaged  in 
business  at  the  Cascades,  but  soon  brought  his  stock  of  goods  to 
Portland,  where  he  went  into  partnership  with  Montreville  Simonds, 
from  Massachusetts.  In  1856  he  went  to  Coos  Bay,  but  subsequently 
returned  to  Portland,  where  he  died. 

Edward  James  Northrup,  the  son  of  the  foregoing,  was  bom  in 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  1834.  He  came  to  Portland  in  1852,  and  for  a 
few  years  served  with  his  father  as  clerk,  but  in  1856  engaged  in 
business  on  his  own  account,  opening  a  hardware  store  under  the 
name  of  Northrup  &  Blossom,  which  was  the  beginning  of  the 
present  extensive  :  establishment  of  Thompson  &  DeHart.  Mr. 
Northmp  died  at  Px)rtland  in  1883. 

Judge  P.  A.  Marquam,  whose  memor>'  will  be  perpetuated  in  the 
name  of  the  hill  at  the  south  of  the  town,  as  well  as  by  his  public 
works,  arrived  in  Portland,  August  13th,  1851.  A  man  of  keen 
observation  and  excellent  memor}'  it  is  most  delightful  to  listen  to 
his  account  of  his  voyage  hither,  and  of  his  impressions  upon  his 
arrival.  Upon  crossing  the  Columbia  Bar,  he  was  much  attracted  by 
the  sight  of  the  verdure  of  the  hills,  and  of  the  general  appearance 
of  natural  exuberance  of  the  soil.  Portland,  as  a  city,  took  the  new 
comer  somewhat  aback,  being  yet  in  the  deep  woods.  The  streets 
were  mire  holes  during  the  rainy  weather,  and  settlers  from  below 
town  hauling  wood  used  frequently  to  be  mired  on  their  way  through. 
A  striking  habit  of  the  place  was  also  the  manner  in  which  the 
country  people,  having  come  to  town  in  their  wagons  and  camped 
over  night,  used  to  get  up  early  in  the  morning  to  pound  on  the 
doors  of  the  stores  to  wake  the  still  slumbering  clerks.  The  Canton 
House  on  the  comer  of  Washington  and  First  streets,  built  by 
Stephen  Coffin,  was  the  principal  hotel.  It  was  a  three-story  wooden 
building,  and  may  now  be  seen  in  its  present  position  at  the  foot  of 
Jefferson  street.  The  Columbia  Hotel  had  a  famous  proprietor  in 
the  person  of  Col.  Gordon,  properly  Gen.  Hinton,  of  Ohio. 

J.  C.  Carson,  a  man  of  wealth  and  influence  in  Portland  for  nearly 
forty  years,  was  bom  in  Center  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1825.  In 
1832  he  went  to   Ohio  and  there  spent  his  early  life,  gaining  an 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  109 


education  and  studying  medicine.  In  1850  he  came  to  San  Fran- 
cisco with  the  intention  of  aiding  his  former  instructor  in  medicine 
in  the  establishment  of  a  hospital  in  that  city.  From  considerations 
of  health,  however,  he  decided  to  come  to  Oregon,  and  arrived  here 
in  the  autumn  of  '51.  He  operated  as  contractor  and  builder  until 
1857,  when  he  erected  at  the  foot  of  Jefferson  street  a  sash  and  door 
factory,  the  first  in  the  city.  This  business,  long  since  removed  to  a 
site  at  the  north  end  of  the  city  near  Weidler's  saw  mill,  has  now 
grown  to  immense  proportions.  Mr*  Carson  has  been  active  in  our 
city  in  educational,  religious  and  political  circles.  He  is  one  of  our 
most  prominent  men. 

George  L.  Story,  a  pioneer  in  the  drug  business  of  our  city,  and  at 
present  an  efficient  member  of  the  Fire  Commission,  was  bom  in 
Manchester,  Mass.,  in  1833,  and  received  his  education  at  a  private 
school  in  Salem.  In  1847  he  entered  a  wholesale  drug  store,  and 
thoroughly  mastered  the  subject  of  pharmacy.  In  1850  he  came  out 
to  California,  and  in  '51  came  on  up  the  coast  to  Oregon.  With  a 
partner,  Devaux  Babcock,  he  bought  out  the  drug  store  of  Hooper, 
Snell  &  Co.  and  carried  on  the  drug  business  here.  He  afterwards 
bought  out  Babcock  and  formed  a  partnership  with  Story,  Redington 
&  Co.,  of  San  Francisco.  He  closed  out  his  interest  here,  however, 
to  Smith,  Davis  &  Co. ,  and  entered  into  a  large  wholesale  business 
in  San  Francisco,  but  returned  to  Portland  in  1862,  and  has  remained 
here  to  the  present  time.  In  1872  he  was  appointed  to  fill  a  vacancy 
in  the  Common  Council,  and  was  thereafter  elected  to  the  same 
position  and  served  three  years.  He  has  also  served  in  the  State 
Legislature  from  Multnomah  County.  At  present  he  conducts  a 
large  fire  insurance  business,  and  is  a  man  held  in  high  esteem  by  all 
our  people.  From  no  one  better  than  from  him  may  we  gain  an 
understanding  of  the  old  times  in  Portland,  when  the  old  pioneers 
were  young  men  together,  ambitious  and  eager  to  succeed,  but  all 
equals,  and  never  so  much  engrossed  in  their  own  concerns  as  to  allow 
one  overtaken  by  bad  luck  to  go  by  the  board. 

W.  S.  Odgen  came  on  the  bark  Madonna  in  1849.     Col.  Backenstos 
was  also  a  familiar  figure. 


110  History  of  Portland. 


At  the  end  of  this  chapter  will  be  found  a  list  of  the  names  of 
those  living  in  Portland  prior  to  1852,  which  it  has  been  attempted 
to  make  complete. 

PUBLIC   EVENTS  AND  STRUCTURES  OF  THE   PERIOD. 

It  is  recorded  that  in  1849  the  growing  population  felt  the  necessity 
of  some  building  sufficient  for  public  uses,  and  that  in  consequence  a 
movement  was  set  on  foot  for  a  schoolhouse,  which  might  also  serve  for 
religious  and  other  public  meetings — the  cooper  shop  now  being  too 
small,  or  too  much  cumbered  with  its  own  proper  belongings,  or  the 
owner  grown  tired  of  having  his  tubs  and  buckets  turned  upside 
down  for  seats.  Two  thousand  two  hundred  dollars  were  subscribed 
and  out  of  this  the  public  building  was  erected,  and  served  at  stated 
times,  in  addition  to  the  uses  indicated  above,  as  a  court  room.  It 
was  near  the  Ainsworth  Block. 

Portland  had  as  yet  no  newspaper.  Its  rival,  Milwaukie,  was 
setting  up  the  Western  Star^  and  at  Oregon  City  the  Spectator  was 
growing  almost  venerable  with  the  weight  of  years.  Plainly  such  a 
condition  could  not  be  endured.  Col.  Chapman,  with  more  or  less 
definite  purpose  to  relieve  the  situation,  went  down  to  San  Francisco, 
taking  along  in  the  bark  on  which  he  sailed  a  stick  of  fir  timber 
one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long,  cut  from  the  woods  on  the  ele- 
vation now  occupied  by  W.  S.  Ladd's  residence.  He  intended  it  as 
a  present  to  the  people  of  the  golden  city  to  serve  as  a  flag  staff. 
Finding  there  one  Thomas  J.  Dryer,  a  journalist,  with  the  plant  of 
a  newspaper,  he  engaged  his  materials  and  services,  agreeing  with 
him  that  he  should  come  to  Portland  and  publish  a  journal  to  be 
called  The  Oregonian.  To  this  work  Dryer  was  also  urged  by  H. 
W.  Corbett,  at  that  time  in  San  Francisco.  The  office  was  shipped 
in  October,  1850,  on  the  bark  Keoka,  By  reason  of  hard  winds  and 
storms  the  vessel  did  not  reach  the  Columbia  as  early  as  expected. 
The  editor  elect  was,  moreover,  stranded  financially  at  Astoria,  and 
had  to  be  relieved  by  a  moderate  advance  from  the  pocket  of  CoL 
Chapman.  On  this  account  the  new  paper  was  preceded  some 
weeks  by  the  Western  Star,  It  was  not  until  the  4th  of  December 
that  the  first  issue  appeared.     On  the  night  of  its  publication  all 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  Ill 


hands  were  busy  and  the  town  was  illuminated  by  an  immense 
bon  fire  in  the  streets.  Various  orgies  were  solemnized  in  the  office, 
one  among  them  being  the  initiation  of  the  devil,  who  was  blindfolded 
and  made  to  perform  certain  circuits  and  at  stated  revolutions  to 
abjure  his  former  occupation  by  affirming  that  he  would  split  no  more 
rails.  Col.  Chapman  provided  a  man  to  take  a  bundle  of  the  new 
issue  and  start  early  next  morning  on  horse  back,  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river,  and  distribute  the  paper  as  far  up  as  Corvallis  and  return  by 
the  east  side. 

In  its  first  issue  the  Oregonian  contained  some  terse  and  forcible 

English,  and  complimented   the  people  upon  the  rapid    growth    of 

their  city,  and  the  neat  appearance  of  their  residences,  remarking 

^liat  Portland  was  a  town  which  had  sprung  up  in  an  incredibly  short 

time.      "The  buildings  are  mostly  new,  of  good  style  and  taste,  with 

tlieir  white  coats  of  paint,  contrasted  with  the  brown  and  the  ding\^ 

s^ppearance  of  towns  generally  on  the  Pacific  Coast;  giving  it  a  most 

Xaoinelike  appearance." 

The  Western  Staty  of  Milwaukie,  after  running  a  few  months, 
"^wras  brought  down  to  Portland  and  published  under  the  name  of  The 
^Dregon  Weekly  Times, 

The  Methodist  church,  on  the  comer  of  Third  and  Taylor  streets, 

^^9^as  dedicated  in  the  autumn  of  1850;  the  Congregational  church,  on 

'^Second  and  Jefferson,   in  1851;  the  Catholic  church  on  Third  and 

,  was  begun  in  1851,  but  not  dedicated  until  February,  1852. 

A  public  occasion  of  much  interest  was  the  celebration  of  St. 

ohn's  day,  in  1850,  by  the  Masons.     The  people  assembled  at  the 

nic  Hall,  which  was  still  surrounded  by  logs  and  stumps,  and 

here  formed  a  procession,  and  preceded  by  the  militar>'  band  of  Fort 

ancouver,  marched  to  the  Methodist  church,  where  was  delivered  an 

ddress  by  Rev.  H.  Lyman,  followed  by  an  oration  by  T.  J.  Dr\'er. 

^Officers  were  then  installed,  Lieut.  F.  S.  R.  Russell,  of  the  United 

-SStates  Army,  acting  as  Worthy  Grand  Master.     In  the  evening  public 

^cJinner  was  served  at  the   California   House.      In  1850   the   Sons 

^Df  Temperance   were  organized  with  much   enthusiasm   and   large 

xiumbers. 


112  History  of  Portland. 


In  October,  1851 ,  a  meeting  of  very  great  importance  was  held. 
This  was  to  ratify  publicly  the  opening  of  the  road  to  Tualatin  Plains. 
General  Coffin  perfonned  the  ceremony  of  laying  the  first  plank,  and 
speeches  were  delivered  in  which  the  coming  grandeur  of  the  city 
was  quite  accurately  predicted.  Mr.  Tilford,  a  lawyer  and  fluent 
speaker,  made  the  oration,  using  among  others  the  following 
expressions  which  elicited  hearty  applause:  **This  is  the  commence- 
ment of  an  era  of  commercial  prosperity  which  will  continue  to 
increase  until  the  iron  horse  takes  the  place  of  the  plank  road. 
There  are  persons  now  within  the  sound  of  my  voice  that  will  live  to 
see  the  day  when  a  main  trunk  railroad  will  be  extended  from  sea  to 
sea;  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. '' 

Indeed,  this  road,  which,  however,  has  not  to  this  day  been 
planked,  was  the  factor  detennining  Portland  as  the  site  of  the 
principal  city.  She  became  thereby  most  convenient  to  the  farmers 
of  Polk,  Yamhill  and  Washington  Counties,  who  would  not  haul 
their  produce  three  to  ten  miles  further  to  St.  Johns  or  St.  Helens. 
Although  for  many  years  ver\'  rough,  and  through  woods  so  deep 
that  the  mud  dried  only  by  virtue  of  the  longest  droughts,  it  was 
nevertheless  the  most  popular  highway. 

SHIPS   AND   COMMERCE. 

Many  vessels  crossed  the  bar  of  the  Columbia  in  1849  and  a 
number  came  up  to  Portland.  Of  these  none  was  more  serviceable  than 
the  Madonna,  from  New  York,  under  Captain  Couch.  This  was  his 
third  trip  out,  and  by  far  the  most  successful.  His  cargo  of  mixed 
goods  was  disposed  of  in  part  at  San  Francisco,  his  lumber  selling 
for  $600  per  thousand.  On  board  were  W.  S.  Ogden,  a  prominent 
merchant  of  early  times,  and  G.  H.  Flanders,  a  sea  captain,  before 
this  in  the  employ  of  John  and  Caleb  Cushing.  Capt.  Flanders  is  a  man 
whose  energy  and  enterprise  have  done  much  for  Portland's  commerce. 
Reaching  the  city  once  more.  Couch  had  his  land  surveyed  and 
platted.  It  is  said  that  in  laying  off  a  street  he  gave  his  half  for  the 
use  of  the  public,  but  Stark  refused  to  meet  him  half  way;  thus 
making  A  street  but  half  width.  It  is  also  reported  that  upon  the 
surveyor  finishing  the  job,  worth  about  $700,  Couch  offered  himforhis 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  113 


pay,  two  blocks  on  Second  and  Third  streets — which  were  refused. 
The  Madonna  was  run  on  the  route  to  San  Francisco  by  Flanders, 
and  the  firm  of  Couch  &  Co.  were  so  prosperous  as  to  be  able  to 
dispatch  in  1850  the  brig  Emma  Preston  to  China — the  first  from 
Oregon  to  China. 

The  unfavorable  condition  of  steam  navigation,  already 
mentioned,  which  supplied  Milwaukie  with  a  river  steamer,  and  St 
Helens  with  ocean  craft,  but  left  Portland  to  voyage  by  canoes,  or  to 
depend  upon  uncertain  winds,  was  earnestly  examined  in  order  to 
find  a  remedy.  A  general  desire  and  willingness  to  buy  a  steamer  of 
their  own  was  freely  expressed  by  the  proprietors  and  leading 
citizens,  and  this  being  rumored  abroad,  attracted  to  the  northern 
waters  the  Gold  Hunter.  She  was  a  side- wheeler,  a  staunch 
little  vessel,  but  as  stated  by  one  who  knew  her  well,  having 
such  a  capacity  for  consuming  fuel  that  on  a  week's  voyage  so 
much  of  the  space  between  decks  had  to  be  used  for  storing  wood 
as  seriously  to  interfere  with  room  for  freight,  passengers  or 
supplies.  Nevertheless,  when  she  appeared  in  the  Willamette  and 
promised  steam  communication  with  San  Francisco  and  the  outer 
world,  she  was  deemed  acceptable  and  bought.  Sixty  thousand 
dollars  was  the  purchase  price,  sufficient  to  give  Portlanders  a 
controlling  interest,  and  of  this,  twenty-one  thousand  dollars  were 
paid  on  the  spot;  eighteen  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  were 
furnished  by  the  Portland  proprietors  and  the  rest  was  made  up  by 
the  citizens  in  small  shares.  Much  rejoicing  was  occasioned  by  this 
event,  and  Portland  began  to  loom  up  at  once  as  a  seaport.  Hall,  a 
seafaring  man  then  a  resident  of  Portland,  was  made  captain,  and 
A.  P.  Dennison,  purser.  Each  owned  a  few  shares  of  stock.  The 
jubilation,  however,  was  short  lived,  and  the  purchase  proved  a 
disastrous  failure.  Some  of  the  stockholders,  contrary  to  expectation, 
disposed  of  their  shares  to  the  San  Francisco  holders,  thereby  giving 
to  the  latter  a  majority  interest.  After  a  few  trips  the  Gold  Hunter 
was  ordered  off*  the  route  and  sent  to  Central  America.  This  was 
done  wholly  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Oregon  owners,  and  they 
watched  and  waited  in  vain  for  the  return  of  their  steamship.  She 
never    came     back,    but    was    attached,    on    the    southern     coast 


114  History  of  Portland. 


for  debt  and  involved  her  owners  in  still  further  expense  and 
loss.  Many  blocks  had  to  be  sold  by  Coffin  and  the  other  proprietors 
to  make  good  their  unprofitable  outlay.  Although  thus  unfortunate, 
they  did  nevertheless  gain  their  ends.  The  necessity  of  steam  to 
accommodate  Portland  was  made  apparent,  and  the  ability  of  her 
people  to  supply  themselves  was  proven;  and  to  forestall  others 
from  reaping  the  profits,  the  Lot  Wbitcomb,  and  the  Pacific  Mail 
steamers  both  made  Portland  their  terminal  point  It  was  in  March, 
1851,  that  the  first  vessel  of  the  latter  company  came  hither.  This 
was  the  steamship  Columbia^  a  commodious  and  fine  vessel,  which 
ran  uninterruptedly  until  1860,  doing  a  most  successful  business. 
At  the  latter  date  she  was  drawn  oflf  for  the  China  trade,  and  in  the 
Oriental  seas  was  destroyed  by  fire.' 

The  establishment  of  the  Oregonian^  the  opening  of  steam 
communication,  and  the  construction  of  the  wagon  road  to  the 
Tualatin  Plains  were  the  things  that  gave  Portland  her  first  suprem- 
acy. Of  the  three  none  was  more  decisive  than  the  wagon  road,  for 
it  fixed  the  trade  of  the  farmers,  brought  down  loads  of  grain  and 
other  produce,  and  the  droves  of  cattle  and  hogs.  It  made  Portland 
popular;  the  occupants  of  the  woods  and  plains  finding  here  rest  and 
relaxation  from  the  limbo  of  their  self-imposed  exile.  In  April,  1851, 
at  the  first  city  election,  which  was  rather  a  tame  affair,  since  as  yet 
there  were  no  politics  involved,  there  were  cast  two  hundred  and 
twenty-two  votes;  indicating  a  population  of  six  hundred  or  seven 
hundred — as  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  were  adult 
men.  Although  this  is  but  the  figure  of  a  village,  it  shows  that 
Portland   had  passed  all   other  Oregon   towns,    and   had   assumed 

1  It  seems  that  there  were  three  captains  of  the  name  of  HaU;  T.  A.  HaU,  of  the 
Ocean  Bird;  O.  C.  Hall  thought  to  be  his  son,  of  the  Gold  Hunter,  and  William  Hall 
who  married  a  daughter  of  Captain  Warren,  and  afterwards  went  to  Washington 
county,  building  a  flour  mill,  but  was  fatally  injured  by  the  fall  of  a  burning  tree. 

Crossing  the  Willamette  in  an  early  day  was  sometimes  dangerous.  The  story 
is  told  of  the  first  ferryman's  being  forbidden  by  the  proprietor  of  the  East  Side,  to 
land  on  his  premises;  the  crossing  was  made  in  a  skiff,  in  the  face  of  the  loaded  shot 
gun  of  the  man  on  the  East  shore  of  the  river.  When  the  boat  touched  the  sand, 
however,  the  ferryman,  upon  pretense  of  shipping  his  oars,  suddenly  produced  a  rifle 
and  under  its  protection  the  passengers  landed  unmolested.  The  affidr  was  watched 
from  the  Portland  shore  by  a  number  of  citizens  who  feared  a  bloody  issue. 


Settlement  and  Early  Times.  115 


metropolitan  importance.  Indeed,  whether  from  their  spirit  and 
energy,  their  cosmopolitan  make-up,  or  their  great  expectations,  the 
people  of  Portland  have  from  the  earliest  times  surrounded  their  city 
^th  the  air  and  manner  of  a  great  place. 

As  indicating  something  of  the  strength  and  importance  of  the 
city  in  1851,  the  following  list  of  business  houses  is  given,  which  is 
believed  to  be  comprehensive. 

H.  W.  Corbett,  general  store  ;Josiah  Failing,  with  his  two  sons, 

Henry  and  John,  general  store;  Capt    C.  H.  Lewis,  of  the  firm  of 

Allen  &  Lewis,  general  store;  J.   H.   Couch,  general  store;  Breck  & 

Ogden,  general  store;  A.  M.  &  L.    M.   Starr,   stove  and  tin  store; 

Capt  Norton,  a  small  store,  but  did  the  most  of  his  trading  from  his 

vessel;  Thos.  Pritchard,  grocery;  A.  M.  Barnes,  general  store;  G.  W. 

A^aughn,    hardware;    Mr.    Vaughn  also  built   the  first  flour  mill. 

XJorthrup  &  Simonds,  general  store;  Hiram  Smith,  who  had  the  sign 

•*No.   1  Smith,''  to  distinguish  him  from  the  later  arrivals  of  his 

name,    general  store;  Lucien  Snow,  dry  goods;  G.  W.   Snell,  drug 

store;  Patrick  Raleigh,  had  on  hand  a  stock  of  goods  to  be  sold  out; 

^razar   &  Jewett,  general  store.     Mr.   Thos.  Frazar,  so  universally 

Inown  in  our  city  came  on  the  steamer  Columbia^  arriving  at  Astoria 

in  March,   1851.     From  Astoria  he  found  passage  to  Portland  on  a 

:fiat  boat  run  by  Capt.  O'Neill,  since  so  well  known  as  a  purser  on  the 

line   of  steamboats   of   the  O.  S.    N.  Co.     Mr.   Frazar    was    from 

3iilassachusetts,  a  native  of  Duxbury,  and  is  a  descendant  of  John 

^Alden,  famous  in  the  history  and  poetry  of  New  England.  *  • 

Besides  these  stores  there  were  vessels  lying  in  the  river  with 
stocks  of  goods  for  sale.  One  of  these  was  a  schooner  from  Boston, 
"mnder  Capt  Watson;  another,  under  Capt  Benj.  Smith,  with  A.  P. 
IDennison  as  partner,  or  assistant.  A  French  brig  under  Capt. 
'^Trevalliot,  lay  for  some  time  along  the  shore,  until  by  reason  of 
improper  unloading,  and  carelessness  as  to  the  fall  of  water,  she 
careened  on  her  side  and  was  sunk.     This  Trevalliot  was  a  notorious 


1  Asmen  of  influence,  such  as  were  known  to  all  in  the  early  day,  were  J.  P. 
Xiong,  a  native  of  New  Orleans  and  a  man  of  intense  Southern  ideas  who  kept  a 
small  store  on  Alder  street;  and  Thos.  Pritchard,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  who  re- 
moved to  Victoria  as  early  as  1861. 


116  History  of  Portland. 


character,  drunken  and  profane  beyond  measure.  He  gave  undue 
attention  to  horse  racing,  having  a  dark  Indian  pony,  that  he  called 
**Siskiyou/'  upon  which  he  charged  up  and  down  the  streets, 
defying  the  town  boys  and  countrymen. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1851  there  were  a  number  of  Jewish 
merchants  who  made  a  beginning  here  in  the  mercantile  line  and 
began  to  displace  their  Yankee  competitors. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  names  of  those  living  at  or  near 
Portland  prior  to  1852.  It  has  been  ver>'  carefully  made  up  by  Mr. 
John  M.  Breck,  Mr.  Geo.  L.  Story,  Mr.  Henry  Failing,  and  Mr.  T. 
B.  Trevett,  all  of  whom  were  living  in  our  city  at  the  time  mentioned. 
They  will  be  recognized  as  among  our  most  capable  business  men  of 
the  present  day  and  merit  the  thanks  not  only  of  the  publishers  of 
this  work,  but  of  all  interested  in  Portland,  for  their  interest  and 
efficiency  in  helping  us  to  make  the  volume  complete. 

Geo.  h.  Story,  Capt.  Wm.  Baker,  T.  B.  Trevett,  Col.  Wm.M.  King,  Dr.  R.  B.  WUson, 
Dr.  L-  C.  Broy,  Frank  D.  Camp,  Rev.  Horace  Lyman,  Rev.  C.  S.  Kingsley,  Rev.  J.  H. 
Wilbur,  Rev.  St.  Michael  Fackler,  Knute  Peterson,  Peter  D.  Hardenberg,  Capt. 
Molthrop,  Samuel  R.  Holcomb,  Nelson  Northnip,  Mr.  Simonds,  G.  W.  Vaughn, 
Peter  Erpelding,  Thomas  G.  Robinson,  J.  Kohn,  Levi  Anderson,  David  Weil,  Uriah 
Harris,  Jack  Harris,  Major  Tucker,  Nathaniel  Coe,  Lawrence  W.  Coe,  Eugene  F. 
Coe,  Henry  Coe,  Mr.  Tallentire,  Thomas  Gladwell,  Capt.  Ayres,  A.  D.  Fitch,  Wm. 
Fitch,  John  Thompson,  Thomas  Stephens.  Wm.  Stephens,  Jas.  B  Stephens,  Finice 
Caruthers.  James  Terwilliger,  Wm.  Blackistone,  Peter  Guild,  Col.  Loring,  Col.  Frush, 
Capt.  Richard  Williams,  Capt.  Wells,  Hugh  D.  O'Bryant,  Colbum  Barrell,  Crawford 
Dobbin,  Job  McNamee,  Richard  White,  Allen  White,  Robert  Thompson,  Shubrick 
Norris,  William  H.  Bamhart,  Thomas  J.  Hobbs,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Sam  E.  May, 
Robt.  N.  McLaren,  Finley  McLaren,  Henry  W.  Corbett,  Josiah  Failing,  Henry 
Failing,  John  W.  Failing,  J.  J.  Lintz,  Jos.  W.  Cleaver,  Dr.  Salisbury,  A.  M.  Starr, 
L.  M.  Starr,  Capt.  O.  H.  Hall,  Nathaniel  Crosby,  Thos.  H.  Smith,  L.  M.  Simpson, 
Wm.  Seton  Ogden,  John  M.  Breck,  N.  H.  Owens,  Orlando  McNight,  F.  M.  Smith, 
A.  L.  Francis,  I.  B.  Francis,  Otis  J.  Dimmick,  John  Orvis  Waterman,  John  Thomas, 
Charles  Lawrence,  W.  D.  M.  Carter,  Mr.  Southmayd  (printer),  Mr.  Berry  (printer), C. 
A.  Reed,E.  B.  Comfort, Harley  McDonald,  George  W.  Higgins,  Thos.  Frazar,Mr.Jewitt 
T.  B.  McElroy,  Sam  A.  Clarke,  Joseph  Durbrow,  John  Ferguson,  Wm.McMillen,  David 
Lewis,  Frank  Matthias,  I^ewis  Day,  Mr.  Adams,  Richard  Hoyt,  Zenas  Webber, 
Anthony  L.  Davis,  Jas.  Warren  Davis,  Thomas  A.  Davis,  Lucien  Snow,  Herman 
Wasserman,  Fleming  family,  John  M.  Murphy,  Dr.  E.  H.  Griffin,  Mr.  Ettlinger, 
Mr.  Simonsfield,  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  F.  W.  .Pettigrove,  L.  B.  Hastings,  D.  S.  Baker, 
Geo.  W.  Snell,  Dr.  Saml.  Hooper,  Deveaux  Babcock,  C.  B.  Pillow,  A.  V.  WiUon, 
Clark  Drew,  A.  B.  Stuart,  M.  M.  Lucas,  Peter  Fulkerson,  John  B.  Talbot  and  family, 
John  Donner  and  family,  Mr.  Bennett,    O.  Travalliot,  Lucius  H.  Allen.  C.  H.  Lewis, 


Land  Title  Controversies.  117 


Peter  Dewitt,  John  H.  Couch,  John  P.  Couch,  George  Sherman,    P.    Hibert,    M. 
Chappellier,    Mr.    Daubie,   John   Ricketson,  John  Mears,   Frank  E.  Webster,  Dan 
Stewart,  Jas.  Fruit,  R.  R.  Reese,  Thos.  J.  Dryer,  Benj.  Stark,  Nehemiah  Northrup, 
Mr.  Northrup,  Thos.  J.  Holmes,  D.  H.  Hendee,  Thos.  A.  Savier,  John  D.  Walker,  D. 
C.  Coleman,  W.  S.  Ladd,  Sam  Bell,  Lewis  May,  Geo.  A.  Barnes,  Mr.  Barnes,  Hiel 
Barnes,  Capt  B.  F.  Smith,  Thos.  Pritchard,  Hiram   Smith,  I.  B.  Smith,  Richard  Kis- 
sam    Cooke,  R.  M.  Field,  James  Field,  S.  S.  Slater,  A.  H.  Johnson,  A.  C.  Bonnell, 
Zachariah  Norton,    R.  P.  Boise,  Alexander  Campbell,  W.  B.  Otway,  W.  P.  Abrams, 
Mr.  Cheney,  John  Harlow,  Moses  Abbott,  Dr.    Isaac  A.  Davenport,  Mr.  Skidmore, 
Stephen  G.  Skidmore,  A.  P.  Dennison,  G.  C.  Robbins,  C.  G.  Birdseye,  W.  B.  Marye, 
J.  Blumauer,  W.  W.  Chapman,  D.  H.  Lownsdale,    Stephen   Coffin,  Thos.    Hartness, 
J.  B.  Backenstos,    E.    D.    Backenstos,    Rev.  Father   Croke,   A.    B.   Hallock,    Frank 
DeWitt,  Thos.  Carter,   Chas.  M.  Carter,  T.  Jefferson  Carter,  A.  N.  King,  George   H. 
Flanders,  R.   C.   Baldra,  Wm.  Grooms,  C.  C.  Redman,  John  W.  W.  McKay,  Frank 
Tilford,  Sherry  Ross,  Mr.   Ross,   E.   L.    Goldstein,  Nelson  Ham,  John   C.    Carson, 
Joseph  S.  Smith,  J.  B.  V.  Butler,  Mr.  McBride,  Mrs.  Apperson  and  family,  C.  S.  Silver, 
Jacob  Kamm,  Sargent,  of  Sargent  &  Ricketson,  John  C.  Markly,  Ed.  Chambreau, 
Samuel  D.  Smith,  Geo.  Kittridge,  L.  C.  Potter,  Dan  forth  Balch,  Capt.  Irving,  Gideon 
Tibbetts,  James  Wheeler,  David   N.  Birdseye,  Mr.  Clinkenbeard,  Mr.  Wimple,  Chas. 
P.  Bacon,  Wm.   Sherlock,   Mr.    Henderson,    David   Fuller,  J.  L.    Parrish,   Norman 
Parrish,  Samuel   B.  Parrish,  Chas.   W.    Parrish,    French   Louis,   Mr.  Camp,    Samuel 
Marsh,  The   Roberts  family,  Hiram   Wilbur,  W.  B.    Doublebower,    Elijah  B.  David- 
son, Dr.  Ferry  Prettyman,  Edward  Long,  Lewis  Love,  Clinton  Kelly,  William  Nay- 
lor,  James  Thompson,  Eli  Stewart,  Dr.  Ralph   Wilcox,  George  Loring,  John  Elliott, 
George  Elliott,  Wm.  L.  Higgins,  Wm.  S.  Caldwell,  Richard  Wiley.  Wm.  Bennett. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LAND  TITLE  CONTROVERSIES. 

Measures  taken  by  Proprietors  to  Protect  Land  Purchasers'  Rights — The  Three 
Causes  of  Litigation — Legal  Points  in  the  Stark  vs.  Starr  Case — Decision  of  the  Courts 
— Causes  of  Litigation  Over  the  Lownsdale  Estate — Final  Settlement  of  the  Case  in 
the  United  States  Circuit  Court — Decision  of  Judge  Sawyer  and  Concurrent  Opinion 
of  Judge  Deady — Public  Levee  Case — Grounds  of  Private  and  Municipal  Claims  to  the 
River  Front — How  the  City's  Rights  were  Lost — Legal  History  of  the  Caruthers  Claim. 

IT  seems  necessary  to  give  in  this  work  some  account  of  the 
troublesome  litigation  which  rested  for  a  number  of  years  over  the 
city  and  retarded  its  growth.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  very  general 
interest,  but  mention  of  the  subject  cannot  well  be  omitted,  and  if 
treated  of  at  all,  enough  of  the  details  should  be  furnished  to  state 
the  case  with  clearness  and  definiteness. 


118  History  of  Portland. 


From  the  way  in  which  Portland  was  settled,  it  may  be  surmised 
that  she  had  a  world  of  legal  difficulties  and  vexatious  questions  as  to 
the  titles  of  property.  Such  difficulties  were  clearly  forseen  by  the 
founders  and  proprietors,  and  everything  possible  was  done  to  forefend 
and  guard  against  them.  In  point  of  fact,  the  measures  adopted  at 
the  very  first  to  give  validity  and  permanency  to  all  titles  conveyed 
were  eventually  confirmed  by  the  highest  courts  in  the  nation,  but 
this  did  not  prevent  a  long,  tedious,  expensive  and,  as  it  seemed  at 
length,  a  useless  controversy. 

When  Portland  was  laid  oflf,  in  1845,  the  ownership  not  only  of 
her  site,  but  of  the  whole  territory  was  in  hot  dispute  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  Nobody  knew  whether  the  Union 
Jack  or  the  Stars  and  Stripes  ought  to  be  run  up  at  the  gable  peak  of 
the  old  hewed  log  store  and  at  the  little  wharf  on  the  river  bank.  Of 
course,  the  Americans  expected  that  Oregon  would  be  held  by  their 
National  Government,  and  the  existing  authority  in  the  land,  such 
as  it  was,  was  vested  in  a  local  Government  which  boasted  a  Governor, 
a  Legislature,  supported  an  army  and  established  courts.  It  also  had 
recognized  the  necessity  of  some  sort  of  land  legislation,  and  had 
passed  a  law  that  any  one  might  hold  the  '*  section  "  of  land  upon 
which  he  was  living  by  right  of  actual  possession.  But,  in  its  very 
nature,  this  Government  at  Oregon  City  was  provisional — ^having 
stated  in  its  preamble  that  it  was  intended  to  hold  the  reins  of 
government  only  until  such  time  as  the  United  States  should  extend 
her  authority  over  Oregon.  It  was,  therefore,  uncertain  how  the 
land  legislation  and  land  titles  would  stand  when  that  time  should 
arrive.  Such  legislation  and  titles  might  be  confirmed  or  supplanted 
by  something  else. 

From  1845,  the  time  Portland  was  started,  until  1848,  the  time 
that  the  Territorial  Government  was  set  up,  was  a  period  of  three 
years  of  uncertainty,  and  it  was  two  years  longer  before  the  Donation 
Act  was  passed,  which  substantially  recognized  and  confirmed  the 
land  system  of  the  Provisional  Government;  and  it  was  not  until 
1852  that  any  exact  or  absolute  title  was  obtained  for  the  town  site 
of  Portland.    • 


Land  Title  Controversies.  119 


To  obviate  the  difficulties  that  might  spring  up,  the  proprietors  took 

all  the  precautionary  steps  that  honest  and  conscientious  men  could 

devise.     When  Lownsdale,   in  1848,  purchased  the  town    site  and 

obtained  a  partner  in  the  person   of  General  Coffin,  an    agreement 

was  made   that   all  lots  which  had   been  sold   hitherto  should  be 

cx>nfirmed  to  the  purchasers;  that  Coffin  should  obtain  as  quickly  as 

possible  a  United  States  patent  to  the  tract,  and  that  good  deeds 

should  then  be  given  to  all  those  who  had  bought  or  should  buy. 

'When,  in  1849,  Chapman  became  a  partner,  the  same  agreement  was 

c^ontinued.     When,  in  1852,  it  was  decided  that  the  property  could 

Tye  obtained  only  by  a  division  of  interests  so  that  Lownsdale  should 

Xske  one  portion.  Chapman  a  second,   and  Coffin  the  third,  they  all 

^gned  an  agreement  with  an  enormous  bond  attached,  that  so  soon 

^as  they  obtained  legal  title  they  would  at  once  issue  deeds  to  all 

3)revious  purchasers  confirming  their  certificates. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  it  was  a  matter  of  certainty 

^hat   titles   would  be  contested.     It  was  beyond  peradventure  that 

^somebody,  at  some  time,  would  desire  to  push  the  question  beyond 

simple  private  agreement,  or  the  transient  legislation  of  the  Provisional 

^jovemment  to  the  hard  and  fast  decree  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 

^he  United  States.     The  contest  came  early  and  was  exceedingly  hot, 

T)ut  perhaps  was  just  as  well  decided  then  as  at  any   other   time. 

"*There  was  considerable  temporary  feeling  generated,  and  those  who 

^i^ere  put  to  expense  to  maintain  what  they  considered  their  honest 

:3ights  uaturally  felt  some  exasperation  at  those  who  contested  them. 

There  were,    in  general,   three  main  questions   to   be   decided. 

"T^hese  arose  first,  from  the  claims  of  Benjamin  Stark;  second,  from 

^he  claims  of  the  heirs  of  D.   H.    Lownsdale;  and  third,  from  the 

"disposition  by  the  proprietors  of  what  was  called  **  the  levee." 

As  to  the  claims  of  Stark,  he,  as  we  have  already  recorded,  had 
3>urchased  Lovejoy's  interest  in  the  640  acres  of  land  which  then 
<x>nstituted  Portland,  but  when  he  went  to  San  Francisco  not  long 
after,  leaving  his  interest  to  the  care  of  Capt.  Couch,  it  seems  to  have 
'been  supposed  by  Lownsdale  that  he  had  abandoned  his  claim. 
Nevertheless,  while  yet  in  California,  and  upon  returning  from  the 
gold  mines,  he  asserted  his  rights  and  it  was  finally  agreed  as  the 


120  History  of  Portland. 


most  equitable  settlement  that  his  claim  should  be  conceded  to  that 
triangular  strip  which  now  constitutes  the  central  portion  of  the  city, 
namely:  the  piece  bounded  by  Stark  and  A  streets  and  the  river. 
But  from  previous  agreements  which  appear  to  have  been  entered  into 
by  the  proprietors  when  they  supposed  that  their  rights  extended 
down  to  Couch's  line,  there  arose  a  number  of  cases  which  had  to  be 
settled  in  equity  before  the  United  States  District  Courts.  One  of 
these,  as  a  specimen,  may  be  introduced  here.  This  was  the  case  of 
Stark  vs.  Starr.  It  appears  that  as  early  as  1850  certain  lots  1,  2, 
and  4,  in  block  81,  had  been  occupied  by  persons  who  had  what 
they  regarded  as  deeds  as  good  as  were  to  be  obtained  at  the  time. 
To  be  sure  these  deeds  were  not  given  by  Stark.  The  deed  to  lot  1 
had  the  following  genealogy:  One  Eastman  had  possession  of  it, 
although  it  does  not  appear  by  what  legal  authority,  and  gave  a  deed 
thereto  to  Hutchins  and  Hale,  who  passed  on  the  same  to  A.  M. 
Starr  and  A.  P.  Ankeny.  There  was  one  other  link  by  a  certain 
man,  Bamhart,  who  at  one  time  had  a  certificate  on  execution  to 
enforce  a  judgment  of  Norton  vs.  Winter  and  Latimer,  but  L.  M. 
Starr  was  unable  to  trace  his  deed  to  Barnhart.  As  to  lot  2,  of  the 
same  block,  a  deed  was  found  from  Chapman  for  the  south  half,  and 
from  Butler  to  McCoy  and  also  from  Marye  to  McCoy.  Lot  4  was 
found  to  have  been  passed  in  1850  from  Chapman  to  Powell;  in  1856 
from  Powell  to  A.  M.  Starr,  and  in  1865  from  A.  M.  Starr  to  L.  M. 
Starr.  None  of  these  deeds  were  traced  to  Stark,  who  got  his  title  direct 
from  the  United  States,  and  was  the  first  recorded  owner.  There  was 
a  statement  by  Stark  that  he  never  gave  a  deed  to  these  lots  on 
account  of  the  fact  that  Chapman  had  never  paid  him  for  them — thus 
showing  quite  clearly  that  all  the  lots  had  at  some  time  been  held  in 
some  sort  of  an  unwritten  agreement  between  Starr  and  Chapman, 
but  whatever  that  agreement  or  understanding  might  have  been 
nothing  of  it  was  at  first  produced  before  the  Court. 

In  this  situation  it  appears  that  Stark  concluded  to  establish  what 
rights  he  might  possess  in  this  quarter,  and  consequently  instituted 
suit  in  equity  before  the  District  Court  at  Portland  to  recover 
possession.  It  was  decided  by  the  Court  that  the  land  had  never 
been  conveyed  away  from  Stark,  and  that  whatever  understanding 


122  History  of  Portland. 

fkcts  which  were  not  shown  in  the  case  of  Stark  vs.  Starr,  as 
mentioned  above,  were  developed,  and  they  explained  how  Chapman 
happened  to  be  selling  land  which  appeared  only  under  Stark's  patent, 
as  follows:  Stark  and  Lownsdale  were  both  in  San  Francisco  early 
in  1850,  the  former  leaving  Couch  as  his  attorney  at  Portland,  and 
the  latter  investing  Colonel  Chapman  with  the  same  powers.  While 
there,  Stark  and  Lownsdale  talked  over  their  rights  and  claims 
in  the  Portland  townsite,  the  former  urging  that  he  had  a  half 
interest  on  account  of  his  purchase  of  Lovejoy's  interest,  (although, 
as  it  is  said,  Mrs.  Lovejoy  never  signed  the  deed),  while  Lowns- 
dale  spoke  of  his  purchase  of  the  whole  site  for  $5,000  from 
Pettygrove.  But,  it  was  finally  agreed  in  writing  to  make  a 
division  whereby  Lownsdale  should  relinquish  to  Stark  all  that  portion 
of  the  claim  north  of  a  certain  line  which  coincides  very  nearly  with 
the  present  Stark  street;  and  Stark  was  to  relinquish  all  south  of  that 
line  to  Lownsdale.  It  was  provided,  however,  by  the  latter,  that  the 
consent  of  certain  other  persons  (by  which  he  meant  his  partners  Chap- 
man and  CoflSn),  must  be  obtained.  But,  in  the  meantime,  while  the 
two  were  making  this  arrangement  in  San  Francisco,  Colonel 
Chapman,  acting  in  his  own  right  and  also  as  attorney  for  Lownsdale, 
and  not  knowing  of  the  agreement,  had  bought  of  the  company  of 
which  he  was  a  member,  this  block  on  Stark's  portion;  and  at  the 
same  time  arranged  to  sell  two  other  blocks,  respectively,  to  Lownsdale 
and  Coffin.  About  a  month  after  this  Lownsdale  came  up  to  Portland 
and  told  his  partners  of  his  arrangement  with  Stark.  They  refused 
at  once  to  agree  to  it,  but  upon  condition  that  block  81  and  the  other 
blocks  which  had  been  sold  since  March  1st,  or  the  time  of  the 
agreement  between  Stark  and  Lownsdale  in  San  Francisco,  be  left 
as  it  had  been  agreed  by  the  sales  of  Chapman,  the  arrangement  was 
ratified  and  signed  by  Couch  as  attorney  for  Stark.  In  June,  Stark 
also  came  back  to  Portland  and  made  no  objection  to  the  arrangement 
of  April  13th,  by  which  block  81  was  secured  to  Chapman;  and  he 
received  from  Chapman  a  list  of  all  lots  sold  out  of  the  part  assigned 
to  him  north  of  Stark  street. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  was  held  by  Judge  Sawyer  that  Colonel 
Chapman  had  received  a   valid  title  from  Stark  to  the  block,  good 


124  History  of  Portland. 


possession  of  various  Portland  people  were  so  by  legal  title,  or  simply 
by  way  of  temporary  occupancy  which  ceased  as  soon  as  Lownsdale 
obtained  his  patent 

The  question  also  naturally  arose,  First,  how  could  Lownsdale 
give  title  for  anything  more  than  mere  possession  to  land  to  which  he 
had  no  title  except  of  mere  possession,  as  was  the  case  with  him 
before  he  received  a  patent  in  1852  ?  Second^  how  could  a  title  to 
Lownsdale  for  land  which  he  entered  in  1852  give  any  title  in  the 
same  land,  or  parts  of  it,  to  those  who  purchased  mere  possession 
before  that  date  ?  Thirds  after  Lownsdale  got  a  title  to  the  whole 
claim  without  any  legal  reser\'ations,  did  he  not  own  the  whole  of  it 
without  reservation  ?  Or  by  what  compulsion  could  any  one  obtain 
from  him  or  his  heirs,  title  to  land  in  ever)'  part  of  which  he  held 
a  perfect  and  complete  title  from  the  United  States,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  others  ?  Fourth^  even  supposing  that  he  had  made  promises  to 
give  title  to  certain  lots  which  he  had  sold  for  valuable  considerations, 
when  he  should  get  a  title  himself,  was  he  not  prevented,  or  barred 
out  from  doing  so,  by  the  clause  in  the  Donation  Act  providing  that 
affidavit  must  be  made  by  all  who  filed  upon  land  under  this  act  that 
the  land  claimed  '4s  for  their  own  use  and  cultivation,  and  that  they 
have  made  no  sale  or  transfer,  or  any  arrangement,  or  any  agreement 
of  sale  *  *  *  by  which  the  land  shall  inure  to  the  benefit  of  any 
other  persons?'' 

In  looking  over  all  the  facts  in  the  case,  it  seemed  to  them  and  to 
eminent  counsel,  that  the  sales  made  by  Lownsdale  before  he  acquired 
his  legal  title  were  wholly  illegal  and  invalid  and  without  binding 
force  in  law,  and  could  extend  only  to  simple  temporar>'  possession 
and  use  which  the  purchasers  had  already  enjoyed;  and  they  deter- 
mined to  enter  suit  to  recover  all  property  which  was  included  under 
the  specifications  of  the  patent  issued  to  D.  H.  Lownsdale  by  the 
United  States.  This  would  of  course,  dispossess  a  large  number  of  Port- 
land's property  holders  who  suppased  that  they  had  titles  to  their  land, 
and  in  this  faith  had  built  upon  and  improved  their  property,  and  were 
confidently  expecting  to  reap  their  millions  of  profit  when  the  great 
growth  of  the  future  should  come.  The  legal  possibilities  of  the  case 
were  so  great  as  to  attract  universal  attention  and  to  elicit  a  multitude 


126  History  of  Portland. 


Deady,  of  our  city,  most  readily  agreed  to  the  suggestion  that  Judge 
Sawyer  of  the  Unit;^  States  Circuit  Court  should  be  present  from  San 
Francisco,  and  the  case  on  both  sides  was  conducted  with  the  utmost 
good  spirit  and  with  conspicuous  ability,  and  the  final  decision  of  the 
Court  was  so  careful,  cogent  and  just,  as  to  pass  finally  without 
exceptions  through  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Without  following  the  argument  of  the  lawyers,  which  was  very 
voluminous,  it  is  possible  to  give  here  a  brief  abstract  of  the  decision 
itself.  It  may  be  premised  in  a  general  way  that  the  Court  followed 
a  liberal  construction,  not  exactly  of  the  law,  as  but  little  law  was 
involved,  but  rather  of  the  necessities  and  circumstances  of  the  case. 
It  recognized  the  validity  of  the  agreements  entered  into  by  the 
proprietors  before  any  United  States  patents  were  issued.  After  giving 
due  attention  to  the  facts  in  the  case,  Sawyer's  opinion  proceeds  as 
follows  (First  Sawyer,  619)  **The  decision  of  this  action,  I  am  satisfied, 
must  turn  upon  the  validity,  construction,  and  effect  of  the  said 
various  contracts  and  conveyances  *  *  *  and  these  must  be 
construed  in  the  light  of  the  condition  of  things  existing  at  the  time 
and  with  reference  to  which  they  were  executed. 

'*It  is  a  matter  of  public  history,  of  which  the  Court  can  take 
notice,  that  Oregon  was  settled  while  the  sovereignty  of  the  country 
was  still  in  dispute  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain;  that 
subsequently,  a  provisional  government  was  organized  and  put  in 
operation  by.  the  people,  without  any  authority  of  the  sovereign 
powers;  that  laws  were  passed  temporarily  regulating  and  protecting 
claims  made  upon  public  lands;  and  that  afterwards,  the  terrritorial 
government  was  established  under  the  authorit>'  of  Congress  and  put 
in  operation  long  before  there  was  any  law  or  means  by  which  the 
real  title  to  any  portion  of  land  in  Oregon  could  be  obtained.  The 
title  to  the  lands  in  Oregon  were  vested  in  the  United  States  from  the 
moment  that  the  right  of  sovereignty  was  acquired,  and  the  first  law 
that  was  passed,  by  which  the  title  in  fee  could  in  any  way  be 
acquired  from  the  government  was  the  said  Act  of  September  10th, 
1850,  called  the  Donation  Act.  Long  before  that  time,  however,  an 
organized   community  had  existed;  lands   had  been  taken  up  and 


Land  Title  Controversies.  127 


improved;  towns  laid  out,  established  and  built  up,  having  a  consid- 
erable population  and  a  growing  commerce.  It  was  necessary,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  that  some  right  of  property  should  be  recognized 
in  lands,  in  the  dealings  of  the  people  among  themselves,  and  laws 
were  adopted  by  the  provisional  government  regulating  the  subject. 
.  Tracts  of  land  were  taken  up  and  claimed  by  the  settlers  within  the 
limits,  as  to  quantity  allowed;  towns  laid  off,  and  lands  and  town 
lots  sold  and  conveyed  from  one  to  another,  in  all  respects  as  though 
the  parties  owned  the  fee,  except  that  ever>'  party  dealing  with  the 
lands,  necessarily  knew  that  he  did  not,  and  could  not,  under  the 
existing  laws  obtain  the  fee  from  the  real  proprietor.     *     *     * 

**But  between  man  and  man  possession  is  evidence  of  title  in  fee, 
as  against  everybody  but  the  true  owner.     The  law  protects  in  his 
possession  the  party  who  has  once  possessed  himself  of  and  appro- 
priated to  his  use  a  piece  of  unoccupied  land  until  he  has  lost  his 
j)ossession  and   right  of    possession   by    abandonment,    as    against 
everybody   but   the   true   owner.       Such   possession    and   right   of 
3)ossession  are  recognized  as  property  by  the  common  law,  and  the 
Tright  is  protected  and  enforced  by  the  Courts.     ****** 
JPrior  appropriation  is  the  origin  of  all  titles.     Prior  discovery  and  an 
-aictual  or  constructive  appropriation  is  the   origin  of  title  even  in 
,3govemments  themselves.     For  communities  situated  like  that  in  the 
•iearly  settlement  of  Oregon,  no  rule  could  be  adopted  which  would 
~T)etter  subserve  the  public  interest  than  to  treat  prior  occupancy  as 
^Xiving  a  provisional  title  to  lands  in  reasonable  quantities  and  under 
3)roper  restrictions,  and  thereafter,  until  the  real  title  can  be  obtained 
Aom  the  Government,   deal  with  it  as  between   individuals  in  all 
^respects  as  if  the  prior  occupancy  originated  and  vested  a  title  in  fee. 
"This  is  the  natural  order  of  things,  and  affords  a  rule  of  conduct 
^^onsonant  with  the  ordinary  course  of  dealings,  and  the  common 
experience  of  mankind  in  organized  communities.'' 

Proceeding  upon  this  broad  basis,  the  Judge  cited  the  circumstances 
^f  the  case  in  hand;  the  Portland  Land  Claim  was  taken  up,  lots  sold, 
improved  and  lived  upon.  The  party  thus  occupying  acquired 
j)ossession  as  against  all  but  the  true  owner — the  United  States.     This 

right  could  be  transferred  by  sale  like  any  other. 
[•J 


128  History  of  Portland. 


**Lownsdale  was,  on  March  30th,  1849,  in  possession  of  the  six 
hundred  and  fort>'  acres,  except  certain  lots  already  sold.  On  that 
day  two  instruments  were  executed,  each  evidently  a  part  of  one 
and  the  same  transaction,  between  Lownsdale  and  Coffin,  forming  a 
partnership,  by  which  the  legal  title  was  to  be  vested  in  Coffin,  but 
to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  joint  benefit  of  the  two.  All  profits  of 
sale  to  be  were  divided,  ever>'  exertion  made  to  acquire  title,  each 
paying  half  of  expenses,  and  upon  dissolution  Coffin  is  to  convey 
one-half  to  Lownsdale  of  whatever  he  may  have  under  title.  In 
this  agreement  Lownsdale  and  Coffin  were  to  own  each  a  half  interest 
in  all  the  six  hundred  and  fort>'  acres,  except  certain  lots  already  sold 
to  various  parties  as  town  property;  but  ever>'  exertion  was  to  be 
made  to  gain  a  title  to  the  whole  six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  not 
excepting  those  lots — showing  that  they  claim  no  further  interest  in 
those  lots,  but  were  to  get  title  to  them  for  the  benefit  of  those  to 
whom  the  lots  had  been  sold. 

*'When,  in  1849,  Chapman  was  admitted,  the  three  partners  were 
to  have  an  equal  interest  in  the  property,  excepting  town  lots  already 
sold  previous  to  this  date  as  town  property;  and,  in  1852,  when  the 
section  had  to  be  divided  up  in  severalty,  so  that  the  proprietors  might 
obtain  a  title  on  their  own  individual  account,  as  provided  by  the 
Donation  Act,  they  make  an  agreement  in  which  they  set  forth  the 
fact  that  they  have  already  obligated  themselves  to  make  to  their 
grantees  a  general  warranty  deed  whenever  they,  as  grantors,  shall 
obtain  title  from  the  United  States,  and  bind  themselves  again  to 
make  such  deeds  to  the  original  grantees,  their  heirs,  assigns,  etc. , 
whenever  they  should  get  the  patents  for  which  they  were  then  taking 
steps  to  obtain. 

'^Whenever  a  new  partner  was  admitted  it  was  expressly 
provided  that  the  lots  already  sold  should  be  excluded  from  the  use 
of  the  partners,  but  that  the  title  must  be  got  for  all.  Whence  it 
follows  that  acquisition  of  title  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  purchasers, 
and  not  of  the  vendors — partners — only.'' 

It  was  also  further  held  by  Judge  Sawyer  that  although  Lownsdale 
only  promised  to  give  the  deed  when  he  got  a  title,  and  was  under 
no  compulsion   by  that  promise  to  get  a  title,  yet  nevertheless  that 


130  History  of  Portland. 


purchasers,  and  upon  the  validity  of  his  patent  must  the  whole 
validity-  of  the  claim  of  the  plainti&  be  made  to  rest  But,  if  his 
title  was  valid,  in  face  of  his  covenant,  that  covenant  was  not 
invalidated  by  the  clause  in  the  Donation  Act  prohibiting  future 
contracts. 

The  above  is  but  a  brief  abstract  of  this  most  valuable  document 
which  brought  peace  to  a  large  number  of  Portland  lot  holders.  To 
sum  it  up,  Judge  Saw>'er  held  that  in  the  conditions  of  the  case,  and 
of  societ}',  and  since  a  town  could  have  been  built  in  no  other  way 
at  that  stage  in  the  development  of  Oregon,  the  promises,  agreements 
and  covenants  of  the  proprietors  before  they  got  a  l^;al  title  were 
still  valid  after  they  got  that  title,  and  that  there  was  nothing  in  the 
Donation  Act,  or  any  United  States  law,  to  prevent  their  execution. 
The  cross  bill  of  Dr.  Davenport  was,  therefore,  allowed  and  posses- 
sion of  the  property'  given  him;  while  the  bill  of  the  Lownsdale 
heirs,  praynng  for  relief,  was  denied. 

Judge  Deady  concurred,  in  the  following  language:  "  I  concur  in 
the  conclusion  reached  by  the  Circuit  Judge.  After  careful  consid- 
eration, and  not  without  some  doubt  and  hesitation,  I  have  become 
satisfied  that  by  force  of  the  agreement  of  March  10,  1852,  and  the 
subsequent  action  of  Lownsdale,  CoflSn  and  Chapman,  under  and  in 
pursuance  of  it,  each  of  them  took  and  obtained  from  the  United 
States  a  separate  portion  of  the  Land  Claim  in  trust  for  the  purchasers 
or  vendees  of  any  lots  situated  therein,  and  before  that  time,  sold  by 
any  or  all  of  these  parties. 

*  'From  the  passage  of  the  Donation  Act — September  27,  1850 — 
and  prior  thereto,  Lownsdale,  Coffin  and  Chapman  had  held  this  land 
claim  in  common,  and  made  sale  of  lots  throughout  the  extent  of  it; 
but  on  March  10,  1852,  by  means  of  this  agreement,  and  with 
intent  to  conform  to  the  provisions  of  said  act  and  obtain  the  benefit 
thereof,  they  partitioned  the  claim  between  themselves  so  that  each 
was  thereafter  enabled  to  proceed  for  himself,  and  notify  upon  and 
obtain  a  donation  of  a  separate  portion  of  the  whole  tract 

*'The  Donation  Act  was  a  grant  in  praesenti.  Each  of  these 
settlers — Lownsdale,  Coffin  and  Chapman — ^was  upon  the  land  at  the 
date  of  its  passage,  and  from  that  time  is  deemed  to  have  an  estate 


Land  Title  Controversies.  131 

in  fee  simple  in  his  donation,  subject  only  to  be  defeated  by  a  failure 
on  his  part  to  perform  the  subsequent  conditions  of  residence,  cultiva- 
tion and  a  proof  thereof  This  being  so,  it  follows  that  at  the  date 
of  this  agreement  either  of  these  parties  could  impress  a  trust  upon 
his  donation  in  favor  of  any  one.  And,  even  if  it  be  considered  that 
the  settlers  acquired'  no  interest  in  the  land  until  the  partition  and 
notification  before  the  Surveyor  General,  still  each  one  having 
acquired  a  separate  portion  of  the  common  claim  in  pursuance  and 
partly  by  means  of  this  agreement,  so  soon  as  he  did  so  acquire  it,  the 
trust  provided  for  in  it  became  as  executed  at  once,  and  might  be 
enforced  by  the  beneficiary  thereof,  although  a  mere  volunteer,  from 
^hom  no  meritorious  consideration  moved." 

He  doubted,  however,   whether   the   purchaser   of  lots  could  be 

shown  to  have  contributed  in  any  way   to  the  acquisition  of  the  land 

from    the   United  States,    thinking  the   taking  of  portions  in  less 

<iuantities   than   the   smallest  legal   sub-division,   forty   acres,    was 

xmknown,  if  not  illegal;   and  th^t  lot  holders  at  Portland  would  not, 

in  those  days  of  change,  think  of  serving  four  years  to  secure  simple 

lots,  the  value  of  which  was   then   very  problematical.     Nor  was  it 

likely  that  any  one  of  the  citizens  was   living  upon  and  cultivating 

uch  lots  in  accordance  with  the  Donation   Act     The  lot-owner  had 

o  right,  except  to   bare  possession,  and   must  look  to  the  settler  for 

U)erfect   title,  relying  upon   the   written   obligation  which,  in  most 

instances,  was  given. 

He  summed  up  the  case  thus:  **I  think   the  agreement  of  March 

^nOth,  1852  a  valid  instrument,  and  not  within  the  prohibition  entered 

:Sn  sectioa  four  of  the   Donation   Act,  against  *  All  future  contracts'  ^ 

^for  the  sale  of  land',  granted  by  the  act.     By   its   terms  it  appears 

o  be  a  contract  concerning  the  making  of  title  to  the  parcels  or  lots 

f  land  already  sold,  and,  for  aught  that  appears  before  the  passage  of 

Tlhe  Donation  Act.     But  if  this  were  doubtful  good  policy,  it  seems 

"to  me  it  requires  that  the  instrument,  as  between  the  parties  to  it,  and 

^n  favor  of  those   intended   to   be   benefitted    by   it,  should    be   so 

^:onstrued  and  upheld." 

Following  is  the  agreement   referred  to  so  often  in  the  foregoing 
decision,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  palladium  of  the  Portland  land 


132  History  of  Portland. 


titles,  and  the  end  of  controversy  to  all  contestants.  It  was  made  in 
March,  1852,  when  the  proprietors  found  that  it  was  impossible  to 
secure  a  title  jointly  to  the  land  which  they  had  been  holding  and 
selling  as  partners.     Each  covenants  that 

* '-First,  He  will  fulfill  and  perform  all  contracts  and  agreements 
that  he  has  entered  into  with  the  others,  or  each  of  them,  or  with 
other  persons,  respecting  the  said  tract  of  land  or  any  part  thereof. 

^  ^Second,  That  he  will  never  abandon  or  remove  from  the  claim 
which  he,  simultaneously  with  the  signing  and  sealing  hereof,  shall 
make  with  the  said  Surveyor  General,  to  a  portion  of  the  said 
Portland  tract,  until  he  shall  obtain  a  patent  from  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  that  is  to  say ; 

^^  Third y  That  he  will  use  all  due  diligence  to  procure  a  patent  for 
the  same  and  that  to  this  end,  he  will  in  all  respects  fulfill  and 
perform  the  requisition  of  the  law  upon  this  subject:  and 

^^Fourth^  That  when  patent  should  be  so  obtained  he  will  make 
good  and  suflScient  deeds  of  general  warranty  for  all  lots  or  parts  of 
lots  in  the  part  or  tract  so  patented  to  him,  which  may  heretofore 
have  been  sold  or  agreed  by  said  parties  jointly;  or  any  of  them 
separately,  to  be  sold;  that  said  deed,  of  course,  is  in  all  cases,  to  be 
made  to  the  original  grantee,  etc.'' 

For  the  faithful  performance  of  this  covenant,  the  proprietors 
bound  themselves  in  the  smn  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Lownsdale  filed  his  notification,  in  pursuance  of  the  above 
covenant,  with  the  Surveyor  General,  March  11th,  1852,  dating  his 
settlement  back  to  September  22nd,  1848.  His  certificate  was  issued 
on  October  17th,  1860;  and  the  patent  was  obtained  Januar\'  15th, 
1865.  The  period  covered  by  the  contests  in  the  courts  was  from 
about  1863  until  the  final  decision  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  some  ten  years  later.  By  this.  Judge  Saw>'er's  opinion  was 
sustained. 

The  third  set  of  cases  arose  out  of  contests  about  the  public  levee, 
the  possession  of  which  was  contested  by  the  city  and  private 
individuals  alternately — the  strip  of  land  on  the  river  bank  between 
the  shore  line  and  Front  street.  The  proprietors,  who  had  become 
familiar  with   river   transportation   on   the  Mississippi,   where   the 


Land  Title  Controversies.  133 


dykes  and  levees  were  used  for  a  sort  of  depot  and  point  of  lading 
for  the  flat  boats  and  steamers  that  traversed  the  river,  seem  to 
have  entertained  the  idea  that  the  city  front  might  be  used  in 
the  same  manner  here,  and  that  the  public  interests  of  the  city  and 
community  would  be  conserved  by  dedicating  this  to  the  people  as 
public  property,  like  a  street  or  park.  Coffin,  Lovejoy  and  Petty- 
grove  were  regarded  as  having  set  this  aside  as  a  public  levee,  and  the 
whole  front  of  the  original  claim  was  included.  Nevertheless,  while 
it  was  understood  by  the  public  generally  that  the  water  front  was 
reserved  for  the  free  use  of  the  people,  it  was  never  shown  in  court 
that  any  proprietor,  either  before  or  after  the  land  was  acquired  under 
the  U.  S.  Patent  had  made  any  dedication,  and  in  opposition  to  the 
general  understanding,  the  proprietors  made  from  time  to  time  private 
use  of  it  as  if  they  still  regarded  themselves  as  owners.  Pettygrove 
and  Lovejoy  kept  upon  the  levee  a  private  wharf  and  slaughter-house. 
When  Lownsdale  came  into  possession  of  the  townsite  he  also  held 
a  wharf  on  the  levee  as  private  property. 

Nevertheless,  the  Portland  people  had  firmly  imbedded  in  their 

ixiinds  the  idea  that  they  collectively  owned  the  levee,  and  asserted  in 

oourt  that  they  paid  higher  prices  for  their  lots  because  they  were 

^^sured  that  they  should   have  free   use  of   the  river  front.     The 

^xiatter  was  brought  into  court  in  1850. '     In  that  year  Mr.  Lownsdale 

^>  ad  a  building  erected  upon  the  fractional  block  east  of  Front  street, 

etween  the  river  and  a  lot  owned  by  J.    L.  Parrish.     The  latter 

laimed  that  his  free  use  of  the  river  was  impaired  thereby,  that  the 

nderstanding  in  accordance  with  which  he  had  purchased  his  lot 

violated,  and  he  therefore  sued  to  have  the  obstruction  removed. 

the  case  was  pending,  a  compromise  was  agreed  upon  that  if 

^^^arrish  would  withdraw  the  suit,  the  river  front  from  Washington  to 

aine  street  should  be  dedicated  as  a  public  levee  for  the  free  use  of 


1  It  is  stated  by  an  early  resident  of  Portland  that  in  1850  a  lot  on  the  levee  was 

Ad  to  Captain  Norton,  who  began  to  make  improvements.     His  right  to  the  water 

^xont  was  disputed  by  those  owning  behind  him,  on  the  ground  that  this,  like  a  street, 

>^ras  dedicated  to  the  public.     In  a  meeting  of  the  proprietors,  C.  H.  Reed  sitting  as 

Representative  and  attorney  in   fact  for  Coffin,  who  was  absent,  it  was  decided  to 

^^ompromiseby  leaving  Norton  in  possession  of  his  lot,  but  to  allow  the  public  to  use 

"^Tie  rest  as  public  property. 


134  History  of  Portland. 

the  people.  The  fact  that  the  proprietors  made  any  such  concession 
shows  plainly  that  they  recognized  the  popular  idea  as  at  least 
partially  correct,  and  was  an  admission  that  they  had  given  the 
people  some  right  to  suppose  that  they  might  use  the  river  bank 
without  rent  or  other  payment  In  this  case,  the  matter  was  proposed 
to  be  settled  the  more  willingly  by  the  proprietors,  because  a  vexatious 
law  suit  as  to  title  of  any  considerable  portion  of  the  town  tended 
to  retard  growth,  and  to  derange  business. 

But  the  people  of  the  city  took  no  wise  steps  to  secure  their  rights 
if  they  had  any.  The  suit  to  remove  obstructions  was  not  with- 
drawn, and  therefore,  Lownsdale  was  released  from  his  part  of  the 
promise.  The  common  council  of  Portland  acted  in  a  manner 
peculiar  and  contradictory.  They  either  forgot  for  a  time  that  they  had 
any  rights  to  protect  and  secure  for  the  city,  or  deemed  these  of  little 
importance.  In  1850,  Lownsdale  had  had  the  city  surveyed  by  one 
R.  V.  Short,  and  from  this  survey  a  map  was  made  by  John  Brady. 
According  to  this  map.  Front  street — then  called  Water — was  bounded 
on  the  east  side  by  a  line  parallel  with  the  western  boundary,  and  the 
land  on  the  river  bank  east  of  the  street  was  laid  off  in  lots  and  blocks 
according  to  the  meanderings  of  the  river.  In  1852,  the  common 
council  seemed  to  consider  it  a  good  plan  to  adopt  some  map  as  an 
authoritative  diagram  of  the  city,  and  probably  because  the  Brady  map 
was  most  convenient  they  declared  it  to  be  the  correct  plat  of  Portland. 
By  this  stroke  they  signed  away  whatever  right  they  had  to  the  levee. 
In  1860,  however,  another  council  revived  the  old  matter,  having 
discovered  during  the  eight  years  intervening  that  the  Brady  map 
made  no  account  of  the  levee,  and  they  now  declared  that  the  river 
front  was  public  property.  A  crusade  was  made  against  those  who 
had  put  buildings  upon  the  levee,  and  it  was  ordained  that  all  such 
obstructions  be  removed.  About  this  time,  if  report  is  not  at  fault, 
Mr.  Geo.  W.  Vaughn,  one  of  Portland's  early  mayors  and  the 
proprietor  of  the  Portland  flouring-mill,  was  ousted  from  his  holding 
on  the  levee,  by  order  of  the  council,  and,  in  disgust,  took  up  his 
residence  for  a  time  in  the  rival  city  of  Vancouver.  A  wharf  that 
was  in  process  of  construction  according  to  the  directions  of  J.  P.  O. 
Lownsdale,  was  proceeded  against  His  agents  and  builders  were 
arrested,  and  it  was  threatened  to  tear  down  the  structure. 


Land  Title  Controversies.  135 

After  these  vigorous  measures,  however,  a  great  hubbub  having 

been  raised,   the   Council  changed   its   course,    repealed  its  former 

declaration  and  ordained  that  the  levee  was  private  property,  and  that 

taxes  must  be  paid  upon  it.     The  suit  brought  by  Mr.  J.   P.  O. 

Lownsdale   to   enjoy   the   use   and   possession  of  his  property  was 

decided  in  his  favor — the  Court  finding  that  there  was  no  proof  that 

Lovejoy,  Pettygrove,  Chapman,  Coffin  or  D.  H.  Lownsdale  had  ever 

given   the   levee   to   the   public;  that   they   had  no  power  to  give 

anything  of  this  property  before  1850,  since  there  was  no  title  before 

that  date;  that  Lownsdale' s  donation  certificate  gave  him  title  to  the 

levee;  that  he  claimed  all  proprietary  rights  upon  it,  using,  renting 

and  selling  portions,  and  that  the  city   had  twice  publicly  admitted 

Ills  claim,  and  had  compelled  him  to  pay  taxes  upon  it.     Nevertheless, 

it  will  always  be  understood  by  many  that  at  the  beginning,   or  in 

the  early  days,  Portland  supposed  she  owned  the  water  front  for  the 

X>ublic,  and  that  the  proprietors  had  some  intention  of  facilitating 

commerce  and  providing  against  extortion  of  wharfingers  by  having 

SL  free  front   for  the  use  of  boatmen,  farmers  and  shippers.     But, 

^whatever  rights  she  had,  she  allowed  to  slip  through  her  fingers. 

There  was,  however,  a  levee  still  left.     General  Coffin  dedicated 

to  the  city  a  strip  from  Jefferson  street  southward  along  the  river 

l>ank  to  Clay  street.     He  reserved  for  himself  only  the  right  of  using 

it  for  purposes  of  ferriage,  but  afterwards  sold  this  right  to  the  city, 

giving  at  that  time  a  quit  claim  to  the  whole  tract.     The  question 

what  to  do  with  the  property  was  variously  agitated  at  different  times 

l)efore  the   City  Council.     Recommendations  for  leasing  it  for  the 

benefit   of  the   city   were   incorporated   in   municipal    reports,  and 

suggestions  for  improvements  so   as  to  make  it   of  service  to  the 

public  were   occasionally   made.     But   it   was,  for   the   most  part, 

neglected  for  years.     In  1885  the  Portland  &  Willamette  Valley 

Railway,   having  for  some  time  labored  to  obtain   the  use  of  the 

property,  was  favored  with  a  bill  passed  by  the  Oregon  Legislature 

granting  them  the  premises  for  the'  purposes  of  a  depot.     This  was 

held  not  to  be  inconsistent  with  its  use  as  a  public  levee,  on  the 

ground  that  the  dedication  having  been  made  in  favor  of  the  public, 

the  State  rather  than  the  city  was  the  beneficiary.      Formerly  the  city 


136  History  of  Portland. 


named  the  levee  as  one  of  its  own  properties,  but  in  the  late  enumer- 
ations it  has  disappeared,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  whole  river 
front  is  in  private  possession,  and  the  city  or  the  public  makes  claim 
to  no  adverse  rights. 

Of  course,  all  this  was  not  consummated  without  litigation  and 
legislative  pressure.  It  would  seem  that  such  a  property  as  the  river 
front,  or  that  donated  by  Coffin,  was  too  valuable  for  the  city  to  lose, 
and  history  must  call  those  officials  who,  by  neglect,  forfeited  the 
gift,  to  a  severe  account  The  intention  of  Coffin  was  good  and  his 
policy  correct,  and  if  by  constructing  a  suitable  wharf,  and  charging 
reasonable  rates  for  the  use  of  it,  or  by  leasing  the  privilege  and 
fixing  wharf  rates  at  a  reasonable  price,  the  city  had  carried  out  his 
idea,  Portland  would  always  have  had  the  ability  to  make  the  best 
terms  for  wharfage,  stowage  and  shipping.  Nevertheless,  it  was  an 
idle  thought  to  place  any  such  trust  in  the  hands  of  men  chosen  at 
municipal  elections.  Special  trustees,  apart  from  all  political  interests 
and  persuasions,  should  have  been  appointed  and  the  property 
managed  much  as  are  the  City  Water  Works  at  present.  * 

With  this  we  may  dismiss  the  cases  that  grew  out  of  the  actions 
of  the  original  claimants  and  their  heirs,  and  remember  that  the  first 
disposition  of  property  by  Lownsdale  and  the  other  proprietors,  was 
confirmed  by  judicial  decisions,  except  that  the  contemplated  levee, 
for  the  use  of  the  public,  was,  principally  by  the  inefficiency  of  the 
city  authorities,  suffered  to  fall  into  private  hands. 

In  respect  to  the  claim  of  Finice  and  Elizabeth  Caruthers,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  city,  there  was  also  much  litigation,  which  at  the 
close  took  a  somewhat  ludicrous  turn.     The  Caruthers  were  mother 

1  Colonel  Chapman  states  that  in  the  first  years  all  the  owners  and  proprieton  at 
Portland  were  acquainted  with  the  levee  system  of  the  Western  cities,  and  particn- 
larly  with  the  commercial  methods  of  Cincinnati.  When,  however.  Couch  improved 
his  claim,  and  built  a  covered  wharf,  in  the  style  of  the  New  England  sea  ports,  it 
was  seen  that  the  great  convenience  of  this  method  would  make  his  place  the 
terminus  of  vessels,  and  to  induce  them  to  land  or  load  above,  it  was  necessary  to 
build  docks  and  have  regular  warehouses.  It  was,  therefore,  decided  to  abandon  the 
idea  of  a  levee,  and  by  selling  the  water  front  encourage  the  building  of  proper 
shipping  facilities.  The  legal  difficulties  and  contests  that  followed  were  regarded 
as  unimportant  The  proprietors  regarded  themselves  as  merely  making  the  beet 
disposition  of  their  own  property  for  the  good  of  the  city. 


138  History  of  Portland. 


claim.  The  case  involving  almost  endless  possibilities,  and,  by  its 
notoriety,  inviting  the  appearance  of  other  sporadic  heirs,  a  company 
was  formed  to  buy  up  the  rights  and  the  claims  of  the  two  contestants. 
Hannah  and  Thomas  were  well  paid,  and  the  former  withdrawing 
left  the  property  with  Thomas,  who  turned  it  over  to  the  company. 
Their  title  was  confirmed  by  the  Courts,  and  they  proceeded  to 
sell  off  lots  and  blocks.  Upon  the  appearance  of  Villard,  and  the 
formation  of  the  Oregon  and  Transcontinental  Railway  Company, 
the  stocks  of  this  Caruthers  Company  was  bought  for  the  O.  R.  & 
N.  R.  R. ,  and  it  was  at  first  proposed  to  make  the  terminal  works  of 
this  road  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  near  the  present  site  of  the 
Powers'  Manufactory.  Maps  of  the  city  made  at  that  time  show  the 
O.  R.  &  N.  road  crossing  the  Willamette  at  Ross  Island,  and  there 
was  at  first  considerable  preliminar>'  work  done  at  this  place.  The 
depot  and  terminal  works  were  finally  located,  however,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river  below  the  city,  but  the  railroad  is  understood  to  still 
own  what  remains  unsold  of  the  original  Caruther's  claim — ^illustrating 
once  more  how  loose  property  gravitates  toward  railways. 

The  records  of  the  Courts  have  also  teemed  with  litigation  •  as  to 
property  on  surrounding  tracts,  as  of  King,  Terwilliger  and  Balch; 
while  the  HoUaday  case,  of  more  recent  years,  on  the  east  side,  has 
long  afforded  items  for  the  press.  Into  the  circumstances  or  merits 
of  these,  however,  it  will  not  be  necessarv  to  enter  here. 


Growth  and  Improvkments.  139 


CHAPTER  V. 

GROWTH    AND    IMPROVEMENTS. 

Appearance  of  the  City  in  1850— The  First  Brick  Building — Brick  Buildings 
:Erected  From  1850  to  1860— List  of  Buildings  in  1855— Portland  During  the  Indian 
War  of  1855  and  '56— Rapid  Growth  in  1862— Increase  in  Population  and  Wealth, 
Improvement  and  Growth  From  Year  to  Year — Present  Development  and  Importance 
«f  Portland. 

TN  this  chapter  we  shall  attempt  to  furnish  a  record  of  the  improve- 

*^     ments  made  in  the  city  during  consecutive  years,  giving  statistics 

cf  population,  of  the  various  industries,  and  of  the  buildings  erected. 

While  aiming  to  neglect  nothing  that  is  important,  we  shall  try  to 

avoid  unnecessary  or  cumbrous  details,  and  while  not  expecting  this 

portion  of  the  work  to  cover  all  the  facts  that  might  be  gathered,  we 

hope  to  make  it  at  least  intelligible,  and  for  those  who  are  fond  of 

hsLT-i  statistics,  of  considerable  value. 

In  the  department  of  commerce,  of  transportation,  and  manufac- 
tixx-ing,  this  chapter  will  be  found  but  partially  filled,  since  the 
iin.  jx>rtance  of  the  growth  of  our  shipping,  of  navigation  companies 
^^^  facilities  on  our  river,  the  building  of  railroads  and  the  constnic- 
^^*^n  of  manufactories,  have  been  considered  of  so  much  interest  as  to 
^^ixire  for  each  a  separate  chapter.  The  reader  is  therefore  referred 
els^\^here  for  a  more  minute  account  in  these  special  fields. 

I^rom  preceding  pages  it  has  already  been  learned  that  in  1850 

^1^^   t:own  was  of  the  most  shabby  construction.     There  were  at  that 

ti  1:1:1^  no  brick  buildings  and  only  two  or  three  frame  houses  which 

P^^s^nted  anything  like  an  architectural   appearance.     There  were 

"^t:    t:wo  houses  which  were  plastered,  that  of  Mr.  Pettygrove  on  Front 

str^^t^  and  that  of  Capt.  Crosby  on  Second  street.     Carter's  store  on 

^^^rxt  street  was  one  of  the  pretentious  buildings  of  the  time,  being 

tvro     stories   high,  but   its  finishing  on  the  outside  was  only  riven 

"^^^.ther-boarding.     In  the  matter  of  hotels  and  lodging  houses  the 

^^^c>inmodations  were  but  of  the  most  primitive  character.     There 

"^^s  the  old  California  house  on  Front  street,  and  on  Jefferson  street 

one    Dennis  Harty  kept  a  small  boarding-house.     A  boarding-house 

"V   a  Mrs.    Apperson   also   accommodated  the  more  staid  bachelor 


140  History  of  Portland. 


population.  The  old  Canton  House  was  built  in  1851  by  Stephen 
Coffin,  a  two  story  structure  of  fairly  decent  appearance  and  of 
respectable  finish.  It  was  subsequently  turned  into  the  American 
Bxchange  Hotel  and  served  many  years  for  the  purpose  of  a  lodging 
house.  It  is  now  standing  at  the  foot  of  JeflFerson  street,  one  of  the 
few  relics  of  the  early  day. 

The  substantiality  of  a  town  may  be  inferred  from  the  sort  of 
material  which  its  capitalists  are  willing  to  put  into  the  walls  of  its 
structures.  Canvas  and  battens  serve  for  a  mining  camp,  or  for  some 
uncertain  frontier  village.  Clapboards  and  white  paint  and  chimney's 
denote  more  hope  of  permanence,  while  brick  and  stone  and  iron 
show  that  it  is  not  only  for  the  present,  but  for  coming  generations 
also,  that  the  city  has  been  established.  Portland  was  wholly  of 
wood  until  1853.  In  this  year  W.  S.  Ladd  was  so  far  willing  to 
bank  upon  the  future  as  to  construct  a  building  of  brick.  Mr.  Lucien 
Snow  and  D.  C.  Coleman  soon  followed  his  example.  Mr.  Ladd's 
was  that  now  occupied  by  Beach  &  Armstrong;  a  substantial 
structure  of  decent  appearance  and  commodious  for  the  transaction 
of  business.  It  has  been  in  constant  use  up  to  the  present  time,  and 
while  not  exactly  ornamental  or  imposing,  is  not  at  all  discreditable 
to  the  business  portion  of  the  place.  Mr.  Snow  was  a  Maine  man, 
having  the  thrift  and  enterprise  of  New  England,  and  Mr.  Coleman 
was  a  brother^  of  the  wealthy  merchant  of  San  Francisco  of  that 
name. 

For  the  following  complete  list  of  brick  buildings  for  the  decade, 
1850-^60,  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Edward  Failing,  well  known  as  a 
leading  citizen  and  merchant,  whose  memor\-  covers  the  entire  period 
and  whose  interest  in  our  city  insures  the  accuracy  of  his  recollection. 
The  estimated  cost  of  the  earlier  structures  is  given,  and  where  not 
otherwise  specified,  but  one  stor\'  may  be  understood. 

1853— V/.  S.  Ladd.  103  Front  street,  between  Stark  and  Washington;  D.  C.  Coleman, 
southeast  comer  Front  and  Oak  (Cost  f9500);  Lucien  Snow,  Front  street, 
between  Pine  and  Oak;  F.  B.  Miles  &  Co.,  southwest  comer  Front  and  Pine 
lCo8t<13.5(K». 

1854 — ^Blumauer  Bros.,  Front  street,  between  Washington  and  Alder  ^afterwards 
owned  by  Cohen  &  Lyou);  J.  Kohn  &  Co.,  Front  street,  between  Stark  and  Wash- 
ington, next  south  of  Ladd*s;  Geo.  L.  Story,  Front  street,  between  Stark  and 


Growth  and  Improvements.  141 


Washington,  next  north  of  Ladd's;  P.  Rlleigh,  southwest  comer  Front  and  Stark 
[2  stories);  J.  Failing  &  Co.,  southeast  comer  First  and  Oak,  small  brick  ware- 
house. 

185& — L.  Snow  &  Co.,  one-story  brick  next  north  of  the  store  built  in  1853. 

1^5&— Sellers  &  Friendly,  89  Front  street,  between  Oak  and  Stark. 

■ 

7^57— Holman  &  Marker,  Front  street,  between  Morrison  and  Yamhill;  Baum  & 
Bro.,  87  Front,  between  Oak  and  Stark;  Benjamin  Stark,  (3  stories)  91  Front, 
between  Oak  and  Stark;  Hallock  &  McMillen,  (2  stories)  northwest  comer  Front 
and  Oak;  M.  Weinshank,  2  stores  each  one-story,  Front  street, between  Ash  and 
Pine. 

M.ii58—H,  W.  Corbett,  (2  stories)  southwest  comer  Front  and  Oak;  Benj.  Stark,  (3 
stories)  93  Front  street,  between  Oak  and  Stark;  Allen  &  Lewis,  (2  stories) 
northeast  comer  Front  and  B;  E.  J.  Northup,  northwest  comer  Front  and  Yam- 
hill; A.  D.  Fitch  &  Co.,  next  door  north  of  Northrup;  Se3rmour  &  Joynt,  (2 
stories)  Front,  between  Washington  and  Alder;  A.  R.  Shipley  &  Co.,  (2  stories) 
Front,  next  south  of  S.  &  J.;  A.  D.  Shelby,  (2  stories)  105  First,  between  Wash- 
ington and  Alder, 

I  .^S59— Failings  &  Hatt,  (2  stories)  83  Front  street,  between  Oak  and  Stark;  Geo.  H. 
Flanders,  (2  stories);  Old  Masonic  Hall,  southeast  comer  Front  and  B;  A.  D. 
Shelby,  (2  stories)  103  First,  between  Washington  and  Alder,  north  of  his  store 
built  in  1858. 

P  '^SO — Harker  Bros.,  (2  stories)  next  south  of  Holman  &  Harker  built  in  1857;  Pat 
Raleigh,  (3  stories)  southeast  comer  First  and  Stark;  H.  Wasserman,  (2  stories) 
Front,  between  Washington  and  Alder;  Weil  Bros.,  (2  stories)  Front,  next  south 
of  Wasserman;  A.  D.  Shelby,  (2  stories)  southwest  comer  First  and  Washington. 

Elegant  residences  were  built  quite  early..    First  among  these  was 
tiTiat  of  H.  W.  Corbett,  in  1854,  on  Fifth  street,  between  Yamhill  and 
*aylor,  which  was  replaced  by  a  more  costly  structure  in  1876.     Mr. 
I.  H.  Lewis  erected  an  attractive  mansion  in  1863.     Capt.   Couch's 
Jd  residence  on  Fourth  street,  on  the   west  side  of  Couch's  lake, 
"^^ear  H  street — still  remaining — was  built  still  earlier. 

In  1852  the  steamboats  serving  on  the  river  were  the    Willamette 

^^wned  by  the  Pacific  Mail   Steamship  Company,   on  the  route  to 

-i^toria  to  connect  with  the  ocean  steamers  of  that  line,  which  did  not 

it  first  attempt  to  ascend  to  Portland;  the  Lot  Whitcomby  the  Mult- 

\omah,  the  James  P.  Flint,  the  Washington  and  the  Bagle^  running 

:o  or  connecting  with   various    points  on  the  lower  Columbia  and 

"^Villamette.     The  still  older  steamers,  Columbia^  Black  Hawk  and 

-^ajor  Redding  were  worn  out,  and  their  machinery  was  converted  to 

^Jther  uses. 


142  History  of  Portland. 


In  1854  the  steam  saw  mill  was  destroyed  by  fire,  introducing  a 
minus  sign  before  the  improvements.  But  there  had  been  activity  since 
1851  in  multiplying  structures  of  all  kinds,  so  that  when  in  1855  a 
census  was  taken  Portland  was  shown  to  contain  four  churches,  one 
academy,  one  public  school,  one  steam  flour  mill,  four  steam  saw  mills, 
four  printing  offices,  two  express  offices,  four  physicians'  and  six 
lawyers'  offices,  two  dentists,  five  cabinet  shops,  three  bakeries,  four 
stove  and  tin  stores,  two  tailoring  establishments,  two  jewelers,  four 
blacksmith  shops,  one  foundry,  three  wagon-makers,  six  painters, 
two  boat-builders,  six  livery  stables,  twelve  hotels  and  boarding- 
houses,  three  butchers,  six  saloons,  two  bowling  alleys,  one  book 
store,  one  drug  store,  one  photograph  gallery,  one  shoe  store,  one 
candy  manufacturer  and  **a  few  cigar  stores."  There  were  also, 
besides  these,  twenty-five  establishments  dealing  in  dry  goods, 
groceries,  etc. ,  together  with  ten  engaged  exclusively  in  dry  goods, 
and  seven  in  groceries  only.  The  assessed  value  of  property,  both 
real  and  personal,  was  one  million  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
thousand  and  thirty-four  dollars. 

In  1854  Multnomah  county  was  set  off  from  Washington,  being 
granted  a  separate  government,  on  December  23d  of  that  year. 
This  gave  our  city  a  little  more  importance  as  county  seat  and  was 
greatly  to  the  convenience  of  our  lawyers  and  the  county  officials  of 
Portland,  who  had  hitherto  gone  to  Hillsboro  in  Washington  county 
on  county  business  and  to  attend  court. 

During  1855  and  '56  the  Indian  war  was  raging  with  bloody 
violence  upon  the  frontiers,  and  carried  uncertainty  into  almost 
every  department  of  business.  Portland  as  a  supply  point  for  the 
annies  of  the  territor>',  which  were  scattered  throughout  the  Colum- 
bia basin,  presented  a  scene  of  vast  activity.  Troops  were  moving 
to  and  fro  through  her  streets;  a  general  camp  and  headquarters  were 
made  at  East  Portland;  distinguished  men,  such  as  Gov.  Curry,  Gen- 
eral Stevens  and  General  Wool,  were  frequently  seen  in  the  city, 
while  our  intrepid  volunteer  Colonels,  Nesmith,  Kelly  and  Cornelius, 
either  taking  out  their  troops,  armed  rudely  with  pistols,  knives, 
shot-guns  and  rifles,  and  clad  and  mounted  according  to  their  own 
means  and  taste,  or  bringing  back  their  worn  and  battered  battalions 


Growth  and  Improvements.  143 


from  tiresome  and  often  unsatisfactory  pursuit  of  the  savages,  are 
even  yet  bright  in  the  memory  of  our  people.  Such  unknown  little 
officers  as  Sheridan  could  not  yet  be  distinguished  from  the  rest  of 
the  boys  in  blue.  Less  was  felt  at  Portland  of  the  war  in  Southern 
Oregon,  where  Col.  Chapman,  Col.  Kelsey,  Gen.  Limerick,  Major 
Bruce  and  General  Ross,  with  other  brave  men,  were  *  *rounding  up" 
and  bringing  to  punishment  the  oft  times  wronged,  but  nevertheless 
ij^rhoUy  untamed  and  untrustworthy  savages  of  the  Umpqua  and  Rogue 
Tiver.  But  though  this  military  activity  stimulated  business  to  a 
certain  extent,  it  was  not  a  productive  or  progressive  period,  and  little 
T)uilding  was  done. 

The  assessed  value  of  property   in  1857  was   one   million  one 

lundred  and  three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-nine  dollars. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  there  was  natural  shrinkage  of  nearly 

"two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  two  years,  as  the  figures  would  seem 

^o  show,  but  merely  a  lower  assessment     Nevertheless,  the  increase 

in  property  could  not  have  been  very  great.     The  population  of  this 

3'ear  is  placed  at  twelve  hundred  and  eighty.     At  the  election  of  1858 

"the  vote  polled  was  four  hundred  and  sixty.      In  1859  the  first  daily 

3)aper  was  issued,  The  Portland  Daily  iVews,   published  by  S.   A. 

English  &  Co.     The  life  of  this  journal  was  not  of  long  duration, 

^nd  it  was  in  no  way  connected  with  the  publication  of  the  same 

-name  in  more  recent  years.     In  1859  there  was  also  erected  the  first 

Teally  handsome  dwelling  house.     This  was  the  residence  of  W.  S. 

Ladd,    built  from   the  model  of  a  house   seen   by  him  during  his 

travels  at  the  East.     It  was  situated  on  Jefferson  street  and  Sixth, 

occupying  an  entire  block,  and  was  from  the  first  noticeable  for  the 

elegance  of  its  appearance,  its  commanding  site  and  tasteful  grounds. 

As  improved  in  1878,  it  is  one  of  the  most  substantial  of  Portland's 

many  beautiful  residences. 

In  1860  The  Oregon  Times  became  a  daily,  and  The  Oregonian 
in  1861. 

By  the  school  enrollment  of  1860  it  was  found  that  the  children 
of  school  age  numbered  six  hundred  and  ninety-one.  The  total 
population  was  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventeen,  of  which 
there  were  sixteen  colored  and  twenty-seven  Chinese.     The  great  flood 

[io1 


144  History  of  Portland. 


of  the  Willamette  in  1861,  the  highest  on  record  until  that  of  1890,  did 
some  damage  to  wharves  and  other  buildings  along  the  city  front,  but 
occasioned  no  serious  loss.  The  asylum  for  the  insane  was  established 
during  the  summer  of  this  year  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  under 
the  management  of  Drs.  Hawthorne  and  Lor\'ea.  A  few  years  later 
it  was  removed  to  a  beautiful  site  in  East  Portland,  where  it  remained 
until  the  destruction  of  the  building  by  fire  a  number  of  years 
afterwards. 

In  June  of  1862 — the  second  result  of  the  heavy  snow  fall 
of  the  winter  before — the  Willamette  rose  to  a  great  height  from 
the  flood  in  the  Columbia,  inundating  the  lower  part  of  the  town, 
but  doing  but  little  real  damage.  In  1861-62  the  assessed  valuation 
of  property  was  two  millions  eighty-nine  thousand  and  four  hundred 
and  twenty  dollars. 

Discover)'  of  mines  in  Idaho  and  Eastern  Oregon  greatly  stimulated 
navigation  on  the  Willamette  and  Columbia,  and  as  many  as  twenty 
steamers  were  plying  in  1862  on  these  rivers.  In  that  year  the 
population,  as  detennined  by  the  city  director)^  rose  to  four  thousand 
and  fifty-seven.  Of  these,  seven  hundred  are  reckoned  as  transient, 
fifty-two  colored,  and  fifty-three  Chinese.  The  Oregonian  of  that 
year  remarked  that  the  increase  in  wealth  and  population  had  been 
of  the  most  substantial  character.  **Eighteen  months  ago,"  it  said, 
**any  number  of  houses  could  be  obtained  for  use,  but  to-day  scarcely 
a  shell  can  be  found  to  shelter  a  family.  Rents  are  up  to  an 
exhorbitant  figure,  many  houses  contain  two  or  more  families,  and 
the  hotels  and  boarding-houses  are  crowded  almost  to  overflowing. 
The  town  is  full  of  people  and  more  are  coming  in.  Buildings  are 
going  up  in  all  parts  of  Portland,  streets  graded  and  planked,  whar\'es 
stretching  their  proportions  along  the  levees,  and  a  general  thrift  and 
busy  hum  greet  the  ear,  or  attract  the  attention  of  a  stranger  upon 
ever>'  street  and  corner."  *  ^Substantial  school-houses,  capacious 
churches,  whar\'es,  mills,  manufactories  and  workshops,  together 
with  brick  buildings  stores  and  dwelling  houses  and  street  improve- 
ments," are  referred  to  in  the  city  director^^  As  for  occupations 
the  following  list  is  given:  Three  apothecaries,  four  auctioneers,  three 
brewers,    two  bankers;  six  billiard  rooms,   two    confectioners,    five 


Growth  and  Improvements.  145 


dentists,  twelve  restaurants,  fourteen  hotels,  twenty -two  lawyers,  five 
livery  stables,  twenty-eight  manufacturers,  eleven  physicians,  eight 
wholesale  and  fifty-five  retail  liquor  dealers,  forty-five  wholesale  and 
ninety-one  retail  dealers  in  general  merchandise,  two  wholesale  and 
eight  retail  grocers. 

During  1863  a  long  step  toward  improvement  was  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Portland  and  Milwaukie  macadamized  road,  with  A,  B. 
Richardson  as  president,  Henry  Failing  secretary,  and  W.  S.  Ladd 
treasurer  af    the   Board   of   Directors.     The   shipping   lists   of  the 
steamers  show  large  exports    of  treasure,    one   hundred    thousand 
dollars,  two   hundred   and  forty  thousand  dollars,   and  even   seven 
hundred  and  fifty  thou3and  dollars  being  reported  for  single  steamers. 
Six  thousand  to  seven  thousand  boxes  of  apples  were  also  reported  at 
a  single   shipment     The   old   side   wheel    river   steamer  John   H. 
Couch    for    many    years    so     familiar     a    figure     on     the     lower 
Columbia,     was     launched    this    year.       The    principal     building 
was   that  of  the   Presbyterian  church,  at  the  comer  of  Third  and 
Washington  streets.     The  laying  of  the  corner  stone  was  observed 
with  due  ceremony.  Rev.  P.  S.  Caffrey  officiating,  assisted  by  Reverends 
Pearne    and    Cornelius.     A  new  school-house  of  the    congregation 
of  Beth  Israel,    was   opened  this  year.     The    arrival   of  thirty-six 
thousand  pounds  of  wire  for  the  Oregon  and  California  telegraph 
line   showed   the  interest    in  telegraphic   communication  with  the 
outside   world.       The  assessed    valuation    of    property    was    three 
million   two  hundred  and   twenty-six   thousand    two  hundred  and 
sixty  dollars.     The  day  of  independence    was   observed  with  great 
cere^iony   this  year,  the  United  States  Military  Department,  under 
Brigadier  General  Alvord,  from  Vancouver,  and  the  Fire  Department 
and   other   societies  of  Portland   uniting   their  efforts  to  make  an 
imposing   parade,  while   the   evening   was   made   resplendent  with 
fireworks.     To  the  countr>'  people  who  thronged  the  city  this  was 
new  and  imposing,  and  the  imagination  of  none  had  yet  extended  to 
so  lofty  a  flight  as  the  illumination  of  the  snow-capped  mountains,  as 
in  recent  years,  to  close  the  display.     A  spirited  address  by  Hon. 
Amor>^   Holbrook,  in  a  time  when  the  scream  of  the  eagle  meant 
something  more  than  lifeless  platitudes,  added  to  the  inspiration  of 


146  History  of  Portland. 


the  hour.  The  capitulation  of  Vicksburg  was  also  celebrated  a  short 
time  afterwards  by  a  torchlight  procession.  There  was  no  lack  of 
patriotism  in  those  days. 

In  1864  much  expansion  was  noticed.  Grading  and  draining  of 
the  streets  was  largely  undertaken.  The  Presbyterian  church  was 
finished  at  a  cost  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  and  was  called  the  finest 
structure  in  the  State.  The  Catholic  church  was  improved  to  an 
extent  of  two  thousand  dollars.  J.  L.  Parrish  erected  a  three-story 
brick  building,  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet,  on  the  comer  of  Front  and 
Washington  streets.  A  house  was  built  by  the  city  for  the  Columbia 
Engine  Company  No.  3,  on  Washington  street,  at  a  cost  of  six 
thousand  dollars.  The  lot  cost  two  thousand  dollars.  Two  new 
hotels,  the  What  Cheer  House  and  the  new  Columbian,  were  built, 
and  older  ones  such  as  Arrigoni's,  the  Western,  the  Howard  House, 
the  Pioneer  and  Temperance  House  were  improved.  A  considerable 
number  of  stores  and  dwelling  houses  were  also  put  up.  The  greatest 
improvement,  however,  was  the  O.  S.  N.  Company's  dock  on  the  water 
front  between  Pine  and  Ash  streets.  It  was  necessitated  by  the 
increasing  traffic  with  Idaho  and  the  upper  Columbia.  There  was 
not  hitherto  a  dock  to  accomodate  vessels  at  all  stages  of  the  water. 
This  new  wharf  was  accordingly  built  with  two  stories,  the  upper 
being  fifteen  feet  above  the  other.  The  lower  wharf  was  two  hun- 
dred and  fift\'  feet  long  by  one  hundred  and  sixty  wide;  the  upper, 
two  hundred  by  one  hundred  and  twenty,  thus  occupying  the  entire 
front  of  one  block.  For  this  work  there  were  used  sixty  thousand 
feet  of  piles  and  timber,  five  hundred  thousand  feet  of  sawed  plank, 
fifty  tons  of  iron,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  shingles, 
two  thousand  eight  hundred  perch  of  rock,  and  six  hundred  barrels 
of  cement.  The  work  was  completed  from  plans  of  J.  W.  Brazee 
and  supervised  by  John  D'Orsay.  The  cost  was  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
The  wharf  and  buildings  of  Couch  and  Flanders,  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  city  were  improved,  bringing  their  value  up  to  fort\' 
thousand  dollars.  The  river  front  was  not  then  as  now  a  continuous 
series  of  docks,  and  these  structures  made  an  even  more  striking 
appearance  than  later  ones  far  more  pretentious  and  valuable.  In 
order  to  prevent  delay  and  vexation  in  the  arrival  of  ocean  vessels,  a 


Growth  and  Improvements.  147 


call  was  made  for  money  to  deepen  the  channel  of  the  lower  Willam- 
ette, and  was  met  by  double  the  sum  named.  The  improvements 
were  soon  undertaken  with  great  vigor.  Five  thousand  dollars  were 
spent  in  grading  and  improving  the  public  square  between 
Third  and  Fourth  streets  on  Main.  With  the  general  leveling  of 
the  irregularities  of  the  surface  of  the  city  and  the  removal  of  stumps 
more  effort  was  made  to  adorn  the  streets  and  door  yards  with  trees 
and  shrubbery,  and  to  make  handsome  lawns.  The  surroundings  of 
the  city  were,  however,  still  wild,  and  the  shattered  forests  seemed 
excessively  rude,  having  no  more  the  grace  and  stateliness  of  nature, 
and  having  not  yet  given  away  altogether  to  the  reign  of  art. 

The  population  was  now  five  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
nineteen;  there  were  one  thousand  and  seventy -eight  frame  buildings, 
fifteen  one-story,  thirty-seven  two-story  and  seven  three-story  brick 
buildings — one  thousajid  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  of  all  kinds. 

There  were  seven  wharves  in  the  city;  Abemethy's,  at  the  foot  of 
Yamhill  street;  Carter's,  at  the  foot  of  Alder;  Knott's,  on  Water, 
between  Taylor  and  Salmon ;  Pioneer  at  the  foot  of  Washington,  owned 
by  Coffin  &  Abrams;  Vaughn's,  at  the  foot  of  Morrison;  the  O.  S. 
N.  wharf,  between  Ash  and  Pine  streets,  and  the  Portland  wharf  of 
Couch  &  Flanders,  in  North  Portland,  at  the  foot  of  C  and  D. 

There  were  thirty-eight  dealers  in  dry  goods  and  general 
merchandise,  thirteen  grocers,  ten  meat  markets,  four  dealers  in 
produce  and  provisions,  three  dnig  stores,  fifteen  physicians,  four 
dentists,  twenty-eight  attorneys,   three  book-sellers,  thirteen  hotels. 

The  hotels  were  for  the  most  part  on  Front  street,  showing  the 
as  yet  comparative  cheapness  of  land  along  this  thoroughfare.  There 
were  the  Mansion  House,  'at  143  Front  street;  the  Farmer's  House, 
169  Front  street;  What  Cheer  House,  126,  128  and  130  Front 
street;  The  Union  Hotel,  131  Front  street;  The  Shakspeare  House, 
25  Front  street;  The  Franklin  House  on  Front  near  Vine;  The 
Howard  House,  No.  5  North  Front;  The  New  York  Hotel,  No.  17 
North  Front;  the  Pioneer  and  Temperance  House  on  the  corner  of 
Front  and  Washington;  The  Western  Hotel,  at  13  and  15  Morrison 
street:  the  Miner's  Home,  at  the  comer  of  First  and  Taylor. 

I  Old  numbers. 


148  History  of  Portland. 


As   dealers  in  hardware  may  be  named  J.  R.  Foster  &  Co. ,  E.  J. 
Northrup  and  G.   W.    Vaughn,   doing  business  between  Taylor  and 
Salmon,  on  Front  street,  and  H.  W.  Corbett  and  Henry  Failing  at 
the  present  site  of  the  business  of  Corbett,  Failing  &  Co. ,  on  Front, 
at   the   comer   of  Oak.     There  were  also  three  houses  engaged  in 
the  furniture  business — Lowenstein  &  Co.,  at  138  First  street;  Hur- 
gren  &  Shindler,  at   97    First  street,    and   W.    F.   Wilcox,  at  207 
Front  street.     The  real  estate  agents,  now  omnipresent  and  legion, 
were  represented  by  the  single  firm  of  Parrish  &  Holman.     Plumbers 
were  represented  by  a  single  name,  C.  H.  Myers,  110  First  street 
Hatters  had  but  one  name,   A.  J.  Butler  at  72  Front  street,  while 
saddlers  had  four,  J.  B.  Congle,  88  Front  street;  H.  Kingsley  &  Reese, 
100  First  street;  Wm.  Kern,  228  Front  street,  and  S.Sherlock  &  Co. 52 
Front  street     There  were  as  many  as  eight  liver>'  stables — those  of 
Bennett  &  White,  at  116  Second  street;  M.  Patton,  on  Salmon  near 
Front;  R.    E.   Wiley,   corner  First  and  Taylor;  Sherry   Ross,  165 
First  street;  N.  Gray,  on  Front  near  Clay;  W.  R.  Hill,  on  the  comer 
of  Front  and  Market;  R.  J.  Ladd,  at  31  Washington,  and  L.  P.  W. 
Quimby,  at  63  Second  street.     There  seems  to  have  been  a  demand 
for  transfer  business  and  numbers  of  draymen  or  companies  had  a 
license   for  express  work.     Many  of  them,    however,   were   simply 
delivery  wagons.     There  were  forty-six  places  for  the  sale  of  liquor. 
The   photographers  were  W.  W.  Davis,  at  99  First  street;  Hack  & 
Dobson,  at  107>^    Front  street;  B.    H.    Hendee,    at  the  comer   of 
Washington   and    Front,    and    A.    B.    Woodard   &   Co.,   at    No.    5 
Morrison  street.     The  printers  had  three  firms,  R.  D.  Austin,  at  27 
Washington  street;  William  D.  Carter,  at  73  Front  street,  and  A.  G. 
Walling,  at    No.  5  Washington  street.     S.  J.  McCormick  published 
the  Oregon  Almanac,  105  Front  street;  H.  L.  Pittock,  The  Oregonian, 
at  No.  5  Washington.      The  Pacific  Christian  Advocate  was  published 
at  No.  5.  Washington  by  the   Methodist   Church,   and  the  Evening 
Tribune  at  27  Washington  street  by  VanCleave  &  Ward. 

There  were  salt  depots  on  Front  street,  a  soap  factory  operated  by 
W.  L.  Higgins,  on  F'ront  street  near  Clay,  and  a  turpentine  manufactory 
by  T.  A.  Wood  &  Co. ,  near  the  same  site.  Carson  &  Porter,  at  208 
Front  street,  and  J.  P.  Walker,  at  230  Front  Street,  foot  of  Jefferson 
operated  sash  and  door  factories. 


Growth  and  Improvements.  149 


The  total  exports  of  1864  reached  eight  millions  sevent>'-nine 
thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-one  dollars.  It  is  to  be  remembered, 
however,  that  the  most  of  this  was  gold  dust  from  Idaho,  and  the 
price  of  produce  was  far  in  excess  of  that  at  present. 

During  1865  a  steady  forward  movement  was  felt.     Some  of  the 
streets  were  macadamized,  and  some  were  laid  with  Nicholson  pave- 
ment.    A  factory  for  furnishing  staves,  heads  and  hoops  ready  to  be 
set  up  into  barrels,  for  the  Sandwich  Island  trade,  was  established  in 
North  Portland.     The  court  house  on  Fourth  and  Salmon  streets,  a 
handsome  building  of  somewhat  massive  proportions,  two  stories  in 
height  with  dome,  and  built  of  brick  and  stone,  was  erected  at  a  cost 
of  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.     A  public  school-house  was  erected 
on    Harrison  street,   at  a  cost  of  seven  thousand  dollars.     The  old 
Central  public  school  on  Sixth  street,  between  Morrison  and  Yamhill, 
^vras  until  this  time  the  only  building  to  accommodate  the  thousand 
or   more   children   of   school   age.       There    were,    however,    other 
«lucational  institutions    in  the  city;   as  St.    Mary's  Academy,    on 
X^ourth  street,  between  Mill  and  Market,  with  an  attendance  of  one 
liundred  and  fifty  pupils;    St.  Joseph's  day  school,  at  the  comer  of 
"T^hird  and  Oak  streets,  with  one  hundred  pupils;    Portland  Academy 
sind    Female  Seminar>',   on    Seventh  street,   between  Jefferson  and 
Columbia,   having  one  hundred    and   fifty  pupils;   the  Beth   Israel 
school,  at  the  comer  of  Sixth  and  Oak  with  sixty-five  pupils;  a  private 
sschool  by  Miss.M.  A.  Hodgson,  a  lady  of  culture  from  Massachusetts 
,nd  now  long  known  as  an  educator  in  our  State,  and  a  Commercial 
-Academy  in  the  Parrish  building  on  Front  street.     For  a  further  and 
ully  connected  account  of  schools  from  the  first  the  reader  is  referred 
^o  the  special  chapter  on  schools. 

Of  brick  buildings  made  in  1865,   Cahn  &  Go's,  at  37   Front 

street,   extending  to  First;  Wilberg's  two-stor>^  building  on  Front 

street;    MofFett's    on    Front,    and    that   of   Wakefield,    Glenn   and 

^Dthers    on    Front,    were   the    most   prominent    and    represented    a 

^:::onsiderable   outlay  of  money.      Cree\s  building  at   the    comer   of 

Stark   and   Front,  built   in    1862,   may  be  mentioned.      A  broom 

:factor>',  a  match  factory,  the  Willamette  Iron  Works,  and  the   First 

National  Bank  were  established  this  year.     To  these  may  be  added 


150  History  of  Portland. 


Vaughn's  flour  mill  on  Front  and  Main  streets,  an  expensive  and 
imposing  building,  costing  about  fifty  thousand  dollars.  About 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars  was  spent  on  street  improvements. 

The  total  value  of  exports  was  seven  millions  six  hundred  and 
six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-four  dollars,  the  most  of  it 
being  gold  dust  To  form  commercial  communication  with  San 
Francisco,  there  were  two  lines  of  ocean  steamers,  one  running  the 
Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Oregon^  and  the  other  the  Orizaba  and  the 
PaciBc.  Of  these  the  Orizaba  was  the  largest,  registering  fourteen 
hundred  tons.  To  Victoria  the  Active  was  run  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Thorn.  There  were  sailing  vessels  also  to  San  Francisco, 
some  of  which  were  later  run  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  These  were  the 
bark  Jane  A.  Falkenbergy  of  six  hundred  tons;  the  bark  H.  W,Almy 
of  six  hundred  tons;  the  bark  Almatia^  of  seven  hundred  tons;  the 
bark  W.  B,  Scranton^  of  seven  hundred  tons;  the  bark,  Samuel 
Merrity  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  tons;  the  bark  Live  Yankee,  of 
seven  hundred  tons.  To  the  Sandwich  Islands,  also,  there  were  then 
running  the  barks  A,  A,  Aldridge,  of  four  hundred  tons,  and  the 
Comet,  seven  hundred  tons. 

Of  the  steamboat  lines  on  the  river  there  were  now  in  operation 
the  following  three:  The  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company, 
running  to  Astoria  the/.  H,  Couch,  with  fare  at  $6.00  and  the  freight 
at  $6.00  per  ton;  to  Monticello,  the  Cowlitz  or  the  Rescue^  fare  $3.00 
and  freight  $4.00;  to  the  Dalles,  the  New  World,  Wilson  G.  Hunt, 
the  Cascade,  Julia,  Oneonta,  Idaho  and  Iris,  with  fare  at  $6.00  and 
freight  at  $15;  above  the  Dalles,  the  steamers  Owyhee,  Spray,  Okan- 
agon,  Webfoot,  Yakima,  Tenino  and  Nez  Perces  Chief,  with  fare  to 
Lewiston  at  $22. 00  and  freight  at  $60. 00  per  ton.  These  were  the 
palmy  days  of  river  travel,  the  steamers  being  crowded  and  a  small 
fortune  being  made  at  every  trip.  The  People's  Transportation 
Company  confined  itself  to  the  Willamette  and  ran  the  Senator  and 
Rival  below  Oregon  City  and  the  Fanny  Patton  and  others  above 
the  falls.  The  independent  steamer  Fanny  Troup  ran  to  Vancouver, 
and  on  the  Willamette  above  Canemah  there  were  the  Union  and  the 
Echo.  The  Willamette  Steam  Navigation  Company,  still  another  line, 
ran  the  Alert  and  the  Active  on  the  Willamette.     These  Willamette 


Growth  and  Improvements.  151 


crafts,  having  no  competition  from  railroads,  also  did  a  fair  business. 
The  population  of  Portland   in   1865   was   six  thousand  and  sixty- 
eight.     The  occupations  represented  are  illustrated  by  the  following 
list:  Of  apothecaries,    four;    architects   and   civil    engineers,    four; 
assayers,  three;  auctioneers,  three;  bankers,  four;  billiard  rooms,  six; 
bakers,  two;  contractors  and  builders,  seven;  brokers,  eight;  butchers, 
seventeen;     dentists,     three;    restaurants,     five;     hotels,      sixteen; 
insurance  agents,  three;  lawyers,  twenty-three;  livery  stables,  seven; 
manufactures,     sixty-three;     photographers,    five;     physicians    and 
surgeons,    fifteen;    plumbers,    two;    real   estate  agents,  three;  retail 
dealers     in     merchandise,    one     hundred   and    thirty-three;     retail 
liquor    dealers,    one    hundred    and  five;    theatre,    one;    wholesale 
merchants,    thirty-nine;    wholesale  liquor   dealers,    twelve.     There 
was  assayed  gold  dust  valued  at  two  million  nine  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven   dollars.     These   are  the 
figures  of  a  busy  little  city.     The  number  of  voters  was  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-three. 

During  1866  numerous  brick  buildings  were  erected,  the  most 
prominent  among  them  being  the  block  of  the  O.  S.  N.  Co. ,  adjacent 
t:o  their  wharf  at  the  foot  of  Pine  and  Ash  streets,  and  the  structure 
c^f  Charles  M.  Carter  on  First  and  Alder  streets.  By  the  Oregon 
^^lerald  the  latter  was  called  one  of  the  finest  buildings  in  the  State 
equal  to  the  elegant  buildings  of  San  Francisco. 
From  the  foundation  to  the  top  of  the  fire  wall  it  measured 
ighty-one  feet  and  was  three  stories  in  height;  the  cost  was  fifty 
housand  dollars  and  the  finish  was  elegant.  This  building  was 
^^estroyed  by  fire  in  December,  1872.  The  Court  House  was  finished 
i  n  1866.  A  correspondent  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin^  whose 
ce  and  humor  of  style  as  a  newspaper  writer  would  hardly  betray 
is  devotion  to  the  knotty  problems  of  applied  law,  writes  of  a  view 
m  the  cupola  of  this  building.  After  describing  the  scener>'  of 
he  mountains  and  lands  surrounding,  he  says:  *' But  to  return  to 
ortland.  On  every  side  of  me  I  saw  its  varied  and  sometimes 
otley  structures  of  wood  and  brick,  densely  packed  together,  and 
^»iging  out  toward  the  limits  of  the  natural  site  of  the  city — a  green 
i-circle  of  irregular  shaped  fir  clad  hills,  on  the  west  and  south. 


152  History  of  Portlaxd. 


and  the  water  of  the  bright  Willamette,  curving  outwardly  from  the 
north  to  the  south.  A  radius  of  a  mile  from  where  I  stood  would 
not  more  than  reach  the  \-eTge  of  the  town.  Across  the  Willamette, 
and  upon  its  east  bank,  I  could  count  the  houses  and  orchards  in  the 
suburban  \-illage  of  East  Portland.  This  place  is  yet  half  town  and 
half  countr\%  but  it  is  destined  at  no  distant  dav  to  ftimish  an 
abundance  of  cheap  and  comfortable  homes  to  the  thrift>'  and 
industrious  artisans  and  laborers  whose  hands  are  daily  turning  this 
raw  clay  and  growing  timber  into  temples  and  habitations  for 
ciWlized  man." 

It  was  in  1866,  also,  that  the  Oregon  Iron  Company^s  Works 
were  begun  at  Oswego,  with  a  capacit\-  of  ten  tons  per  twent\'-four 
hours.  W.  S-  Ladd  was  president  and  H.  C.  Leonard  Wce-presicfent 
of  the  company. 

The  assessed  \-alue  of  propert\'  was  four  million  one  htmdred  and 
ninetx-nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  twent>'-five  dollars.  The 
export  of  produce  reached  the  following  figures:  Flour,  one  hundred 
and  fort\'*nine  thousand  and  sex'entx'-fix'e  dollars;  salmon,  twentv-one 

^  m  • 

thoosand  seven  hundred  and  ninetv-four  dollars;  bacon,  seventv 
thousand  and  sixteen  dollars;  apples,  sixt>*-eigfat  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixtx'  dollars:  wooL  sixtx-six  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  fortx-  dollars;  making  an  aggregate  of  four  hundred  and  fifty-five 
thousand  four  hundred  and  fiftx-sex-en  dollars^  The  shipment  of 
gold  dust,  bars,  etc. ,  reached  the  large  sum  of  eight  million  seventy 
thousand  and  six  hundred  dollars,  which,  it  is  pos«:ible,  was  an  ox^er 
estimate. 

The  screw  steamship  Montana  and  the  side-wheeler  Ori£anune 
appeared  on  the  line  to  San  Francisco,  and  the  little  screw  steamer 
Fideliter  to  \'ictoria-  The  population  was  six  thousand  fix*e  hundred 
and  eight,  of  whom  three  hundred  and  twentx-four  were  Chinese. 

During  1867  there  began  in  earnest  agitation  for  a  railroad 
through  the  Willamette  Valley  to  Portland,  a  fiill  account  of  which 
appears  elsewhere.  Propositions  were  made  by  the  newly-fionned 
railroad  coaapan-es  that  the  city  guarantee  interest  on  bonds  to  the 
xalue  oi  one  nillron  dollars^  and  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Citx- 
Conncii  made  a  iaxorable  report,  setting  forth  the  adx^antage  to  the 


Growth  and  Improvements.  153 


farmers  and  the  country  towns  of  cheap  transportation  to  the  seaport 
and  the  reciprocal  advantage  to  the  city  from  increased  trade  and 
commerce.  The  movements  of  the  time,  of  which  this  was  a  sign, 
stimulated  building  and  the  sale  of  real  estate.  The  Methodist 
Church  erected  on  the  comer  of  Third  and  Taylor  streets,  a  brick 
edifice  in  the  English  Gothic  style  with  ground  dimensions  fifty-six 
by  eighty-two  feet.  It  was  to  have  a  seating  capacity  of  twelve 
hundred  and  supported  a  tower  with  a  spire  reaching  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  the  ground.  It  cost  thirty  thousand  dollars.  A  school 
house,  with  a  main  part  fifty-six  by  eighty  feet  and  two  wings,  each 
twelve  by  fort>'  feet,  was  built  for  the  North  Portland  School, 
between  C  and  D  streets.  The  Bank  of  British  Columbia  erected  a 
substantial  building  on  Front  street.  Brick  stores  were  constructed 
by  Dr.  E.  Poppleton  and  others  on  First  street.  The  Unitarian 
Church  erected  an  edifice,  the  tenth  church  building  in  the  city,  on 
Seventh  and  Yamhill  streets. 

Exports  of  produce  and  merchandise  reached  the  value  of  two 
million  four  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
ninety-three  dollars.  The  great  apparent  increase  over  1866  was 
due  in  part  to  a  more  perfect  record  kept,  but  also  to  actual  improve- 
ment. The  shipment  of  gold  dust  fell  to  four  million  and  one 
thousand  dollars.  The  screw  steamships  Ajax  and  Continental 
appeared  on  the  San  Francisco  line — the  Pac//5c  and  Orizaba  having 
been  drawn  off  and  the  Brother  Jonathan  wrecked  some  time  before. 
The  river  was  much  improved  at  Swan  Island.  The  population  of 
the  city  for  this  year  was  estimated  at  six  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventeen. 

In  1868  the  railroad  company  began  work,  the  west  side  breaking 
ground  April  15th  and  the  east  side  two  days  later.  During  this 
year  also  an  independent  commerce  sprang  up  with  New  York,  and 
the  way  was  opened  for  direct  export  of  grain  to  Europe.  The  iron 
works  of  the  city  began  to  command  the  trade  in  the  supply  of 
mining  machinery  for  the  Idaho  and  Eastern  Oregon  companies. 
The  sawmill  of  Smith,  Hayden  &  Co. ,  on  the  corner  of  Front  and 
Madison  streets,  was  improved  so  as  to  cut  twenty-four  thousand  feet 
of  lumber  per  day,  and  that  of  Estes,   Simpson  &  Co.,  on  Front 


154  History  of  Portland. 


Street,  was  enlarged  to  a  capacity  of  twenty  thousand  feet.  The 
handsomest  building  of  this  year  was  that  of  Ladd  &  Tilton,  for  the 
Oregon  Bank,  at  the  comer  of  First  and  Stark  streets.  It  occupied 
an  entire  lot  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet,  and  was  built  in  two  stories 
upon  a  basement  seven  feet  in  height.  The  material  of  its  construction 
was  brick,  with  ornamental  iron  work,  and  the  pilasters  on  Doric 
bases  with  Corinthian  capitals.  Upon  the  interior  it  was  finished 
with  lavish  elegance,  and  the  whole  cost  of  the  structure  was  about 
seventy  thousand  dollars. 

On  the  corner  of  Front  and  Morrison  streets  was  built  a  four 
story  brick  structure  by  R.  D.  White.  This  was  originally  intended 
as  partly  a  business  house  and  partly  as  a  hotel,  but  has  now  been 
converted  wholly  to  the  latter  use.  Buildings  of  brick  were  erected 
on  Front  street  by  Moffit  &  Strowbridge,  and  A.  P.  Ankeny  and 
others;  and  on  First  street  by  Goodnough  &  Holmes  and  Goldsmith 
Bros.  A  fire-proof  brick  building  for  a  sash  and  door  factory  was 
built  by  Mr.  John  P.  Walker,  to  replace  a  wooden  structure  which 
had  previously  served  the  purpose,  but  had  now  been  destroyed  by 
fire.  Over  four  hundred  dwelling  houses  were  erected,  **And  yet," 
says  The  Oregonian^  ''you  will  find  that  there  are  no  desirable  houses 
to  rent.  The  great  and  increasing  growth  and  improvement  of  our 
city  is  no  chimera.''  Indeed,  during  this  year  Portland  was 
experiencing  one  of  those  waves  of  prosperity  by  which  she  has  been 
advancing  to  her  present  eminence. 

The  exports  of  the  year  reached  a  value  of  two  million  seven 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  four  hundred  and  eight  dollars, 
requiring  the  ser\nces  of  nine  steamers  and  thirty  sailing  vessels. 
The  assessed  value  of  property  was  four  million  six  hundred  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  sixty  dollars.  Real  estate  transactions  reached  a 
volume  of  one  hundred  and  fort>'-three  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
forty-six  dollars.  The  price  paid  for  the  lot  on  the  comer  of  First 
and  Alder  streets  by  the  Odd  Fellows  was  twenty- two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars.  The  shipments  of  treasure  and  bullion  were  three 
million  six  hundred  and  seventy-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  The  population  was  seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
cij(hty. 


Growth  and  Improvements.  155 


In  1869  an  Immigration  Exchange  was  formed,  by  which  infor- 
mation as  to  the  resources  and  opportunities  of  Oregon  was 
disseminated  abroad,  and  employment  was  found  for  laborers.  In 
the  line  of  buildings  there  were  erected  seven  of  brick,  aggregating  a 
cost  of  $172,000,  and  twelve  large  frame  buildings  costing  altogether 
$58,000;  while  many  smaller  ones  were  built,  making  a  total  of 
about  $400,000.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  was  the  Odd 
Fellows'  building  at  the  comer  of  First  and  Alder  streets,  three 
stories  in  height,  and  costing  $40,000;  the  United  States  building 
for  Court  House,  Customs  House  and  Post  Office  were  begun  on  a 
scale  to  cost  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  reservoir  of  the 
Water  Works  Company  on  Sixth  street,  with  a  capacity  of  three 
million  five  hundred  thousand  gallons,  was  built  this  year.  On  the 
improvement  of  the  Willamette  there  was  spent  thirty-one  thousand 
dollars.  Exports  reached  one  million  sixty-six  thousand  five 
hundred  and  two  dollars;  treasure,  two  million  five  hundred  and 
fifty-nine  thousand  dollars;  and  bullion,  four  hundred  and  nineteen 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-seven  dollars.  Real  estate  transactions 
were  upward  of  half  a  million.  The  population  of  Portland  proper 
was  estimated  at  eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  and 
of  East  Portland,  five  hundred. 

In  1870  the  steady  growth  which  from  the  first  had  been  a  fairly 
reliable  index  of  the  growth  of  the  northwest  coast,  began  some- 
what to  accelerate.  The  railroad  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  was 
completed  to  Albany,  and  work  on  the  west  side  was  progressing. 
The  shipping  of  grain  to  Great  Britain  was  becoming  more  firmly 
established.  A  greater  spirit  of  enterprise  was  manifested  among 
merchants  and  other  citizens  to  publish  abroad  the  advantages  of  soil 
and  climate  and  position.  A  number  of  fine  buildings  were  erected 
as  follows:  Corbett's  three-story  brick  building,  with  solid  iron 
front  on  First  street,  between  Washington  and  Alder,  costing  forty 
thousand  dollars;  a  brick  block,  of  four  buildings  occupying  a 
frontage  of  one  hundred  feet  on  Front  street,  and  running  back  eighty 
feet,  of  iron  front,  costing  thirty  thousand  dollars,  built  by  Lewis  & 
Flanders;  a  four  story  brick  building,  having  one  hundred  feet 
frontage  on  First  street  and  eighty  feet  on  Ash,  at  a  cost  of  thirty-two 


156  History  of  Portland. 

thousand  dollars,  by  Dr.  R.  Glisan;  the  largest  business  block  yet 
erected,  built  by  A.  P.  Ankeny,  with  frontage  of  one  hundred  feet 
on  First  street,  and  running  two  hundred  feet  to  Front  street,  costing 
fifty  thousand  dollars;  an  addition  by  the  O.  S.  N.  Co.,  to  their  block 
on  Front  street,  forty  by  ninety  feet,  costing  twenty  thousand  dollars; 
the  Protection  Engine  House  at  the  comer  of  First  and  Jefferson 
streets,  twenty-six  by  seventy  feet,  costing  ten  thousand  dollars;  a 
new  edifice  by  the  Congregational  church,  at  the  comer  of  Second 
and  Jefferson  streets,  fifty  by  eighty  feet,  with  spire  one  hundred  and 
fifty  high,  costing  twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  the  Bishop  Scott 
Grammar  School  building  on  B  street,  at  the  junction  of  Fourteenth, 
thirty  by  ninety  feet  of  three  stories,  and  occupying  a  superb  site. 
Many  smaller  buildings  were  erected  this  season. 

As  1870  fills  out  a  decade,  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  give  here  a 
somewhat  more  detailed  list  of  the  occupations  then  flourishing  in 
the  citv.  Of  hotels  there  were  twentv-two:  The  St.  Charles,  at  the 
comer  of  First  and  Morrison:  The  International,  at  the  comer  of 
Front  and  Morrison;  the  American  Exchange,  at  the  comer  of  Front 
and  Washington;  the  Occidental,  at  the  comer  of  First  and  Morrison; 
The  Western  Hotel,  on  Front  near  Pine;  the  Pioneer  Hotel,  on 
Front  near  Ash;  The  Shakspeare  Hotel,  at  23  Front  street; 
the  Washington  Hotel,  comer  of  Alder  and  Second;  the  New 
Orleans  Hotel,  at  the  comer  of  Yamhill  and  First;  the  Wisconsin 
House,  at  the  comer  of  Ash  and  P\ont;  the  Russ  House,  at  126 
Front  street;  the  Railroad  House,  on  Front  near  Yamhill;  the  St. 
Ivouis  Hotel,  on  P>ont  street;  the  New  York  Hotel,  at  17  North 
Front;  the  Patton  House,  at  No.  175  Front  street;  the  Fisk  House, 
on  First  near  Main;  the  Cosmopolitan,  at  the  corner  of  Front  and 
Stark;  the  Califomia  House,  at  13  Stark  street;  the  Brooklyn  Hotel, 
on  First  street  near  Pine.  There  were  also  twelve  boarding  houses 
and  nine  restaurants.  Real  estate  agents  now  numbered  six  houses; 
J.  S.  Daly,  Dean  &  Bro.,  William  Davidson,  Parrish  &  Atkinson, 
Russell  &  P>rry,  Stitzel  &  Upton.  The  wholesale  merchants  con- 
tained many  names  in  active  business;  Allen  &  I^ewis,  Baum  Bros., 
Fleischner  &  Co.,  Jacob  Meyer,  L.  White  &Co.,  Seller,  Frankeneau 
&  Co.,  and  Goldsmith  &  Co.     Of  retail  merchants  of  that  time  there 


Growth  and  Improvements.  157 


may  be  named  C.  S.  Silver,  S.  Simon,  A.  Meier,  D.  Metzgar,  W. 
Masters  &  Son,  John  Wilson,  M.  Moskowitz,  P.  Selling,  Loeb  Bros., 
Koshland  Bros,,  Van  Fridagh  &  Co.,  S.  Levy,  Mrs.  C.  Levy,  Kohn 
Bros.,  Galland,  Goodman  &  Co.,  Joseph  Harris  &  Son,  J.  M.  Breck, 
M.  Franklin,  J.  M.  Fryer  &  Co.,  Beck  &  Waldman,  Clarke,  Hender- 
son &  Cook,  Leon  Ach,  and  John  Ener>'.  In  groceries  and  provisions 
there  were  the  wholesale  merchants  Amos,  Williams  &  Myers; 
Leveredge,  Wadhams  &  Co.,  and  Corbitt  &  Macleay;and  thirty-three 
retailers.  In  hardware,  Corbett,  Failing  &  Co.,  Hawley, 
Dodd  &  Co.,  E.  J.  Northnip  &  Co.,  and  Charles  Hopkins. 
The  druggists  were  J.  A.  Chapman,  Hodge,  Calef  &  Co., 
Smith  &  Davis,  C.  H.  Woodward,  S.  G.  Skidmore,  and  Whetherford 
&  Co.  George  L.  Story  made  a  specialty  of  paints  and  oils.  There 
were  nine  houses  of  commission  merchants:  Allen  &  Lewis, 
McCraken,  Merrill  &  Co.,  Knapp,  Burrell  &  Co.,  Everding  & 
Farrell,  George  Abernethy,  Williams  &  Meyers,  Everding  & 
Beebe,  Janion  &  Rhoades,  and  T.  A.  Savier  &  Co.  The  lumber 
manufacturers  and  merchants  were  Abrams  &  Besser,  Smith  Bros. 
&  Co.,  J.  M.  Ritchie,  and  Estes,  Stinston  &  Co.  The 
foundries  were  the  Eagle,  the  Oregon  Iron  Works,  the  Willamette 
Iron  Works,  Smith  Bros.  Iron  Works  and  the  Colutnbia  Iron  Works. 
The  furniture  dealers  were  Hurgren  &  Shindler,  Emil,  Lowenstein  & 
Co.,  W.  F.  Wilcox,  and  Richter  &  Co.  Hat  manufacturers  were  J. 
C.  Meussdorfer,  N.  Walker,  and  Currier  &  Co.  The  flour  mills,  that 
of  G.  W.  Vaughn  and  McLeran  Bros.  The  physicians  were  R. 
Glisan,  J.  S.  Giltner,  J.  A.  Chapman,  J.  C.  Hawthorn,  A.  M.  Loryea, 
W.  H.  Watkins,  R.  B.  Wilson,  G:  Kellogg,  J.  W.  Murray,  E. 
Poppleton,  J.  A.  Chapman,  I.  A.  Davenport,  H.  A.  Bodman,  S. 
Parker,  F.  C.  Paine,  J.  C.  Ryan,  F.  W.  Schule,  Robert  Patton,  J. 
M.  Roland,  J.  F.  Ghiselin,  H.  McKinnell,  Charles  Schumacher,  G. 
W.  Brown,  T.  J.  Sloan,  W.  Weatherford,  and  J.  Dickson. 

For  the  attorneys  of  this  as  well  as  other  years  the  reader  is 
referred  to  the  special  article  on  the  legal  profession.  The  printers 
were  G.  H.  Himes  and  A.  G.  Walling.  The  publications  were  The 
Orcgoniatiy  which  issued  daily  and  weekly  editions  and  was  published 
by  H.  L.  Pittock  with  H.  W.  Scott  as  editor;    The  Bulletin,  James 


158  History  of  Portland. 


O'Meara  editor;  the  Oregon  Herald^  H.  L.  Patterson  proprietor  and 
Sylvester  Pennoyer  editor;  the  Pacific  Christian  Advocate^  I.  Dillon 
editor;  the  Catholic  Sentinel^  H.  L.  Herman  editor;  the  Oregon 
Deutshe  Zeitungy  A.  Le  Grand  editor,  and  the  Good  Templar  with 
C.  Beal  as  editor.  The  Oregon  Almanac  and  city  directory  were 
regularly  issued  by  S.  J.  McCormick. 

The  saddlers  were  J.  B.  Congle,  Samuel  Sherlock  &  Co.,  N. 
Thwing,  and  Welch  &  Morgan.  The  leather  dealers  J.  A.  Strow- 
bridge  and  Daniel  O.  O' Reagan.  The  dentists  were  J.  R.  Card  well, 
C.  H.  Mack,  J.  G.  Glenn,  J.  H.  Hatch,  J.  W.  Dodge,  William 
Koehler,  and  Priedland  &  Calder.  In  the  crockery  and  glassware 
trade  there  were  W.  Jackson,  H.  W.  Monnastes,  A.  D.  Shelby,  M. 
Seller,  and  J.  McHenr\'. 

There  were  eighty  retail  liquor  saloons  and  seven  wholesale 
dealers  in  liquors;  there  were  nine  livery  stables,  thirteen  meat 
markets,  four  photograph  galleries,  twenty  cigar  and  tobacco  dealers, 
six  breweries,  five  bakeries,  two  brickyards,  four  banks,  fourteen 
printers,  one  match  factory,  one  soap  factory,  one  salt  works,  one 
barrel  factory,  two  box  factories,  twenty-one  dressmakers,  five  dealers 
in  Chinese  goods,  two  book  binderies,  one  tannery,  five  wagon 
makers,  six  blacksmith  shops,  five  bakeries,  two  express  companies, 
three  railroad  companies,  five  tnerchant  tailors,  two  telegraph  ofiices, 
thirteen  licensed  draymen  and  two  undertakers,  besides  a  number  of 
other  occupations  such  as  auctioneer  and  wigmaker. 

These  statistics  show  Portland  to  have  been  twenty  years  ago  a 
thriving  cosmopolitan  little  city,  with  business  much  diversified  and 
doing  a  heavy  business.  As  indicating  the  religious  growth  of  the 
place  it  may  be  said  that  there  were  now  fifteen  churches,  a  full 
account  of  which  is  found  elsewhere. 

The  assessed  value  of  property  in  the  city  was  six  million  eight 
hundred  and  forty-eight  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight  dollars; 
about  half  of  its  purchasing  value.  The  population  was  estimated 
at  nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixtv-five. 

In  1871  the  improvements  continued,  the  amount  spent  on 
buildings  being  estimated  at  one  million  two  hundred  and  eighty-six 
thousand  dollars.     Commenting  upon  this  at  the  time.  The  Oregonian 


%. 


Growth  and  Improvements.  159 


said:  ''Many  of  these  buildings  are  costly  and  of  handsome  and 
imposing  appearance.  We  doubt  if  any  city  on  the  Pacific  Coast  can 
show  anything  like  a  parallel.  The  exhibit  proves  conclusively  and 
in  the  most  appreciable  manner  the  rapid  strides  of  our  city  towards 
wealth  and  greatness.  *  *  *  Every  house  is  occupied  as  soon  as 
finished,  and  not  infrequently  houses  are  bespoken  before  the  ground 
is  broken  for  their  erection.     *     *     *     Rents  are  justly  pronounced 


enormous. ' ' 


The  finest  buildings  of  this  year  were  the  New  Market  Theatre 
of  A.  P.  Ankeny,  sixty  by  two  hundred  feet,  on  First  and  A  streets 
extending  to  Second,  and  the  Masonic  Hall  on  Third  and  Alder,  of 
three  stories  and  a  Mansard  roof,  still  a  very  prominent  bulding,  and 
finished  in  the  Corinthian  style. 

The  number  of  steamers  registering  in  the  Willamette  District 
were  thirty-one;  of  barks,  one;  brigs,  six;  schooners,  two;  scows, 
two;  sloops,  four.  The  total  exports — exclusive  of  goods  re-exported 
— reached  a  value  of  six  hundred  and  ninety-two  thousand 
two  hundred  and  ninety-seven  dollars.  The  total  value  ot 
property  assessed  was  ten  million  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  with  an  indebtedness  of 
one  million  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  one  hundred  and  five 
dollars.  The  population  as  estimated  reached  eleven  thousand  one 
hundred  and  three. 

In  1872  Ankeny's  New  Market  Theatre  was  completed  at  a  cost 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  Masonic  Temple  at  eighty 
thousand  dollars.  A  Good  Templars'  Hall  was  built  on  Third  street 
costing  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  Clarendon  Hotel  was  built  on 
North  First  street  near  the  railroad  depot.  Smith's  block,  a  row  of 
warehouses  between  First  and  Front  streets  and  Ash  and  Oak,  was 
built  this  year,  at  a  cost  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Pittock's  block 
on  Front  near  Stark  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  A  house  for  a  Central  school  was  erected,  sixty  by  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet,  costing  thirty  thousand  dollars;  work  on  the 
Government  building  on  F'iftli  and  Morrison  streets  was  continued. 
Trinity  Church  erected   a  house  of  worship  on  the  comer  of  Sixth 

and  Oak  streets,  at  a  cost  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.     Dekum's 

[11] 


160  History  of  Portland. 


building  on  the  comer  of  First  and  Washington  streets,  of  three 
stories,  and  still  one  of  the  prominent  buildings,  costing  seventy 
thousand  dollars,  was  begun  in  1871  and  completed  in  '72.  The 
hack  and  dray  company  erected  new  stables  on  G  street,  between 
Fifth  and  Sixth,  one  hundred  by  seventy-five  feet,  costing  five 
thousand  dollare.  The  wharves  of  the  O.  S.  N.  Co.  were  extended 
and  improved.     The  Home  for  the  Destitute  was  also  built  this  year. 

In  the  line  of  shipping  there  were  five  ocean  steamers  plying  to 
San  Francisco:  The  John  L,  StephenSy  an  old-fashioned  side- wheeler, 
being  the  largest,  carrying  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-seven 
tons.  Coastwise  tonnage  aggregated  one  hundred  and  nine  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  forty-nine  tons;  in  the  foreign  trade  there  were  eight- 
een thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty-four  tons.  From  foreign  countries 
there  arrived  twelve  barks  and  two  ships,  with  a  total  capacity  of 
nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty  tons.  Imports — ^that  is 
strictly  from  foreign  countries — were  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars;  exports  to  foreign 
countries  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight  thousand  and  six  hundred  and 
fourteen  dollars.  The  west  side  railroad  was  running  to  the  Yamhill 
river  at  St  Joseph,  and  the  east  side  to  Roseburg  in  the  Umpqua 
valley.  Large  fires  occurred  in  1872  making  a  total  loss  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  population  was  estimated 
at  twelve  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine. 

In  August,  1873,  a  great  fire  occurred,  burning  twenty  blocks 
along  the  river  front  south  of  Yamhill  and  a  part  of  Morrison  street 
It  destroyed  property  to  the  value  of  one  million  three  hundred  and 
forty-five  thousand  dollars,  on  which  there  was  an  insurance  of  but 
two  hundred  and  seventy  dollars.  An  account  of  this  conflagration 
is  given  elsewhere  in  this  book.  Immediate  steps  were  taken  to  build 
up  once  more  the  burnt  district,  and  many  structures  were  erected  to 
replace  those  lost.  A  brick  market  building  two  hundred  feet  from 
Front  to  First  at  the  comer  of  Madison,  was  built  by  B.  V.  Bunnell 
and  other  parties  as  stockholders.  Johnson  &  Spaulding,  G.  W. 
Vaughn,  J.  M.  Fryer,  Quimby  &  Perkins  and  others,  built  good 
structures  on  Front  and  First  streets.  H.  W.  Corbett,  C.  M.  Carter 
C.  Holman,  C.  M.  Wiberg,  J.  P.  O.  Lownsdale,  M.  S.   Burrell,  and 


Growth  and  Improvements.  161 

Elijah  Corbett,  interested  themselves  in  rebuilding  the  waste  places. 
The  house  of  Protection  Engine  Company,  on  First  street  near 
Madison,  was  at  the  time  allotted  a  good  building. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  city  a  fine  building  was  erected  on 
First  and  A  streets,  by  A.  P.  Ankeny.  Further  north  the  bonded 
warehouses  and  a  number  of  brick  stores  were  built*  In  this  year 
also  the  elegant  residence  of  Mr.  Henry  Failing  was  erected. 

In  the  line  of  commerce  the  coastwise  entrances  reached  a  tonnage 
of  one  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  and  one  hundred;  of  foreign 
entrances,  nineteen  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-three  tons. 
American  vessels  for  foreign  ports  aggregated  nineteen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  forty-four  tons  clearances.  The  exports,  a  value  of  one 
million  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty-nine  dollars,  exclusive  of  shipments  by  way  of  San  Francisco. 
The  property  was  assessed  at  ten  million  eight  hundred  and  four 
thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-two.  The  population  was  estimated 
at  twelve  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty-nine. 

For  the  shipping  season  of  1873-74  there  was  exported  of  wheat 
and  flour  a  value  of  four  million  thirty-seven  thousand  and  ninety- 
three  dollars  by  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river.  During  1874 
there  was  a  steady  improvement  in  the  growth  of  the  city,  yet  the 
loss  of  the  previous  years  and  the  filling  up  of  the  wastes  by  fires  did 
not  so  much  work  for  the  extension  of  the  city  limits.  During  1875, 
the  general  depression  in  business  throughout  the  United  States, 
consequent  upon  the  general  failure  which  was  begun  by  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  Co.,  so  affected  Portland  as  to  discourage  general 
improvement.  Exports  in  shipping  continued  about  the  same. 
Railroad  enterprises,  although  working  to  the  advantage  of  the  city, 
were  now  drawing  in  rather  than  disbursing  money,  although  work 
on  the  west  side  was  resumed.  There  was  considerable  increase  in 
property  and  population  which  now  reached  thirteen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  seventy. 

The  publications  of  the  time  speak  of  the  prosperity  of  1876, 
of  *'the  numerous  and  costly  buildings"  erected,  of  '^additional 
wharves  and  warehouses"  and  of  manufacturing  interests,  but  a 
detailed  account  is  not  at  hand.     Seventy-two  foreign  vessels  visited 


162  History  of  Portland. 


the  river  and  the  export  of  wheat  was  one  million  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven  centals,  and  of 
flour  two  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fourteen 
barrels.  The  salmon  business  on  the  lower  Columbia  was  moving 
toward  its  maximum,  the  pack  of  this  year  being  estimated  at  four 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  cases.  Wool,  to  the  value  of  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  also  shipped.  There  was  also  a  coast- 
wise export  of  upwards  of  one  million  dollars  to  San  Francisco. 
The  population  was  thirteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  two. 

During  1877  about  one  hundred  separate  building  improvements 
were  made.  Those  valued  at  five  thousand  dollars  or  upwards  are 
named  herewith:  a  wharf,  by  John  Rines,  at  the  foot  of  Oak  street, 
five  thousand  dollars;  improvements  to  school  buildings,  twelve 
thousand  dollars;  two-story  brick  building,  by  P.  W.  D.  Hardenberg, 
at  the  northwest  comer  of  Morrison  and  Second  streets,  ten  thousand 
dollars;  two  residences,  by  Rev.  George  Burton,  at  the  northwest 
comer  of  Eleventh  and  Morrison  streets,  five  thousand  dollars;  a  two 
story  brick  building,  by  Harker,  on  First  and  Front,  between 
Morrison  and  Yamhill,  eight  thousand  dollars;  a  two-story  brick 
building  on  Front  street  near  Main,  five  thousand  dollars;  a  wharf, 
by  Captain  Flanders,  at  the  foot  of  C  street,  eight  thousand  dollars; 
German  Reformed  church,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Stark  and  N, 
five  thousand  dollars;  Lutheran  church,  rebuilt  into  a  dwelling,  H. 
W.  Corbett,  six  thousand  dollars;  a  double  house,  by  G.  F.  Wells, 
West  Park  and  Yamhill,  six  thousand  five  hundred  dollars;  residence 
by  F.  Dekum,  on  block  between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth,  and  Yamhill 
and  Morrison,  thirteen  thousand  dollars;  aone-stor>^  brick  building, 
on  the  comer  of  First  and  Taylor,  by  C.  M.  Rohr,  five  thousand 
dollars;  three  residences,  by  W.  Honey  man,  on  Tenth  and  Taylor 
streets,  six  thousand  dollars;  improvements  to  the  mill  near  the  water 
works,  six  thousand  dollars;  a  dock  and  warehouse  by  W.  K.  Smith, 
on  the  levee  north  of  Salmon  street,  ten  thousand  dollars;  brick 
building  by  H.  Weinhard, comer  of  B  and  Eleventh  streets,  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars;  brick  building,  by  F.  Dekum,  on  the  comer  of  A  and  Front 
streets,  thirteen  thousand  dollars;  two-story  brick,  by  H.  Trenkman, 
eight  thousand  dollars.     The  total  improvements  for  this  year  were 


Growth  and  Improvements.  163 


estimated  at  three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  About 
eighty  vessels  in  the  foreign  trade  entered  the  Columbia  river.  The 
total  wheat  and  flour  export  was  upward  of  five  million  dollars  in  value. 
The  total  of  all  exports  from  the  Columbia  was  estimated  at  over 
sixteen  million  dollars — probably  somewhat  excessive.  The 
assessable  property  of  the  city  was  twelve  million  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars  and  the  population 
was  estimated  at  fifteen  thousand  and  ninety-nine. 

The  movement  toward  improvements  begun  so  auspiciously  in 
1877,  steadily  expanded  during  1878,  the  number  of  separate 
buildings  exceeding  two  hundred  and  fifty  and  costing  about  one 
million  dollars.  Of  those  costing  ten  thousand  dollars  or  upwards 
we  give  a  list  below.  Among  them  stood  pre-eminent  the  Catholic 
Cathedral  on  the  old  site  at  the  comer  of  Third  and  Stark  streets, 
built  of  brick  in  the  Gothic  style,  and  costing  eighty  thousand  dollars. 
The  new  Unitarian  church  was  also  built  this  year  on  the  old  site 
at  Seventh  and  Yamhill  at  a  cost  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars.  A 
handsome  brick  store  was  erected  at  the  foot  of  Stark  street  by  Reed 
and  Failing  at  a  cost  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  brick  store  of 
J.  S.  Smith  was  also  erected  this  year  at  the  foot  of  Washington 
street,  at  a  cost  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  G.  H.  Flanders  made  an 
addition  to  his  wharf  at  an  expense  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  The 
wharf  of  J.  S.  Smith,  at  the  foot  of  Washington  street,  was  built  at 
a  cost  of  ten  thousand  dollars;  and  the  machine  shop,  by  S.  M.  Dyer, 
at  eighteen  thousand  dollars.  A  brick  hotel  was  erected  on  the 
corner  of  Third  and  F  streets  by  John  Burton  at  a  cost  of  thirteen 
thousand  dollars.  A  residence  was  built  by  Henry  Weinhard  on  B 
and  S  streets,  costing  sixteen  thousand  dollars;  and  Molson's  brewer>' 
on  Ninth  and  B,  at  an  expenditure  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars. 
Stores  were  built  by  H.  C.  Leonard  on  the  corner  of  Front  and 
A,  at  twenty-four  thousand  dollars,  and  also  by  Chinese  companies 
on  the  comer  of  Second  and  Alder,  at  ten  thousand  five  hundred; 
and  a  brick  store  by  C.  P.  Church  &  Co.,  on  the  comer  of  First  and 
Morrison,  at  thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  A  livery  stable 
was  built  by  Sherlock  and  Bacon,  on  the  comer  of  Second  and  Oak 
streets,  costing  twenty-three  thousand  dollars.     A  hotel  was  erected 


164  History  of  Portland. 


by  Therkelsen  &  M'Kay  on  Second  and  C,  at  ten  thousand  dollars. 
The  other  buildings  of  this  year  were  quite  handsome  residences,  as 
that  of  Dr.  G.  H.  Chance,  on  the  comer  of  Hall  and  Second  streets, 
at  a  cost  of  five  thousand  dollars,  of  J.  B.  Congle,  on  Sixth  street, 
between  Salmon  and  Taylor,  at  four  thousand  dollars,  and  L. 
Therkelsen,  on  Market  and  Ninth  streets,  at  five  thousand  three 
hundred  dollars. 

The  following  from  The  Oregonian  of  that  date  well  illustrates 
the  growth  of  the  city  by  comparison  of  river  traffic:  '*In  1868 
eight  steamboats,  of  which  two  were  only  used  as  substitutes, 
transacted  all  the  passenger  and  freight  business,  excepting  that  by 
ocean  vessels,  centering  in  Portland;  and  even  then  were  compelled, 
in  order  to  'make  expenses,'  to  do  all  the  miscellaneous  towage 
which  the  river  then  affiDrded.  This  was  before  the  days  of  either 
the  east  or  west  side  railroad,  and  the  little  steamer  Senator,  running 
between  Portland  and  Oregon  City,  found  it  an  easy  task  by  making 
one  round  trip  each  day  to  move  all  the  grain  crop  of  the  Willamette 
Valley  and  to  carry  the  passengers  and  general  freight  of  both  sides 
of  the  river.  Now  twelve  steamers,*  any  one  of  them  larger  than  the 
Senator,  find  profitable  business  on  the  Willamette,  and  sixty  cars 
each  day,  loaded  with  grain  and  passengers,  come  into  our  city  by 
two  lines  of  railways. 

''Then  the  steamboat  Cascades,  of  less  than  four  hundred  and  fifty 
tons  burden,  ran  between  this  city  and  the  gorge  from  which  she 
derived  her  name,  making  one  trip  each  day,  and  without  incon- 
venience carried  all  the  merchandise  required  by  the  people  of  that 
part  of  Oregon  and  Washington  east  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  and  the 
northern  half  of  Idaho.  Now  the  magnificent  boats  S.  G.  Reed  and 
Wide  West  find  steady  and  difficult  work  in  keeping  the  warehouses 
clear.  In  addition  to  these,  smaller  boats  are  constantly  employed  in 
trade  along  the  river  bank. 

"Between  Portland  and  Astoria,  one  steamer,  much  smaller  than 
the  boats  of  to-day,  made  three  trips  each  week  and  did  all  the  job 
towing  on  the  Columbia  below  Rainier.  On  the  same  route  now 
two  large  boats  ply  regularly  on  alternate  days,  and  over  forty  tugs 
and  smaller  steamers  are  engaged  in  towing  and  general  work." 


Growth  and  Improvements.  165 


The  valuation  of  property  reached  twelve  million  two  hundred 
and  ninety-one  thousand  three  hundred  aud  fifty  dollars.  Wheat  and 
flour  exports  were  estimated  at  a  value  of  about  three  million  dollars. 
The  population  was  estimated  at  nineteen  thousand  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight,  but  this  was  undoubtedly  an  over-estimate,  as  two 
years  later  it  was  found  to  be  but  a  little  over  seventeen  thousand. 
The  statistics  which  we  have  given  of  population  have  been  taken 
from  the  directories  of  the  consecutive  years,  and  it  is  probable  that 
owing  to  the  excess  of  adults,  too  high  proportion  of  total  population 
to  names  was  assumed. 

During  1879  improvements  still  increased,  reaching  a  value  of 
one  million  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  and  seven  hundred 
dollars;  consisting  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  dwellings,  sixteen 
brick  blocks,  fifty-eight  stores,  eight  hotels,  six  docks  and  warehouses, 
fourteen  shops  and  stables,  two  schools,  two  planing  mills,  one 
brewery  and  the  Mechanics'  Pavilion.  The  buildings  of  a  value 
exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars  may  be  named  as  follows:  The 
Union  block,  by  Corbett  &  Failing,  eighty-six  thousand  dollars;  the 
Esmond  Hotel,  at  the  comer  of  Front  and  Morrison,  by  Coulter  & 
Church,  forty-five  thousand  dollars;  a  block  of  eight  residences  on 
Second  and  Mill  streets  by  S.  G.  Reed,  forty  thousand  dollars;  the 
Park  school  house,  on  Jefferson  street  between  East  and  West  Park, 
twenty-nine  thousand  dollars;  a  brick  block  on  the  corner  of  Front 
and  B  streets  by  Klosterman  Bros.,  at  thirty-five  thousand  dollars;  a 
residence  by  C.  H.  Lewis,  on  the  comer  of  Nineteenth  and  G  streets, 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars;  the  residence  of  H.  D.  Green  at  the  head 
of  B  street,  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars;  the  brewery  of  George 
Herrall,  on  Water  street,  near  Harrison,  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars;  a  wharf  between  Taylor  and  Salmon  streets  by  J.  F.  Jones, 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  the  three  story  brick  building  on  the 
comer  of  Front  and  Columbia  streets  by  Peter  Manciet,  eighteen 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars;  the  new  Harrison  Street  School  house, 
eighteen  thousand  dollars;  a  brick  block  by  John  Shade,  fifteen 
thousand  dollars;  the  Mechanics'  Pavilion,  on  the  block  between 
Second  and  Third  and  Clay  and  Market,  sixteen  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars;  a  brick  block  by  H.  McKinnell,  on  Second  street 


166  History  of  Portland. 


between  Salmon  and  Main,  thirteen  thousand  dollars;  a  residence  by 
Samuel  D.  Smith,  on  Twelfth  between  Yamhill  and  Taylor,  ten 
thousand  dollars;  a  residence  by  M.  W.  Fechheimer  on  the  comer  of 
West  Park  and  Montgomery",  fourteen  thousand  dollars;  a  residence 
by  J.  W.  Whalley,  comer  of  West  Park  and  Harrison,  ten  thousand 
dollars;  a  brick  block  by  Mrs.  Mark  A.  King,  on  the  comer  of  Third 
and  Alder;  a  brick  block  by  Dr.  R.  Glisan,  on  the  comer  of  Second 
and  Ash,  thirteen  thousand  dollars;  a  brick  block  by  Chinese 
merchants  on  the  comer  of  Second  and  Alder,  twenty  thousand 
dollars;  a  brick  block  on  the  comer  of  Front  and  Ash  by  N.  Lambert, 
H.  L.  Hoyt  and  J.  W.  Cook,  twenty-four  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars;  a  brick  block  by  Fleischner  &  Hirsch,  on  First  and  B 
streets,  sixteen  thousand  seven  hundred;  the  residence  of  J.  C. 
Carson,  on  the  comer  of  Nineteenth  and  J  streets,  ten  thousand 
dollars;  tracks  for  switches  and  round  house  of.  the  Western  Oregon 
Railroad,  ten  thousand  dollars;  Park  school  house  twenty-nine 
thousand  dollars;  and  there  was  spent  on  the  Catholic  Cathedral 
ten  thousand  dollars  more  in  completion.  Many  residences  and 
minor  business  houses  of  a  value  of  five  thousand  dollars  to  eight 
thousand  dollars  were  also  eredled.  It  was  during  this  year  that  the 
palatial  residences  in  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  city  began  to 
be  ere<5led,  converting  what  was  once  a  dilapidated  forest  overgrown 
with  brush  and  wild  vines,  into  one  of  the  most  handsome  and  sightly 
portions  of  the  city. 

The  grain  fleet  entering  the  river  numbered  about  ninety  vessels; 
this  was  exclusive  of  the  regular  coasters.  The  steamers  registering 
in  the  Portland  district  were  sixty,  with  a  total  capacity  of  twenty- 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-seven  tons.  The  steamers 
OriEamme  and  John  L.  Stephens  had  now  disappeared,  having  been 
broken  up.  There  were  thirteen  sailing  vessels  with  a  total  capacity  of 
six  thousand  one  hundred  and  four  tons.  The  export  of  wheat 
reached  upwards  of  two  million  centals,  valued  at  over  five  million 
dollars.  Shipments  of  wool  reached  seven  million  pounds.  The 
catch  of  salmon  was  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  cases. 
The  gross  valuation  of  property  was  thirteen  million  one  hundred 
and    forty-three   thousand    four   hundred    and    twenty-five   dollars. 


Growth  and  Improvements.  167 


The  prospects  of  growth  and  business  in  1880  were 
bright,  and  stimulated  not  only  activity  in  real  estate  move- 
ments, but  in  business  also.  The  uncertain  and  depressing, 
railroad  management  of  Ben  Holladay  had  given  away  to  the  more 
business  like  and  careful  regime  of  the  German  Company,  and  plans 
for  the  O.  R.  &  N.  Railway  and  for  the  speedy  completion  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  were  taking  definite  and  public  form.  Sales  of  real 
estate  were  considerable,  although  uncertainty  as  to  the  location  of 
the  terminal  works  of  the  transcontinental  line,  now  expected  to  be 
made  in  North  Portland,  now  in  South  Portland,  and  again  in  East 
Portland,  gave  a  strongly  speculative  character  to  this  line  of  trade. 
Improvements  extended  uniformly  in  all  portions  of  the  city  from  the 
river  bank  to  the  city  limits,  and  even  beyond  them.  There  were 
eredled  thirteen  brick  blocks  and  stores;  thirty  frame  blocks  and 
stores,  six  docks,  four  manufactories,  three  churches,  two  hotels  and 
two  hundred  and  two  dwellings  at  a  gross  valuation  of  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-one  thousand  dollars.  Those  costing  ten  thousand  dollars 
or  upwards  are  named  as  follows:  Family  residence  of  Capt.  George 
Ainsworth,  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Yamhill,  fifteen  thousand 
dollars;  a  residence  by  the  same,  ten  thousand  dollars;  improvements 
to  the  Zeta  Psi  block,  comer  Front  and  D,  ten  thousand  dollars;  the 
Chinese  theater,  on  Second  street,  twelve  thousand  dollars;  the 
Oregon  Steam  Bakery,  by  Liebe  &  Holburg,  on  East  Park  and  G, 
fifteen  thousand  dollars;  the  building  by  Labbe  Bros.,  on  the  comer 
of  Second  and  Washington  streets,  eleven  thousand  dollars;  a  brick 
block  on  Washington  street  between  First  and  Second,  by  Richardson 
&  Mann,  ten  thousand  dollars;  the  three  story  brick  block  on  the 
comer  of  Second  and  Stark  streets,  thirty-six  thousand  dollars;  the 
brick  building  on  First  street  between  Main  and  Yamhill,  ten 
thousand  dollars;  the  three  story  building  on  Third  street  between 
Yamhill  and  Taylor,  twelve  thousand  dollars;  the  Nicolai  House,  at 
the  comer  of  Third  and  D  streets,  thirteen  thousand  dollars;  an 
addition  of  five  hundred  feet  to  the  Ainsworth  Dock  by  the  O.  R.  & 
N.  Co.,  fifty  thousand  dollars;  an  addition  to  the  Steamship  Dock  of 
the  same  company,  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars;  an  addition  to  the 
Greenwich  Dock  by  Capt.   Flanders,  twenty  thousand  dollars;  the 


168  History  of  Portland. 

Multnomah  block,  at  the  comer  of  Fifth  and  Morrison,  by  H.  W. 
Corbett,  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars;  the  furniture  factory  of  I.  F. 
Powers,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  a  four  stor>'  residence  on 
Sixteenth  and  B  streets  by  the  Dundee  Investment  Company,  nineteen 
thousand  four  hundred  dollars;  the  two  story  business  block  on  the 
comer  of  Second  and  E  streets  by  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  thirteen  thousand 
dollars;  the  Stark  street  ferry  boat  by  Knott  Bros.,  sixteen  thousand 
dollars. 

In  1880  the  hotels  had  increased  to  twenty-nine.  Those  on  Front 
street  were  the  American  Exchange,  The  Esmond,  St.  Charles, 
Commercial,  New  York  and  Zur  Rheinpfalz.  On  First  street  there 
were  the  California  House,  the  Eureka,  the  Globe,  the  Norton 
House,  the  Clarendon,  the  Occidental,  the  Oregon,  the  St.  George, 
the  St.  Louis,  the  Thompson  House,  the  Metropolis,  Portland  and 
Phoenix.  On  Second  street  there  were  the  DeFrance  and  Richmond 
House.  On  Third  street  there  were  the  Burton  House,  Holton 
House  and  the  Nicolai.  There  were  besides  these  thirty  boarding 
houses,  twenty-one  restaurants,  nine  coffee  houses  and  three  oyster 
saloons.  There  were  one  hundred  and  three  liquor  saloons  arid  ten 
wholesale  liquor  houses.  There  were  twenty-four  butchers.  The  whole- 
sale grocers  were  seven  and  the  retail  grocers  fifty-three.  The  physi- 
cians now  numbered  sixt>'-seven,  the  attorneys  sixty-three,  and  editors 
thirty-four.  There  were  seven  sawmills,  three  flour  mills,  three  box 
factories,  one  brass  foundry,  two  soap  works,  one  stove  manufactory, 
four  foundries,  six  iron  works,  four  ferries  plying  on  the  river,  fifty- 
seven  contractors  and  builders,  three  wholesale  and  twenty  retail 
dealers  in  dry  goods,  seven  dealers  in  crockery  and  glassware,  three 
wholesale  and  thirteen  retail  clothiers,  three  wholesale  and  ten  retail 
dealers  in  boots  and  shoes,  and  thirty-four  commission  merchants. 
Commerce  indicated  about  its  previous  volume.  By  the  United 
States  census  of  1880,  the  population  was  found  to  be  seventeen 
thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-eight.  By  the  Directory  of  that 
year  it  was  estimated  at  twenty-one  thousand  six  hundred. 

During  1881  there  were  spent  about  one  million  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  in  building.  The  most  important  of  these 
were  the  following:     The  iron  and  brick  building  of  W.  S.  Ladd,  at 


Growth  and  Improvements.  169 


the  comer  of  First  and  Columbia,  costing  forty  thousand  dollars ;  the 
Portland  Seaman's  Bethel,  on  the  corner  of  Third  and  D  streets, 
under  the  management  of  R.  S.  Stubbs,  twelve  thousand  dollars; 
G.  W.  Jones's  block,  on  block  176  in  Couch's  Addition;  G.  W. 
Weidler's  residence,  on  the  comer  of  L  and  Eighteenth  streets, 
costing  sixteen  thousand  dollars;  C.  P.  Bacon's  residence,  on  the 
same  block  as  above,  ten  thousand  dollars;  residence  of  W.  N. 
Wallace  on  Tenth  and  Salmon  streets;  residence  of  Sylvester 
Pennoyer  on  the  comer  of  West  Park  and  Madison  streets;  the  three 
story  brick  of  J.  C.  Ainsworth  on  Third  and  Oak  streets,  costing 
eighty-five  thousand  dollars;  the  Cosmopolitan  block  of  Reed  & 
Failing,  on  the  comer  of  Second  and  Stark;  and  the  residence  of 
J.  N.  Dolph  on  Fifth  and  Jefferson,  were  the  most  prominent 
structures  of  the  year.  The  Columbia  Dock  was  built  by  C.  H. 
Lewis,  at  the  foot  of  N  street,  at  a  cost  of  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars.  Commercial  statistics  showed  an  increasing  volume  of 
business.  New  interest  in  the  mines  of  Idaho  and  of  Southern 
Oregon  began  to  be  felt  by  the  capitalists  of  Portland,  and  with  the 
prospect  of  railroad  connection  to  these  points,  they  inaugurated  the 
operations  which  have  since  attained  such  proportions.  Manufacturing 
interests  began  to  concentrate  in  and  about  Portland.  Weidler's 
immense  sawmill,  with  capacity  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
feet  per  day,  led  all  in  the  volume  of  business.  Besides  lumber,  the 
manufacture  of  furniture,  of  boots  and  shoes,  of  wagons,  of  iron 
and  steel  implements  and  machinery,  and  preservation  of  fruit 
assumed  appreciable  proportions. 

In  1882,  the  extent  of  improvements  rose  to  an  astonishing 
degree,  a  total  of  two  million  nine  hundred  and  seventy-four  thousand 
six  hundred  dollars  being  spent  in  Portland,  East  Portland  and 
Albina.  The  more  noticeable  of  these  buildings  erected  were  the 
four-story  brick  structure  of  Dolph  &  Thompson  on  First  street, 
between  Pine  and  Ash,  with  dock  in  the  rear,  costing  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars;  the  First  National  Bank  building  on  the  comer  of 
First  and  Washington,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars; 
the  three-story  brick  block  of  Allen  &  Lewis  on  North  Front  street, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  the  Calvary  Presby- 


170  History  of  Portland. 


terian  Church  on  the  corner  of  Nintli  and  Clay  streets,  thirty-six 
thousand  dollars;  the  North  Pacific  Manufacturing  Company's 
plant  and  improvements,  fifty  thousand  dollars;  the  Couch  school 
house  on  Sixteenth  street,  between  K  and  L,  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars;  the  Failing  school  house  on  First  street,  between  Hooker 
and  Porter,  thirty-five  thousand  dollars;  the  railroad  docks,  coal 
bunkers,  etc.,  at  Albina,  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars; 
the  residence  of  Bishop  B.  W.  Morris,  comer  of  Nineteenth  and  E 
streets,  twenty  thousand  dollars;  residence  of  R.  B.  Knapp,  on 
Sixteenth  and  E  streets,  thirty-five  thousand  dollars;  residence  of 
Captain  G.  H.  Flanders,  on  the  corner  of  F  and  Eighteenth  streets, 
forty  thousand  dollars.  There  were  many  others  of  elegant  design 
and  finish  costing  twenty  thousand  dollars  and  less. 

During  the  year  1884  there  were  built  seventy-five  large  dwellings, 
thirty-six  brick  houses  and  blocks,  and  other  buildings,  bringing  up 
the  total  to  two  hundred  and  eleven.  For  business  houses  there  were 
spent  six  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand  dollars;  for  residences, 
three  hundred  and  forty-nine  thousand  five  himd red  dollars;  for  other 
improvements,  seven  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  seven  hundred 
dollars,  making  a  total  of  one  million  six  hundred  and  eighty-three 
thousand  six  hundred  dollars. 

East  Portland's  improvements  footed  up  three  himdred  and  forty- 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  dollars,  and  those  of  Sellwood  and 
Albina,  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  On  street  improvements  in 
Portland  there  were  spent  three  hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand 
five  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars  and  seventeen  cents.  Grace  Church 
was  erected  at  a  cost  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  on  the 
comer  of  Eleventh  and  Taylor  streets.  Pipe  organs  costing  about 
three  thousand  dollars  each,  were  placed  in  two  churches. 

During  the  year  following  there  was  some  decline  in  improvements, 
but  as  there  was  also  a  great  decrease  in  the  cost  of  materials,  it  was 
a  good  time  to  build,  and  those  sagacious  and  able  took  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  to  erect  some  very  handsome  and  costly  structures, 
which  have  given  character  and  tone  to  the  appearance  of  the  city. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  Portland  Savings  Bank,  of  brick, 
on  the  southwest  comer  of  Second  and  Washington  streets,  at  a  cost 


Growth  and  Improvements.  171 


of  seventy-five  thousand  dollars;  Jacob  Kamm's  magnificent  brick 
block  on  Pine  street,  between  Front  and  First,  eighty  thousand 
dollars;  the  High  School  building  on  Twelfth  and  Morrison,  sixty 
thousand  dollars;  M.  F.  Mulkey's  brick  block  on  the  corner  of 
Second  and  Morrison,  forty  thousand  dollars;  Weinhard's  brick 
brewer>',  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  R.  B.  Knapp's  residence  built 
this  year,  cost  ninety  thousand  dollars;  Pfunder's  unique  Swiss 
residence  on  Ninth  and  Washington,  ten  thousand  dollars.  About 
two  hundred  dwellings  were  erected  at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  and 
ninety  thousand  dollars.  Improvements  were  made  in  East  Portland 
to  the  value  of  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  nine  hundred  dollars, 
and  in  Albina  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  making. a  grand  total  of 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  four  hundred  dollars. 

By  the  State  census  of  1885,  the  population  of  Multnomah 
county  was  placed  at  thirty-five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
two;  about  three-fourths  of  this  should  be  attributed  to  Portland. 

The  year  1886  was  marked  by  a  great  increase  in  buildings  and 
improvements,  some  of  which  were  of  great  extent,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  following  list:  Morrison  Street  bridge  (commenced),  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars;  Albina  Terminal  works,  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars;  the  new  medical  college,  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars;  the  reduction  works  in  East  Portland,  fifty  thousand 
dollars;  Reed's  five-story  brick  building  on  Third  street,  between 
Washington  and  Stark,  ninety-five  thousand  dollars;  the  United 
Carriage,  Baggage  and  Transportation  Co.'s  barn,  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars;  the  four-story  brick  stable  on  Second  street  between 
Stark  and  Washington,  twenty-seven  thousand  dollars;  vessels 
built  or  improved,  sixty-eight  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  The 
stone  church  of  the  Presbyterians  was  projected  at  a  cost  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  grand  total  of  all  improvements 
actually  made,  reached  one  million  nine  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-one  dollars. 

The  year  1887  witnessed  a  steady  expansion  in  building  and 
improvements.  Among  the  most  important  were  the  following:  The 
Abington  Building,  on  Third  street,  between  Stark  and  Washington, 
.oixty-five    thousand    dollars;  the    five-story    building    west  of  the 


172  History  of  Portland. 

Portland  Savings  bank ;  the  residence  of  Levi  White  on  Nineteenth 
street,  forty-five  thousand  dollars;  The  Armory,  on  Tenth  and  B 
streets,  forty  thousand  dollars;  W.  S.  Ladd*s  brick  building  at  the 
foot  of  Morrison  street,  sixty-five  thousand  dollars;  improvements  on 
the  Oregonian  building,  by  H.  L.  Pittock,  eighteen  thousand  dollars; 
the  four-story  brick  building  of  C.  H.  Dodd,  on  the  comer  of  First 
and  A  streets,  seventy-seven  thousand  dollars;  the  building  of  the 
Cyclorama  Co.,  on  Pine  street,  between  Third  and  Fourth,  sixty 
thousand  dollars;  the  Portland  Bridge,  two  hundred  thousand  dollars; 
on  the  railroad  bridge  there  was  spent  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars.  The  cable  car  line  up  to  the  heights  was  begun. 
The  streets  were  improved  to  the  value  of  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars.  The  total 
improvements  of  the  year  are  summarized  as  follows:  In  the  city, 
one  million  fifty- four  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  dollars; 
on  Portland  Heights,  sixty  thousand  dollars;  in  East  Portland, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars; 
in  Albina,  six  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  dollars  and  fifty  cents;  on  Mount  Tabor,  sixty  thousand 
dollars;  making  a  grand  total  of  two  million  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-four  thousand  and  twenty-four  dollars. 

During  1888  all  former  improvements  were  far  exceeded.  Many 
large  buildings  of  the  most  permanent  character,  and  improvements 
which  would  be  a  credit  to  any  great  city  were  brought  to  completion 
or  undertaken.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  principal  works:  The 
Exposition  Building,  on  Fourteenth  and  B,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars;  on  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  sixty  thousand 
dollars;  the  Jewish  Synagogue,  sixty-five  thousand  dollars;  the 
railroad  bridge  (finished),  four  hundred  thousand  dollars;  improve- 
ments by  the  water  committee,  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
dollars;  buildings  in  Portland  (not  otherwise  named),  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  dollars;  improvements  on  the  streets  of 
Portland,  three  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  dollars; 
East  Portland  and  Sunnyside,  three  hundred  and  nineteen  thousand 
three  hundred  and  eighty-eight  dollars;  at  Oswego,  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars;  at  Albina,    one  hundred  and  eighty-one  thousand 


Growth  and  Improvements.  173 


six  hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars;  on  the  street  railways,  fifty 
thousand  dollars;  on  Portland  Heights,  forty  thousand  dollar;  on 
Mount  Tabor,  thirty  thousand  dollars;  at  Sellwood,  twelve  thousand 
dollars;  at  Milwaukie,  seven  thousand  three  hundred  dollars.  This 
shows  a  total  of  three  million  five  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand 
six  hundred  and  thirty-nine  dollars. 

It  is  noticeable  by  the  foregoing  that  many  of  these  improvements 
were  made  outside  of  the  city  limits,  in  some  cases  from  three  to  six 
miles  distant.  The  propriety  of  including  them  among  the 
improvements  of  Portland  arises  from  the  fact  that  they  were 
undertaken  and  completed  by  Portland  capital  and  were  in  fact  the 
growth  of  the  city  itself — illustrating  how  Portland  has  completely 
overstepped  what  were  once  called  **the  natural  limits  of  the  city," 
between  the  circle  of  hills  and  the  bending  course  of  the  Willamette. 
The  improvements  of  1889,  reaching  a  value  of  about  five  million 
dollars  are  fully  mentioned  elsewhere,  and  need  not  be  enumerated 
here. 

These  statistics  as  given  in  the  foregoing  pages,  while  probably 
not  without  error,  are  nevertheless  the  best  now  to  be  had,  and  give 
approximately  a  correct  idea  of  business  operations  and  the  growth  of 
the  place.  By  examination  it  will  be  seen  that  the  development  of 
Portland,  as  of  all  new  cities,  has  been,  as  it  were,  by  wave  motions, 
the  flood  now  rising  and  now  falling  again,  but  nevertheless  at  each 
new  turn  reaching  a  much  higher  point.  Much  of  this  oscillating 
movement  has  been  due  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  city  and 
to  the  opening  of  the  country  by  public  works.  In  the  very  earliest 
days  the  first  movement  was  due  to  the  coming  of  ships  loaded  with 
goods  for  the  use  of  the  rural  population  of  the  Willamette  Valley. 
Portland  as  a  shipping  point  and  post  of  supply  made  a  secure 
beginning.  After  it  had  become  thus  established  it  did  the  business 
for  the  farming  community  surrounding  in  a  regular  and  steady 
fashion  without  much  increase  except  as  the  growth  of  the  tributary 
country  demanded.  During  the  early  sixties,  however,  a  new  and 
promising  field  was  opened  for  her  merchants  and  navigation 
companies  by  the  discovery  of  precious  metals  in  Eastern  Oregon 
and  Idaho.     With  the  development  of  the   mines,  and  to  quite  an 


174  History  of  Portland. 


extent  also  with  the  settlement  of  Eastern  Oregon  and  Washington 
and  their  occupation  by  cattle  dealers  and  cattle  raisers,  Portland 
gained  largely  in  business  and  trade.  The  steady  growth  resulting 
from  this  development  was  not  greatly  accelerated  until  in  1867-68 
plans  for  opening  the  country  by  means  of  railroad  were  brought  to 
completion,  and  ground  was  actually  broken  for  a  line  to  California. 
With  the  prospect  of  railroad  connection  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  the 
speculative  imagination  of  the  people  of  Portland  was  excited,  and 
almost  extravagant  dreams  of  great  immediate  growth  and  wealth  were 
indulged  by  even  the  most  steady  and  conservative.  Property 
increased  greatly  in  value  and  improvements  were  stimulated.  The 
early  railroad  days  of  Oregon  were,  however,  beset  with  difficulties, 
as  will  be  seen  in  a  following  chapter,  although,  producing  much 
real  growth,  did  not  ultimate  so  hopefully  as  was  by  many  antici- 
pated. Ben  Holladay  showed  an  unexpedled  weakness  and  incapacity 
in  managing  his  roads,  and  as  his  bonds  declined  and  the  general  expec- 
tation of  failure  was  felt,  depression  was  experienced  in  all  parts  of  the 
State.  When  a  few  years  later  occurred  the  great  business  collapse 
in  the  United  States,  which  began  with  the  failure  of  J.  Cooke  & 
Co.  and  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Co.,  Portland  was  left  to  the 
simple  cultivation  of  her  domestic  commerce,  and  inflated  prices  and 
expectations  had  to  be  abandoned.  With  the  passage,  however,  of 
the  California  and  of  the  Oregon  Central  railroads  into  the  hands  of 
the  Gennan  bondholders,  and  a  better  system  of  management  thereby 
introduced,  business  revived  once  more  and  Portland  found  herself 
obliged  to  add  to  her  accommodations  to  meet  the  incoming 
tide  of  immigration  and  the  increased  flood  of  business. 
Independent  commerce  with  the  East  and  with  Europe  having 
sprung  up  stimulated  ver\^  largely  the  production  of  grain  in  the 
Willamette  Valley  and  also  in  Eastern  Oregon  and  Washington,  so 
that  there  was  a  steady  increase  in  the  amount  of  treasure  received 
into  the  country  and  in  the  volume  of  business  transacted  at 
Portland.  E)xports  of  wool,  lumber  and  salmon  also  figured  largely 
to  swell  the  volume  of  trade.  With  the  year  1880  and  those 
succeeding,  prospects,  and  at  length  the  realization,  of  a  through 
line  from  Portland  to  the  East,  produced  a  greater  volume   of  trade 


Growth  and  Improvkmknts.  175 

and  raised  higher  expectations  than  had  previously  been  known. 
Portland  began  to  assume  a  truly  metropolitan  appearance.  Activity 
in  real  estate  and  in  building,  and  an  expansion  of  all  kinds  was 
everywhere  noticeable.  All  went  well,  until  the  O.  R.  &  N.  road 
and  the  Northern  Pacific  had  been  so  far  completed  as  to  make  a 
through  line  to  New  York,  and  Villard  and  the  Oregon  and  Trans- 
continental railroad  having  gone  beyond  their  means,  suffered  a 
reverse,  and  in  their  ruin  involved  also  many  of  the  citizens  of 
Portland.  For  a  time  the  people  of  our  city  seemed  discouraged, 
nor  did  they  quite  realize  the  immense  importance  to  them  of  railroad 
connection  with  all  parts  of  the  Northwest.  Gradually,  however, 
they  began  to  see  the  ease  with  which  they  might  connect  themselves 
with  all  parts  of  Oregon  and  Washington  and  command  the  wholesale 
business  of  this  region;  and  how  they  might  even  more  stimulate 
the  agricultural  and  mining  interests  of  this  whole  region.  Gathering 
up  these  lines  of  business  they  began  to  push  vigorously  and  in  a 
short  time  were  at  the  head  of  the  commercial,  mining,  manufacturing 
and  banking  interests  of  the  whole  section.  As  a  result  of  this  active 
policy  business  began  to  pour  in,  in  an  almost  overwhelming  flood, 
through  the  thoroughfares,  the  docks,  the  commercial  houses  and  the 
banks  of  our  city.  Real  estate  rose  greatly  in  value;  addition  after 
addition  being  added  to  our  city;  suburban  towns  began  to  spring 
up;  manufacturers  began  to  press  in  for  a  location,  and  capitalists 
found  themselves  obliged  to  erect  buildings  as  rapidly  as  materials 
and  labor  could  be  obtained.  A  generous  public  spirit  began  to  be 
felt  and  a  general  desire  for  public  buildings  which  would  do  credit 
to  the  city  was  expressed.  By  public  enterprise,  such  buildings  as 
that  of  the  Northwestern  Industrial  Exposition  and  the  grand  Hotel 
Portland  were  constructed.  Men  of  wealth  saw  that  the  situation 
warranted  the  construction  of  the  very  best  and  most  permanent 
houses.  Fine  churches  were  also  erected.  Street  car  lines  were 
multiplied.  Electric  railways  and  motor  lines  to  the  suburbs  and 
other  points  near  were  built  with  astonishing  rapidity.  With  the 
passing  out  of  the  year  1889,  the  greatest  amount  of  capital  of  any 
season  has  been  spent  in  improvements,  and  there  is  every  indication 

of  a  still  greater  expenditure  in  the  coming  year, 
[it] 


176  History  of  Portland. 


Portland  has  now  reached  the  point  where  she  has  comfortable 
communication  with  all  parts  of  the  territory  which  she  is  to  serve. 
Her  growth  is  now  but  the  result  of  the  growth  of  Oregon  and 
Washington.  What  yet  remains  to  be  seen  is  a  perfect  opening  of 
the  Columbia  river  from  its  mouth  to  the  British  line,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  tributaries  of  this  magnificent  stream,  so  that 
not  only  by  rail  but  by  water,  every  village  and  farm  may  be  brought 
into  close  connection  with  our  city,  and  may  be  supplied  from  her 
warehouses  and  shops. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CITY  CHARTER,   GOVERNMENT  AND   MAYORS. 

Charter  of  1851 — Its  Provisions  and  Amendments — Charter  of  1872 — Charter 
of  1882 — Police  Department — Fire  Department — Health  Department — ^Water  Works 
— Public  Buildings — Biographical  Sketches  of  Mayors — List  of  City  Officials  Prom 
1851  to  1890. 

IN  1851  a  Charter  was  granted  to  the  city  of  Portland  by  the 
Legislature  of  Oregon.  By  this  instrument  corporate  powers  were 
lodged  in  the  ** People  of  the  city  of  Portland,"  constituting  them 
'*a  body  politic  and  corporate  in  fact  and  law"  with  all  necessary 
legal  privileges.  The  city  limits  were  to  be  fixed  by  a  line  beginning 
at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  donation  claim  of  Finice  Caruthers, 
running  thence  easterly  by  the  north  line  of  that  claim  to  the  river 
bank,  and  by  a  projection  of  the  same  to  the  middle  of  the  Willam- 
ette; thence  northerly  by  the  middle  of  the  river  to  the  projection  of 
the  north  line  of  Couch's  claim;  thence  west  seventy  chains  and  south 
to  the  place  of  beginning. 

There  was  little  that  was  peculiar  about  the  charter.  It  provided 
that  the  officers  should  be  mayor,  recorder,  treasurer,  marshal  and 
assessor.  There  should  be  a  common  council  of  nine  members.  All 
of  the  above  offices  were  to  be  filled  by  election  of  the  voters  of  the 
city.  By  appointment  of  the  city  council  there  were  to  be  city 
attorney,  street  commissioner,  city  surveyor  and  city  collector. 
Election    day   was   fixed   on   the   first    Monday   in   April,  yearly. 


City  Charter.  177 


Elections  were  to  be  by  ballot  and  a  residence  in  the  town  of  thirty  ' 
days  in  addition  to  the  qualifications  of  voters  in  the  then  territory, 
was  required.     No  election  was  to  be  held  in  a  saloon,  or  any  place 
where  ardent  spirits  were  sold.     Proper  provisions  for  appointment  in 
case  of  absences  were  also  made. 

The  common  council  was  invested  with  the  usual  powers,  being 
authorized  to  pass  ordinances  not  in  conflidl  with  the  constitution  of 
the  State  or  the  United  States;  to  colle<5l  taxes,  provide  water,  and 
guard  against  fires,  diseases,  nuisances,  and  disorders;  to  license 
taverns,  and  all  other  forms  of  business  or  trade  usually  put  under 
some  sort  of  restriction ;  and  to  suppress  gambling  houses  and 
other  immoral  things.  Property  outside  of  the  city  limits  for 
such  necessary  purposes  as  pest  house,  water  works,  etc.,  might  be 
purchased  and  owned.     Duties  of  officers  were  carefully  specified. 

Among  provisions  likely  to  be  amended  was  that  forbidding  the 
mayor  and  members  of  the  common  council  to  receive  pay  for  their 
services;  to  allow  a  protest  of  the  owners  of  one-third  of  the  property 
on  a  street  to  stop  improvements  ordered  thereupon,  while  two-thirds 
of  the  expense  of  all  improvements  of  streets  was  to  be  borne  by  the 
property  adjacent;  and  the  provision  that  land  within  the  city  limits 
not  laid  out  in  blocks  and  lots  should  not  be  taxed  by  the  city. 

Among  miscellaneous  provisions  were  that  fixing  the  beginning 
of  the  fiscal  year  on  July  1st;  that  giving  the  decision  of  a  tie  vote 
at  any  eledlion  to  the  common  council ;  that  no  officer  in  the  city 
government  should  have  any  interest  in  city  contra<5ls;  that  an  oath 
of  office  must  be  taken  and  that  any  ordinance  calling  for  an 
expenditure  of  above  one  hundred  dollars  must  lie  ten  days  before 
passage. 

In  1858  certain  amendments  were  made,  by  which  the  city  was 
to  be  divided  into  three  wards,  each  electing  three  members  to  the 
council;  to  allow  collection  of  port  dues  on  ships  and  steamers;  and 
to  pay  the  councilmen  three  dollars  per  day  for  actual  service. 
In  1860  this  provision  for  paying  councilmen  was  repealed. 

In  1862  an  amendment  was  added,  relating  principally  to  street 
improvements,  providing  that  half  the  expense  of  such  improvements 


178  History  of  Portland. 


should  be  borne  by  the  owners  of  adjacent  property,  and  that  a 
protest  of  the  owners  of  two-thirds  of  the  property  must  be  obtained 
to  arrest  any  street  work  ordered  by  the  council. 

In  1864  the  entire  instrument  was  revised  and  written  in  a  more 
perspicuous  style.  The  limits  of  the  corporation  were  extended  so  as 
to  include  the  Caruthers  Claim.  The  mayor  was  to  serve  two  years; 
the  election  was  to  be  on  the  third  Monday  in  June.  The  fiscal  year 
was  to  begin  with  January,  the  city  was  not  to  incur  an  indebtedness 
of  above  fifty  thousand  dollars;  a  dredger  might  be  owned  and 
operated  by  the  city  on  the  lower  Willamette.  The  mayor  and  the 
councilmen  should  receive  no  compensation.  In  1865  an  amendment 
was  made  in  regard  to  laying  out  new  streets;  and  constructing  sewers 
and  drains. 

In  1872  a  new  charter  was  granted,  which  was  quite  a  voluminous 
document,  and  introduced  many  changes.  The  limits  of  the  city 
were  extended  so  as  to  include  the  whole  of  the  Caruthers  and  Couch 
claims,  and  a  space  seventy  chains  and  over  still  to  the  west  The 
city  was  divided  into  three  wards,  the  first  including  all  that  portion 
north  of  Washington  street;  the  second,  tliat  between  Washington 
and  Main  streets,  and  the  third,  all  south  of  Main  street  Bach  ward 
was  to  elect  three  members  to  the  common  council  for  three  years 
each.  The  mayor  was  to  be  elected  for  two  years,  and  was  invested 
with  the  veto  power,  requiring  a  two-thirds  vote  to  pass  an  ordinance 
without  his  approval.  The  treasurer  and  assessor  were  to  be  chosen 
by  the  common  council,  and  the  attorney,  street  commissioner  and 
surveyor  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  mayor,  with  the  consent  of  the 
council.  The  office  of  recorder  was  abolished  and  a  police  judge  was 
instated  to  succeed  him.  This  officer  was  to  serve  for  two  years, 
holding  regular  court,  and  came  to  his  position  by  appointment  of 
the  mayor.  The  office  of  marshal  was  also  abolished,  and  the  police 
department  was  placed  under  the  supervision  of  three  police 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor.  The  mayor  and  council- 
men  were  forbidden  to  receive  a  salary,  or  other  compensation ;  the 
rewards  of  the  other  officers  were  definitely  fixed,  that  of  police 
commissioner  being  three  dollars  per  day  for  actual  service.  Special 
policemen  were  allowed,  but  they  were  not  to  receive  pay  from  the 


City  Charter.  179 


city — being  left,  it  would  seem,  to  obtain  their  wages  from  private 
persons  asking  their  services.  It  has  recently  been  earnestly 
recommended  to  abolish  the  "specials." 

The  street  commissioner  was  invested  with  large  powers.  Street 
improvements  were  to  be  paid  by  tax  on  property  adjacent  and  could 
be  discontinued  upon  the  remonstrance  of  two-thirds  of  the  property 
holders  interested.  Changes  of  grade  were  to  be  paid  for  out  of  the 
general  fund.  Taxes,  except  for  the  dredging  of  the  river,  were  not 
to  exceed  one  and  one-half  per  centum  of  the  assessed  value  of  city 
property  per  annum.  The  indebtedness  of  the  city  was  not  to  exceed 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  financial  needs  of  the  Police 
Department  were  to  be  determined  by  the  police  commissioq^rs,  and 
the  sum  requisite  was  to  be  provided  by  the  common  council  by  tax. 

The  details  of  the  instrument  are  very  minute,  and  some 
features,  as  the  last  mentioned,  were  likely  to  produce  friction  in 
working. 

By  the  charter  of  1882,  which,  with  various  amendments,  is 
still  in  force,  the  boundaries  of  the  city  were  so  extended  as  to  embrace 
the  Blackistone  place  on  the  north,  and  some  additions  on  the  south 
and  west,  while  the  middle  of  the  Willamette  was  still  left  as  the 
limit  on  the  east.  City  authority  is  vested  in  mayor,  common\ 
council  and  board  of  police  commissioners.  The  three  wards  are 
continued  with  substantially  the  same  boundaries  as  before,  each  of 
which  is  entitled  to  three  members  in  the  common  council.  Coun- 
cilmen,  mayor  and  treasurer  come  to  their  office  by  vote  of  the 
electors  of  the  city.  The  auditor  is  elected  by  the  common  council, 
holding  his  term  at  their  pleasure.  The  attorney,  street  superin- 
tendent and  surveyor  are  appointed  by  the  mayor,  with  the  consent 
of  the  council,  and  are  removable  for  cause.  Election  is  the  third 
Monday  in  June.  A  residence  of  six  months  in  the  city  and  of  ten 
days  in  the  ward,  in  addition  to  qualifications  as  elector  of  the  State, 
is  required  of  the  voter.  Careful  rules  of  election  and  regulations  as 
to  vacancies  and  absences  are  provided. 

The  common  council  is  invested  with  ample  powers  to  carry  on 
the  business  of  the  city,  to  secure  good  order,  to  regulate  dangerous 
occupations,  to  prevent  the  introdudlion  and  spread  of  disease,  and  to 


180  History  of  Portland. 


suppress  nuisances  and  immoral  business.  Authority  is  granted  to 
impose  a  tax  of  three  mills  for  general  municipal  purposes,  and  three 
and  a  half  mills  each  for  the  support  of  the  paid  Fire  Department 
and  of  the  Police  Department  Assessments  of  property  in  the  city 
are  made  according  to  the  assessment  rolls  of  Multnomah  County. 

The  mayor  is  the  general  head  of  the  city  government,  making 
an  annual  message  to  the  common  council,  in  which  he  reports  upon 
the  state  of  the  city  and  recommends  such  measures  as  he  fleems 
proper.  No  ordinance  may  become  a  law  without  his  approval  unless 
passed  subsequently  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  council.  The 
treasurer  is  held  to  keep  a  stridl  account  of  the  funds  of  the  city, 
and  the  auditor  keeps  fiill  record  of  all  warrants  and  bills,  issues 
licenses  ^nd  makes  annual  lists  of  all  property  subjedl  to  taxation. 
The  city  attorney  attends  upon  all  actions  to  which  the  city  is  a 
party,  prosecutes  for  violation  of  city  ordinances,  and  prepares  for 
execution  all  contracts,  bonds  or  other  legal  instruments  for  the  city. 
The  street  commissioner  exercises  a  general  care  over  the  streets, 
the  public  squares  and  the  parks;  supervises  surveys,  and  requires 
improvements  ordered  by  the  council  to  be  fully  and  faithfully 
completed. 

The  Police  Department  is  under  the  police  commissioners,  who 
are  ele<5led  by  the  voters  of  the  cit>'  and  serve  without  salary.  They 
organize  and  supervise  the  police  force.  The  police  judge, 
however,  who  must  be  an  attorney  of  the  degree  of  an  attorney  of 
the  Supreme  court  of  the  State,  and  whose  court  is  of  the  degree  of 
that  of  justice  of  the  peace, .  is  appointed  by  the  mayor,  with  the 
consent  of  the  common  council.  He  has  jurisdiction  of  all  crimes 
defined  by  city  ordinance.  His  salary  is  not  to  exceed  $2000  per 
annum.  All  police  officers  are  strictly  forbidden  to  receive  compen- 
sation other  than  that  provided  by  ordinance,  under  the  general 
regulation. 

The  Fire  Department  is  under  three  commissioners  who  are 
appointed  by  the  mayor  with  the  consent  of  the  council.  Their 
term  of  office  is  for  three  years.  Compensation  of  all  officers  or 
employees  of  the  Fire  Department  is  prescribed  in  the  legislative  acft 
eredling  the  same. 


Police  Department.  181 


The  City  Water  Works  are,  by  this  charter,  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  legislature  with  the  power  to  fill  all 
vacancies  occurring  in  their  own  body.  They  are  independent  of  all 
other  departments  of  the  city  government. 

A  fuller  account  of  these  two  latter  departments  is  given  further 
down  in  this  volume. 

POLICE   DEPARTMENT. 

Much  care  and  expense  have  been  bestowed  on  the  police  depart- 
ment There  is  difficulty  always  in  a  city  in  securing  enforcement 
of  the  laws  against  certain  forms  of  vice  and  immorality.  These 
often  find  refuge  in  the  cupidity  of  property-owners  and  others  and 
the  law  can  seldom  be  enforced  with  vigor.  But  on  the  whole  good 
order  is  maintained  in  Portland. 

The  police  force  of  the  city  consisted  at  first  simply  of  the  marshal. 
As  his  duties  became  too  great  for  his  personal  attention,  deputies 
were  appointed  by  him,  or  by  the  council. 

By  the  Act  of  1872  a  regular  police  system  was  inaugurated. 
The  office  of  marshal  was  abolished,  and  the  management  was  given 
to  a  board  of  three  police  commissioners  holding  office  three  years, 
elected  each  year  in  order.  The  board  was  to  be  responsible  to  the 
people  only.  The  office  of  recorder  was  succeeded  by  that  of  police 
judge,  who  was  first  appointed  by  the  mayor.  The  system  remains 
substantially  as  at  the  present  time.  The  expenses  of  the  department 
are  to  be  determined  by  the  commissioners  and  the  necessary  sum 
may  be  raised  by  the  common  council  by  tax  not  to  exceed  3^  mills. 

Below  are  given  the  names  of  the  policemen  from  1872,  the  time 
of  the  new  order.  The  names  of  marshals  and  judges  will  be  found 
in  the  list  of  city  officers. 

1872.  Police  Commissioners — A.  B.  Hallock,  Pres.,  W.  P.  Burke,  Eugene  Semple. 
Chief— J.  H.  lyappeus.  Police— J.  R.  Wiley,  first  captain;  A.  B.  Brannan,  second 
capUin;  H.  M.Hudson,  W.  M.  Ward,  D.  Norton,  D.  Walton,  B.  P.  Collins,  J.  W. 
Kelly,  C.  F.  Schoppe,  T.  Burke,  Thos.  Gale.  Specials— W.  M.  Hickey,  B.  O'Hara, 
J.  M.  McCoy,  M.  F.  Sherwood,  Paul  Marten.     Pound  master—Charles  Lawrence. 

1873,  Police  Commissioners— A.  B.  Halleck,  W.  P.  Burke,  O.  Risley.  Police— 
J.  H.  Lappeus,  chief;  J.  R.  Wiley,  A.  B.  Brannaq,  captains;  Thos.  Burk,  J.  W. 
Kelly,  C.  F.  Scheppe,  D.  Norton,  J.  Corcoran,  H.  M.  Hudson,  J.  K.  Mercer,  B.  P^ 
CoHins,  J.  D.  Yates,  O.  D.  Buck,  A.  J.  Barlow,  F.  Reardon,  M.  T.  Sheehan,  B, 
O'Hara.  J.  M'Coy,  J.  Sloan.  P.  Shea,  J.  O'NeU,  P.  Martin. 


V. 


182  History  of  Portland. 


1875-6.    Police  Comin/ssioiiers— Shubrick  Norris,  J.  R.  Foster.  M.  S.  BurrelL    Police 

— ^J.  H,  Lappeus,  chief;  B.  P.  Collins,  J.  Sloan,   captains;   Thos.  Burke,   A.  B. 

Brannan,  B.  T.  Belcher,   Chas.  Gritzmacher,  J.   W.  Kelly,  J.  T.  Watson,  J.   W. 

Hain,  H.  M.  Hobson,  J.  S.  Hamilton.     Specials— J,  McCoy,    B.   O'Hara,  M.  T. 

Sheehan.     Poi/nc/master— Charles  Lawrence. 
1877-8.    Police  Commissioners— K.  R.  Riley,  Wni.  Connell,  E.  W.  Connell.    Police — 

Chief,   L.  Besser;  H.  S.  Allen,  J.  W.  Kelly,  captains;   C.   P.   Elwanger,    H.  M. 

Hudson,  J.  W.  Kelley.    Specials— J.  McCoy,  Bamy  O'Hara,  M.  F.  Sheehan.  C.W. 

Howard.     Poundmaster — M.  B.  Wallace. 

1879.  Police  Commissioners — R.  R.  Riley,  Wni.  Connell,  P.  Taylor.  Police — L. 
Besser,  chief:  J.  Sloan,  J.  W.  Kelly,  captains;  H.  M.  Hudson,  J.  Jaskallar,  P.  G. 
Martin,  P.  Coakley,  W.  B.  Daniels.  J.  W.  Ryan,  Richard  Collins,  Andrew  Henline, 
C.  Gritzmacher,  James  Stephens,  Terry  McManus,  T.  P.  Luther.  Special— M. 
F.  Sheehan,  B.  Branch,  F.  M.  Arnold,  Wm.  Hickey,  S.  C.  Barton.  Pouadmaster 
— S.  H.  Reed. 

1880.  Commissioners — Peter  Taylor,  E.  Corbett,  S.  G.  Skidmore.  Police— J.  H. 
Lappeus,  chief;  James  Sloan,  C.  Gritzmacher,  captains;  Benj.  F.  Goodwin, 
clerk;  H.  M.  Hudson,  detective;  J.  Jaskalla,  D.  J.  Gillies,  P.  Coakley,  C.  S.  Sil- 
ver, S.  C.  Matthieu,  R.  Collins,  J.  P.  Luther,  A.  Henline,  James  Stephenson,  J.  I. 
Watson,  J.  W.  Sloan,  John  Burk.  Specials — A.  B.  Brannan,  Wm.  Hickey,  S.  C. 
Barton,  Benj.  Branch,  P.  Saunders,  Joseph  Day,  J.  W.  Ryan,  C.  P.  Elwanger. 
Poundmaster — S.  H.  Reed. 

1882.  Commissioners  on  Health  and  Police — ^T.  L.  Nicklin,  J.  B.  Kellogg,  Henry 
Hewitt.  Police  Judge — S.  B.  Steams;  Police— J,  H.  Lappeus,  chief;  C.  Gritz- 
macher, C.  T.  Belcher,  captains;  B.  F.  Goodwin,  clerk;  H.  M.  Hudson,  James 
Mott,  Arthur  M.  Putnam,  Peter  Schulderman,  Levi  Wing,  T.  P.  Luther,  Alex. 
Johnson,  James  T.  Watson,  Chris.  Emig,  Richard  Collins,  D.  W.  Dobbins, 
Andrew  Holmberg,  Felix  Martin,  Simeon  C.  Barton,  A.  B.  Brannan,  Wm.  Meyers, 
James  Barry,  John  Ring,  S.  C.  Matthieu,  Orrin  H.  Smith,  Andrew  Henline,  Benj. 
Branch. 

1883.  Commissioners  on  Health  and  Police — W.  S.  Scoggfin,  W.  H.  Adams,  D. 
Mackay.  Police  Judge — S.  A.  Moreland.  Police — J.  H.  Lappeus,  chief;  C.  Gritz- 
macher, T.  P.  Luther,  captains;  H.  M.  Hudson,  John  Ring,  Alex.  Johnson,  W.  A. 
Beaumont,  Felix  Martin,  W.  W.  Beach,  Richard  Collins,  C.  T.  Belcher,  A.  B. 
Brannan,  Levi  Wing,  Wm.  Meyers,  D.  W.  Dobbins,  Benj.  Branch,  J.  T.  Watson, 
W.  B.  Bumpus,  S.  C.  Barton,  A.  M.  Putnam,  Andrew  Henline,  Chris.  Emig,  Or- 
rin H.  Smith,  James  A.  Mott,  J.  N.  James,  Andrew  Holmberg,  J.  F.  Hair,  James 
Barrv-. 

1884.  Commissioners  on  Health  and  Police — R.  Gerdes,  A.  F.  Sears,  Jr.,  W.  H. 
Andrua.  Police  Judge— S.  A.  Moreland.  W.  H.  Watkinds,  chief;  John  Neale, 
clerk;  A.  F.  Turner,  J.  F.  Hair,  A.  M.  Cornelius,  captains.  Clerk  of  police, 
Chas.  A.  Christie;  deputy,  F.  D.  I^ove.  Policemen — A.  Henline,  Geo.  H.  Ward,  A. 
Johnson,  S.  S.  Young,  Levi  Wing,  E.  C.  Lyon,  Andrew  Holmberg,  Pat  Keegan, 
J.  N.  James,  A.  B.  Brannan,  H.  M.  Hudson,  Wm.  Myers,  F.  M.  Arnold,  Richard 
Collins,  J.  E.  Cramer,  S.  C.  Barston,  W.  A.  Hart,  W.  A.  Beaumont,  J.  T.  Watson, 
J.  R.  E.  Selby,  James  Barry.  R.  M.  Stuart,  A.  M.  Putnam,  W.  L.  Higgins,  O.  H. 
Smith,  J.  T.  Flynn.  C.  T.  Belcher. 


Fire  Department.  183 


1556.  Commissioners— B.  F,  Cardwell,  Jonathan  Bourne,  Jr.,  Joseph  Simon.  Police 
Judge— K.  W.  Dement.  S.  P.  Lee,  Clerk;  S.  B.  Parrish,  Chief;  C.  Gritz- 
macher,  J.  F.  Farrell,  A.  Henline,  Captains;  Health  O/ffcer— Felix  Martin. 
Deputy  Poundmaster — Henry  Wilmer.  Policemen — C.  W.  Holsapple,  R.  H. 
Austin,  H.  D.  Griffin,  J.  M.  Harkleroad,  Henry  Holland,  J.  H.  Cunningham, 
Chris.  Emig,  Daniel  Maher,  A.  Tichenor,  W.  M.  Beach,  Andrew  Holmberg,  J.  N. 
James,  H.  M.  Hudson,  F.  M.  Arnold,  W.  A.  Hart,  J.  H.  Beyer,  J.  H.  Molt,  Ben. 
Branch,  J.  J.  Byrne,  J.  T.  Watson,  James  Barry,  A.  M.  Putnam,  O.  H.  Smith,  C.  L. 
Belcher,  S.  S.  Young,  J.  H.  Nash,  Pat  Keegan,  Samuel  Simmons,  A.  B.  Branuan, 
Wm.  Myers,  Richard  B.  Collins,  S.  C.  Barton,  R.  M.  Stuart,  P.  J.  McCabe,  Felix 
Martm,  Wm.  Hickey,  C.  P.  Elwanger,  J.  A.  Kelly,  G.  C.  Morgan. 

1889.  Commissioners— Joseph  Simon,  B.  P.  Cardwell.  Judge— A,  H.  Tanner. 
S.  B.  Parrish,  Chief  of  Police;  C.  Gritzmacher,  R.  H.  Cardwell,  Captains; 
Humane  0/ffcer— Felix  Martin.  Health  Officer— S.  B.  Parrish.  Deputy  Pound- 
master— Henry  Wilmer.  Policemen — R.  H.  Austin,  James  Barry,  Ben.  Banch, 
J.  J.  Byrne,  M.  P.  Charles,  R.  Collins,  Jos.  Day,  Chris.  Emig,  J.  F.  Farrell,  George 
Foss,  H.  D.  Griffin.  W.  A.  Hait,  Wm.  Hickie,  C.  E.  Hoxsie,  A.  Holmberg,  C.  W. 
Holsapple,  H.  M.  Hudson,  J.  H.  James,  J.  F.  Kerrigan,  Dan  Maher,  Felix  Martin, 
Sam  Miller,  J.  A.  Mott,  G.  C.  Morgan,  Wm.  Meyers,  N.  M.  Putnam,  F.  W.  Rob- 
inson, Thos.  Ryan,  Abe  Tichenor,  J.  T.  Watson,  H.  S.  Wood,  Levi  Wing,  H. 
Wilmer,  W.  H.  Warren,  S.  S.  Young,  S.  P.  Lee.i 

As  indicating  something  of  the  business  done  at  present  in  the 
police  court,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  2261  cases  were  tried  (1888), 
of  which  1669  were  city  cases,  the  rest  State.  Upwards  of  $8,000 
in  fines  were  collected. 

Officially  recognised  by  the  police  department,  and  favored  with 
certain  privileges — as  special  officer,  or  rooms  in  the  city  prison — are 
the  Humane  Society,  for  prevention  of  cruelty,  and  the  Children's 
Aid  Society,  of  which  an  account  will  be  found  under  the  head  of 
Benevolent  Societies. 

FIRE   DEPARTMENT. 

A  sharp  reminder  that  the  city  needed  protection  against  the 
casualty  of  fire  was  given  by  the  burning  of  the  old  steam  saw  mill 
at  the  foot  of  Jefferson  street  in  18.^3.  In  1854  an  ordinance  was 
passed  authorizing  the  formation  and  proper  equipment  of  a  fire 
company.  This  was  a  voluntary  association  of  the  citizens,  who 
rendered  their  services  freely.  Much  interest  was  felt  in  the  movement, 
and  public  spirit  kept  the  ranks  well  filled.  The  company  was 
efficiently    organized  under  H.   W.   Davis  as  Chief  and    Shubrick 

I  As  the  force  is  continued  much  the  same  from  year  to  year,  it  has  been  thought 
unnecessary'  to  give  the  list  for  every  year. 


184  History  of  Portland. 

Norris  as  Assistant  At  the  election  in  1856  Mr.  Davis  was  continued 
as  Chief,  with  Orin  Joynt,  Assistant.  In  1857  S.  J.  McConnick 
was  elected  Chief  and  Charles  Hutchins,  Assistant  In  1858  the 
situation  was  reversed,  Hutchins  becoming  Chief,  with  McCormick, 
Assistant.  In  1858  some  changes  of  working  were  made,  and  J.  M. 
Vansycklewas  chosen  Chief,  with  two  assistants,  Joseph  Webber  and 
F.  Sherwood.  Mr.  Vansyckle  was  continued  through  1859,  with  M. 
M.  Lucas  and  J.  A.  Messinger.  In  that  year,  also,  the  service  was 
rendered  much  more  efl5cient  by  the  purchase  of  a  steel  alarm  bell, 
weighing  1,030  pounds  and  costing  $515.15.  It  was  placed  in  a 
tower  on  the  levee.  In  1860,  and  until  1863,  Joseph  Webber  was 
Chief. 

In  1860  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  formally  creating  a 
Portland  Fire  Department,  granting  its  members  certain  privileges, 
which  it  exceeded  the  power  of  the  city  government  to  confer.  It 
was  still  to  be  a  voluntary  association  with  Chief  and  two  assistants. 
These  ofl5cers  were  to  be  chosen  by  vote  of  all  the  members  of  the 
company,  and  were  to  rank  according  to  the  number  of  votes  they 
received,  the  three  receiving  the  most  votes  being  respectively  Chief, 
and  First  and  Second  Assistants.  The  number  of  companies  was  not 
limited,  but  no  company  could  be  formed  to  contain  less  than  30  nor 
more  than  75  members.  The  Chief  was  allowed  to  receive  a  small 
compensation  of  $300  a  year.  As  an  inducement  to  membership,  a 
term  of  three  years'  service  entitled  any  member  to  become  an 
"exempt,''  and  by  virtue  of  this  fact  he  was  relieved  of  jury  duty 
and  of  service  in  the  State  Militia. 

Under  the  stimulus  of  these  privileges,  and  by  reason  of  general 
public  spirit,  the  fire  companies  flourished  greatly,  almost  every  able- 
bodied  man  of  proper  age  belonging  to  some  one  of  them.  The  various 
companies  were  emulous  of  each  other,  each  aiming  to  be  first  in 
numbers,  efficiency  and  in  elegance  of  dress.  They  ever  were  ready 
to  participate  in  public  display  and  festivities.  They  were  prompt 
and  active  in  their  work,  and  were  the  means  of  saving  property  and 
life  for  many  years.  With  serviceable  engines  and  sufficient  houses 
and  good  teams,  they  were  a  fine  body  of  men  either  for  parade  or 
action.     There  were  four  engine  companies,  Willamette,  Multnomah, 


Fire  Department.  185 


Columbian  and  Protection,  and  the  Vigilance  Hook  and  Ladder 
Company.  A  list  of  the  officers  and  members  for  1864  is  herewith 
given,  partly  to  record  the  names  of  the  firemen  and  partly  as  a 
record  of  citizens  who  might  not  otherwise  appear  in  this  work. 

ACTIVE  MEMBERS. 
Willamette  Engine  Company  No.  1     Organized  Aug.  5,  1853. 

OfScers—P.  C.  Schuyler,  Jr.,  foreman;  Jas  Both  well,  first  assistant;  Jos.  Bergman, 
second  assistant;  Shubrick  Norris,  president;  Richard  B.  Knapp,  secretary;  Harris 
Seymour,  treasurer. 

Members — S.  N.  Arrigoni,  L.  A.  Godard,  J.  M.  Marble,  P.  C.  Schuyler,  Jr.,  Willam 
Beck,  Asa  Marker,  T.  T.  Minor,  S.  S.  Slater,  D.  W.  Bumside,  F.  Harbaugh,  Patrick 
Maher,  Jacob  Stitzel,  M.  S.  Burrell,  W.  L.  Higgins,  E.  J.  Northrup,  James  Sidden,  H. 
F.  Bloch,  Charles  Hutchins,  Shubrick  Norris,  Frank  Stribeg,  Cincinnati  Bills,  P.  D. 
W.  Hardenburg,  J.  P.  Null,  J.  C.  VanRenssalaer,  Jos.  Bergman,  R.  B.  Knapp,  E.  W. 
Nottage,  C.  M.  Wiberg,  James  Bothwell,  Samuel  Kline,  Robert  Porter,  Joseph  Webber, 
W.  D.  Carter,  W.  S.  Ladd,  E.  B.  Pressey,  J.  O.  Waterman,  I.  W.  Case,  C.  H.  Lewis, 
C.  C.  Perkins,  John  S.  White,  Wm.  A.  Daly,  John  Lillis,  W.  F.  Paquet,  Zeph  Weitz, 
Lewis  Day,  J.  De Letts,  A.  J.  Remington,  A.  G.  Walling,  Henry  Failing,  George  T. 
Myers,  Harris  Seymour,  Geo.  H.  Williams,  F.  S.  Fitzgerald,  Wm.  McMillan,  S.  D. 
Smith,  W.  K.  WithereH,  G.  W.  Fuller,  John  McLaughlin,  S.  M.  Smith,  W.  H.  Weed, 
M.  F.  Gallagher,  J.  J.  Meagher. 

Multnomah  Engine  Company  No.  2.     Organized  in  August,  1856. 

Officers — A.  B.  Hallock;  foreman;  T.  B.  Trevitt,  first  assistant;  S.  Skidmore, 
second  assistant;  A.  J.  Butler,  president;  Ben  L.  Norden,  secretar>';  A.  C.  Ripley, 
treasurer. 

Afem6crs— Joseph  Butchel,  A.  Zieber,  D.  D.  Orton,  T.  McF.  Patton,  Thomas  A. 
Davis,  L.  Waterman,  E.  J.  DeHart,  J.  H.  Frank,  R.  S.  Perkins,  H.  Ludwig,  T.  B. 
Scott.  John  Howe,  J.  W.  Seller,  W.  V.  Spencer,  A.  McKew,  J.  R.  Foster.  L.  C.  Millard, 
J.  W.    Davis,  Samuel  Hallowell,  J.  W.    Failing,  L.  Baum,  E.  T.  Reese,  C.  H.  Myers, 

E.  Scott,  A.  H.  Johnson,  James  Strang,  J.  Painter,  B.  F.  Goodwin,  Joseph  Tucker, 
John  Gruber,  Charles  F.  Powell,  A.  B.  Stewart,  James  Costello,  H.  Rosenfield,  T. 
Rogers,  S.  B.  Parrish,  H.  E.  Cutter,  John   Estabrooks,  W.  H.  D.  Joyce,  J.  Bachman, 

F.  J.  Molthrop,  T.  E.  Byrnes,  C.  H.  Hill,  F.  Eastabrooks,  N.  Wertheimer,  J.  E.  Bent- 
ley,  William  \.  Holmes,  L  Bergmann,  P.  Cohen,  Samuel  Sherlock,  Ben.  Needham, 
J.  E.  Walsh,  L.  M.  Starr,  B.  Loeb,  A.  J.  Rowland,  George  Gans,  A.  B.  Elfelt,  F.  M. 
Plummer,  Dan.  Fewtrell,  John  Barrett,  C.  A.  Burchardt,  Wash.  \.  Leonard,  William 
Kapus,  M.  Peterson,  Charles  Binder,  Wm;  L  McEwan,  William  F.  Cornell,  R.  B. 
Peterson. 

Columbian  Engine  Company  No.  3.    Organized  June  18,  1859. 

Officers — William  B.  Clark,  foreman;  John  P.  Denison,  first  assistant;  William 
Young,  second  assistant;  John  A.  Thompson,  president;  Hamilton  Boyd,  secretary; 
H.  Wasserman,  treasurer. 


186  History  of  Portland. 


Members — William  DelliHger,  D.  Steinback,  Isaac  Poster,  Charles  Logus,  Geo.  F. 
Townsend,  Thomas  G.  Yomig,  J.  G.  Castle,  Thomas  Hartness,  R.  Fitzgerald,  John  D. 
Yates,  Thomas  Glennon,  Thomas  Crowley,  Peter  Burk,  Jamet  Mitchell,  R.  M.  Smith, 
John  Rose,  Thomas  Nealy,  Alex.  Dodge,  Geo.  W.  McKinney,  William  H.  Wetzell, 
James  D.  Kelly,  C.  Francis,  J.  J.  Berlieu,  Thomas  L.  Watson,  C.  Nolan,  C.  Elwert, 
John  Thomas,  J.  S.  B.  Jewett,  Charles  Farley,  T.  C.  Malone,  A.  M.  Sharkey,  Wm.  D. 
Webster,  A.  B.  Brannan,  George  A.  Price,  F.  Fisher,  C.  B.  Cronte,  J.  Koenig. 

Protection  Engine  Company  No,  4,    Organized  in  November ^  1862, 

O/Bccrs—Fred.  W.  Bell,  foreman;  James  H.  Rochford,  first  assistant;  Henry  G. 
Miller,  second  assistant;  H.  W.  Davis,  president;  Morris  Moskowitz,  secretary,  Samuel 
C.  Mill,  treasurer. 

Members — Henry  Ballon,  Fred  Dorre,  A.  Rosenheim,  K.  Thomas,  John  D.  Thorn- 
ton, Robert  Murray,  B.  Hangren,  T.  Johnson,  G.  McKibben,  J.  W.  Payne,  John 
Walker,  H.  Engel,  John  Lawler,  S.  L.  Shwarts,  R.  Hendrie,  M.  Aron,  Robert  Dale, 
J.  Hardy,  J.  B.  King,  John  Godfrey,  John  Bums,  Leon  Girardot,  Dan.  J.  Mularke, 
Ferdinand  Opitz,  Charles  Mappes,  W.  N.  Patten. 

Vigilance  Hook  and  Ladder  Company  No.  1, 

Officers— M.  Jaretzsky,  foreman;  James  Farrell,  first  assistant;  John  Ewry,  second 
a^istant;  J.  McCraken,  president;  E.  W.  McGraw,  secretary;  E.  G.  Randall, 
treasurer. 

Members — F.  M.  Arnold,  Frank  Dekum,  C.  F.  Keuhn,  A.  Strong,  Peter  Bern,  J. 
Donovan,  M.  M.  Lucas,  M.  Seller,  A.  Baer,  D.  Farg  Ally,  E.  Lownois,  C.  Schuch,  W. 
Baker,  H.  Gans,  T.  J.  Holmes,  J.  W.  Smith,  O.  K.  Blakely,  C.  A.  Haas,  L.  R.  Martin, 
Thomas  M.  Temple,  George  Bottler,  J.  B.  Harker,  W.  Marony,  J.  Thompson,  L. 
Cahn,  D.  H.  Hendee,  P.  McQuade,  T.  Wethered,  J.  Cohen,  G.  L.  Henry,  V.  Paris. 
N.  Weisenberger,  G.  T.  Cooper,  H.  Hymen,  Geo.  C.  Robbins,  E.  Zatfudes. 

In  1865  Joseph  Buchtel  was  Chief.  The  Willamette  No.  1 
numbered  52  members;  the  Multnomah  Company,  47;  the  Columbian, 
50;  the  Protection,  48;  the  Hook  and  Ladder  Company,  48;  and 
the  Exempts,  32. 

In  1866  the  offices  were  Thos.  G.  Young,  W.  H.  Weed  and  Wm. 
T.  Patterson.  In  1867,  Thos.  G.  Young,  W.  H.  Weed,  Wm.  W. 
Witsell.  The  latter  Chiefs  are  found  in  the  list  of  the  city  officers, 
given  above. 

As  the  city  grew  larger  and  the  years  passed,  it  was  deemed 
better  not  to  depend  upon  volunteer  companies,  but  to  maintain  a 
regular  paid  fire  department.  In  1882  this  was  organized,  and  in 
1883  H.  D.  Morgan,  who  still  serves,  was  appointed  Chief.  Under 
this  management  the  loss  by  fire  has  been  greatly  reduced,  as  shown 
by  the  following:     1883,   the  total  loss  by  fire  was  $319,092.20; 


Health  Department.  187 


1884,  $403,851.90;  1885,  $59,329.73;  1886,  $98,146.16;  1887, 
$84,173.72;  1888,  $54,347.70.  In  1889,  but  little  over  $20,000. 
The  city  is  well  supplied  with  alarm  boxes  and  the  alarm  tele- 
graph. It  has  123  hydrants  (1888)  connecting  both  with  the  Water 
Works  and  the  mains  of  the  Hydraulic  Elevator  Company;  it  has  71 
cisterns,  aggregating  a  capacity  of  1,312,000  gallons,  and  6,200  feet 
of  hose  and  22  horses.  Engines  and  trucks  fully  sufficient  for  each 
company  are  supplied.  There  are  two  hose  companies,  two  hook 
and  ladder  companies,  and  four  engine  companies,  numbering  22  of 
the  permanent  uniformed  force  and  58  of  the  members  at  call,  or  80 
in  all.  The  current  expenses  of  1888  were  $58,034.79,  of  which 
$37,893.59  were  spent  for  salaries;  the  Chief  receiving  $2,000, 
engineer  of  steamers,  $1,200;  Superintendent  of  Fire  Alarm,  $1,500; 
Secretary,  $1,200;  and  the  others  from  $900  down  to  $240  for 
members  at  call.  The  property  held  in  trust  by  the  Commissioners 
is  valued  at  $202,277.60.  Something  like  $70,000  per  year  is 
required  to  operate  the  Department.  The  great  need  of  the  present 
is  a  fire  boat,  and  to  require  all  buildings  of  three  stories  or  more  to 
be  supplied  with  pipe  stands  and  fire  escapes — the  latter  being  useful 
to  the  firemen  as  well  as  to  the  inmates. 

The  present  Commissioners  are  James  Lotan,  T.  B.  Trevett  and 
George  L.  Story.  The  Chief  Engineer  is  H.  D.  Morgan,  and  the 
Superintendent  of  Fire  Alarm  Telegraph,  J.  A.  Coffee,  jr. 

HEALTH   DEPARTMENT. 

By  city  ordinance  this  is  connected  with  the  Police  Department, 
every  policeman  being  a  health  officer.  A  City  Physician,  with 
power  to  inspect  all  buildings,  ships  and  trains,  is  employed,  and 
necessary  power  of  quarantine,  as  prescribed  by  charter,  is  exerted  by 
the  Council.  A  City  Hospital  is  maintained.  A  Poor  House  and 
Farm  for  the  indigent,  incompetent  and  unable  is  provided.  It  is 
located  a  few  miles  west  of  the  town,  on  a  beautiful  and  salubrious 
site.  The  Chinese  lepers — of  which  there  have  been  a  number — 
have  been  kept  at  this  place,  A  pest  house,  also  in  a  proper  place, 
is  owned  and  operated. 


188  History  of  Portland. 


WATER  WORKS. 

The  necessity  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  pure  water  for  the  city  was 
early  recognized,  and  by  the  first  charter  the  city  was  authorized  to 
build  and  operate  water  works.  In  preference,  however,  to  carrying 
on  this  work  by  supervision  of  the  municipality,  a  water  company 
was  formed  and  invested  with  power  to  conduct  the  business. 
Works  were  erected  in  1851,  the  supply  of  water  being  from  the 
springs  in  hills  near  town,  which  were  sufficient  for  all  needs. 
Within  a  number  of  years  the  old  wooden  works  were  superceded  by 
a  capacious  and  well  constructed  reservoir  of  brick  and  stone  on 
Fourth  street.  As  the  city  increased  in  population  and  the  consump- 
tion of  water  became  great,  the  springs  failed  to  meet  the  demand, 
and  recourse  was  had  to  the  Willamette,  from  which  an  increasingly 
large  proportion  has  been  pumped,  until  it  is  now  practically  the 
sole  source.  While  in  the  Spring  and  Autumn  the  water  of  our 
river  is  remarkably  pure  and  wholesome,  it  is  very  liable  to  pollution 
from  the  sewerage  of  towns  from  up  the  river,  from  the  general 
drainage  of  the  valley,  and  in  the  Summer  freshet  of  the  Columbia 
by  the  sewerage  of  Portland  itself,  as  it  is  carried  up  the  river  by  the 
backward-setting  current,  sometimes  caused  by  the  rapid  rise  of  the 
stream  below.  Moreover,  it  is  thick  with  mud  during  times  of 
Winter  freshets.  The  pumping  apparatus  has  been  placed  some 
three  miles  above  the  city,  and  the  water  is  drawn  deep  from  the  bed 
of  the  stream. 

Some  years  since  the  reservoir  on  Tenth  street  was  abandoned  for 
a  larger  one,  built  on  Seventh  and  Lincoln  streets,  near  the  foot  of 
the  hill,  at  a  much  greater  elevation.  The  circle  of  buildings  on  the 
skirts  of  the  hills,  still  above  the  reservoir,  is  supplied  from  small 
reservoirs  which  are  fed  by  springs  and  located  conveniently  in  the 
ravines. 

Gfeat  efforts  have  been  made  to  provide  for  bringing  an  inex- 
haustable  supply  of  presumably  fresh  and  pure  water  from  some  one 
of  the  many  streams  of  the  Cascade  mountains.  The  enterprise 
which  calls  for  an  expenditure  of  not  less  than  $5,000,000  has  met 
with  temporary  reverses,  but  will  not  be  much  longer  delayed. 


PuBuc  Buildings.  189 


After  many  years  trial  of  the  method  of  water  supply  by  a  private 
company,  it  was  seen  that  this  was  not  the  most  economical.  It  was 
also  generally  recognized  that  an  article  like  water,  an  absolute 
necessity  of  life,  ought  not  to  be  subject  to  private  monopoly. 
Accordingly,  by  legislative  act,  in  1885,  the  city  was  fully  empowered 
to  provide  water  works  of  its  own.  A  committee  was  appointed  by 
this  act,  consisting  of  the  following  men,  then  residents  of  Portland: 
John  Gates,  F.  C.  Smith,  C.  H.  Lewis,  Henry  Failing,  W.  S.  Ladd, 
Frank  Dekum,  L.  Fleischner,  H.  W.  Corbett,  W.  L.  K.  Smith,  J. 
Loewenberg,  S.  G.  Reed,  R.  B.  Knapp,  L.  Therkelson,  Thomas  M. 
Richardson  and  A.  H.  Johnson.  They  were  to  be  a  permanent  body, 
with  plenary  power,  and  independent  of  all  others,  filling  vacancies 
in  their  number  by  their  own  act.  Bonds  to  the  amount  of  $500, 000 
might  be  issued  by  them  for  purchasing  or  building  works,  and 
laying  mains  and  pipes.  The  plant  of  the  old  company  was  acquired 
with  the  new  reservoir  on  Lincoln  and  Seventh  streets.  Under  the 
present  management  it  is  intended  to  charge  rates  only  sufficient  to 
meet  expenses.  The  receipts  for  1888  were  $79,530.09  and 
disbursements,  $78,524.85,  including  $25,000  interest  on  $500,000 
bonds.  The  management  is  efficient  and  economical.  Mr.  Henry 
Failing  is  president  and  Mr.  P.  C.  Schuyler,  clerk  of  the  committee. 

BUILDINGS. 

The  buildings  belonging  to  the  city  are  not  imposing,  having 
been  erected  some  time  ago,  before  the  best  structures  in  the  city 
were  built. 

To  the  Fire  Department  belong  ten  houses,  ordinarily  good. 
They  are  as  follows:  That  of  Engine  Co.  No.  1,  south  side  of 
Morrison  street,  between  First  and  Second,  valued  at  $40,000  (house 
and  lot);  that  of  Engine  Co.  No.  2,  west  side  of  Second  between  Oak 
and  Pine,  valued  at  $20,000  (house  and  lot);  that  of  Engine  Co.  No. 
3,  south  side  of  B,  at  intersection  of  Fifteenth  street,  valued  at 
$10,000  (house  and  lot);  that  of  Engine  Co.  No.  4  and  Hook  and 
Ladder  Co.  No.  2,  between  Montgomery  and  Mill  streets,  valued  at 
$10,000  (house  and  lot);  that  of  Hook  and  Ladder  Co.  No.  1,  east 
side  of  Fourth,  supply  building  and  bell  tower,  valued  at  $30,000; 


190  History  of  Portland. 

that  of  the  old  Couch  Engine  Co.,  valued  at  $5,000  (house  and  lot); 
that  of  Hose  Co.  No.  2,  west  side  of  First  street  between  Madison  and 
Jefferson  streets,  valued  at  $18,000  (house  and  lot). 

The  building  used  for  city  jail  and  police  station,  court  house, 
etc.,  on  Oak  street  between  Second  and  Third,  is  a  substantial 
structure  of  stone,  iron  and  brick  of  two  stories.  It  is  somewhat 
grim  and  stem  in  general  appearance,  but  very  well  answers  its 
purpose. 

The  council  chamber  and  the  offices  of  the  city  government  are  in 
rented  apartments  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Third  streets. 
Arrangements,  however,  for  erecting  a  city  hall  to  cost  about 
$500,000,  are  already  well  advanced;  a  block  on  Fourth  street, 
adjacent  to  Main — that  now  occupied  by  St.  Helen's  Hall — ^having 
been  purchased  for  the  purpose. 

From  this  brief  sketch  of  the  city  government,  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  has  been  growing  in  complexity,  and  there  has  been  a  strong 
effort  to  arrange  the  duties  and  responsibilities  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  render  the  different  departments  measureably  independent.  To  a 
degree  this  has  been  accomplished.  The  legislative  body — council — 
has  no  dependence  upon  the  executive  or  the  judiciary.  The 
judiciary — police  judge — is  connected  rather  with  the  mayor  than 
with  any  other  branch,  while  the  military  department  or  police  are 
independent  or  directly  responsible  to  the  people.  The  mayor,  by 
his  power  of  appointment  and  veto  of  the  council,  exerts  large 
influence;  but  being  severed  from  the  police,  has  no  autocratic 
authority.  His  measures  must  prevail  by  reason  of  their  wisdom  or 
his  personal  influence.  The  treasurer  is  directly  responsible  to  the 
people.  The  auditor  is  responsible  to  the  council.  The  attorney, 
superintendent  of  streets  and  surveyor  are  responsible  to  the  mayor. 
Combinations  may,  of  course,  be  made  between  all  these  officers,  but 
it  is  at  least  easy  for  the  citizens  to  hold  one  impartial  department 
against  any  combination.  In  case  of  rival  parties  or  "rings,"  it 
will  usually  happen,  as  has  hitherto  more  than  once  occurred,  that 
one  will  hold  one  department  while  another  holds  another.  It  is 
difficult,  too,  for  the  Police  Department,  Fire  Department  and  mayor, 
all  measurably  equal,  to  yield  priority,  especially  in  ill  or  corrupt 
designs,  and  jealousy  has  a  tendency  to  bring  about  exposure. 


Mayors.  191 

The  politics  of  the  city  are  principally  upon  local  questions,  from 
the  ambitions  designs  of  rival  leaders,  who  find  it  advantageous  to 
use  municipal  elections  for  the  larger  field  of  State  politics,  or  from 
the  supposed  intents  of  special  forms  of  business.  Many  of  the 
citizens  stand  aloof  entirely,  and  the  city  elections  commonly  show  a 
light  vote. 

When  national  politics  are  involved,  the  city  is  Republican,  and 
the  municipal  tickets  are  usually  nominated  under  the  captions  of 
the  two  great  parties. 

MAYORS. 

Hugh  D.  O'  Bryan,  the  first  mayor  of  Portland,  is  described  as 
**  a  man  of  tried  probity  and  great  force  of  character,  and  brought  to 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  work-a-day  world  an  ample  reserve 
of  clear  hard  sense.''  He  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Georgia, 
in  1813,  and  his  boyhood  was  spent  among  the  Cherokee  Indians, 
among  whom  his  father  was  a  missionary.  In  the  Spring  of  1843 
he  started  from  Arkansas  for  the  almost  mythical  coast  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  reached  Oregon  City  in  October.  There  he  engaged  in 
business  for  two  years  and  then  removed  to  Portland.  When  the 
Whitman  massacre  in  1847  called  the  men  of  Oregon  to  the  field  of 
battle,  he  went  out  as  first  lieutenant  and  gave  a  good  accoimt  of 
himself  in  the  campaign  against  the  Cayuses.  Returning  home,  he 
was  elected  mayor  in  1851,  but  in  1852  changed  his  residence  to 
Douglas  County,  whence  he  was  soon  after  sent  to  the  Territorial 
Legislature  as  a  joint  representative  for  the  counties  of  Douglas  and 
Umpqua.  In  1860  he  removed  to  Walla  Walla  Valley,  and  after- 
wards represented  his  county  in  the  Legislature  of  Washington 
Territory. 

The  second  mayor  of  Portland,  A.  C.  Bonnell,  was  bom  near 
Chatham,  Morris  county.  New  Jersey,  in  1801.  His  father  was  a 
soldier  of  the  Revolution.  In  1848  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  in  Cincinnati,  but  the  tidal  wave  of  popular  excitement  bore 
him  away  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  landed  November  1,  1849.  He 
was  recording  clerk  to  Geary's  administration  until  August  following, 
when  he  came  to  Portland  and  immediately  became  connected  with 

[is] 


192  History  of  Portland. 

its  commercial  interests.  He  afterwards  returned  to  San  Francisco, 
and  was  for  many  years  the  clerk  and  cashier  of  the  Evening  BuUetin 
Newspaper  Company, 

Simon  B.  Mar\'e,  who  served  a  short  time  under  change  of 
election  in  1852,  was  a  Virginian,  having  been  bom  at  Marye 
Heights,  in  the  Old  Dominion  State — a  place  which  became  noted 
during  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  as  a  battle  field.  He  came  to 
Portland  in  1850,  and  within  a  few  years  was  united  in  marriage 
with  the  eldest  daughter  of  Col.  Chapman.  He  was  a  lawyer  of 
ability  and  a  man  of  influence  in  the  early  days.  Before  1860  he 
went  to  the  South  Atlantic  States,  and  espoused  the  cause  of  his 
section  during  the  political  strife  succeeding.  After  the  war  he 
lived  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  died  upwards  of  twenty  years  ago. 

Josiah  Failing,  the  third  mayor,  elected  in  1854,  was  one  of  the 
men  of  the  early  day  in  our  city  who  had  the  qualities  to  be  among 
the  number  addressed  in  old  Rome  as  * 'Conscript  Fathers.''  In  his 
face,  bearing  and  interest  in  the  young  city  he  was  distinctly  fatherly, 
and  had  his  heart  in  the  public  improvement  of  the  community.  He 
was  much  in  earnest  in  regard  to  religious  matters,  being  the  first 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Portland,  and  gave  diligent  attention 
to  the  matter  of  public  schools,  of  which  he  was  a  director  during 
many  tenns.  The  children  of  Portland  will  always  speak  his  name, 
since  the  large  public  school  building  in  Caruther's  Addition  is 
called  for  him.  He  belonged  to  an  old  New  York  family  that  settled 
at  an  early  period  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  among  the  six  nations  of 
Indians  friendly  to  the  English.  He  was  born  July  9,  1806,  at  Fort 
Plain,  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.  In  his  youth  he  learned  the  trade  of 
printing  wall  paper,  and  afterwards  went  to  New  York  City  to  reside. 
There  he  married  and  remained  until  1851,  when  he  came  out  to 
Oregon.  Reaching  Portland  he  set  up  a  mercantile  business, 
importing  goods  direct  from  New  York  City,  and  laying  the  foun- 
dations of  the  present  large  firm  of  Corbett,  Failing  &  Co.  He  was 
a  ver\'  successful  business  man  and  enjoyed  a  most  enviable  reputation 
for  integrity  and  uprightness.     He  died  in  Portland. 

W.  S.  Ladd,   who  was  eledled  in   1854,  has  occupied  so  many 
positions,  and  has  been  for  so  long  a  central  figure  of  our  public  and 


Mayors.  193 


commercial  development,  that  for  a  full  account  of  his  life  we  must 
refer  the  reader  to  other  parts  of  this  book.  His  early  years  were 
spent  in  New  Hampshire,  and  he  improved  all  means  of  education 
and  acquiring  information,  so  that  when  in  1850  he  came  to  Portland 
it  was  with  broad  business  ideas  that  he  began  his  operations. 

George  W.  Vaughn,  eledled  in  1855,  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey, 
a  man  who  in  his  prime  was  personally  very  handsome,  with  the  full 
and  imposing  features  of  the  middle  coast  people  of  the  Atlantic 
seaboard.  He  began  actively  in  commercial  business  and  followed 
this  successfully  both  in  the  Eastern  States  and  Canada.  He  came 
to  Portland  in  1850  and  established  a  hardware  store.  His  invest- 
ments were  made  with  good  judgment  and  brought  large  returns.  In 
1865  he  built  the  large  brick  flour  mill  on  Main  street,  which  was 
burned  in  1873.  By  that  fire  his  losses  were  reckoned  to  be  nearly 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars;  nevertheless  they  were  not  sufficient  to 
bring  him  to  insolvency.     He  died  some  years  since  at  Portland. 

James  O'Neill,  who  served  as  mayor  three  terms  from  1856,  was 
one  of  the  most  popular  men  that  ever  held  the  seat.  He  was  from 
New  York  State,  having  been  bom  at  Duanesburg,  in  Schenectady 
County,  in  1824.  Of  a  business  turn,  he  came  out  to  Oregon  in 
1853  and  entered  into  mercantile  pursuits  at  Oregon  City.  A  few 
years  later  he  came  to  Portland  and  managed  all  his  affairs  with 
success.  Some  time  in  the  early  sixties  he  accepted  a  government 
position  as  Indian  agent  at  Fort  Lapwai.  He  silbsequently  went  to 
Cheweela,  in  government  employment  on  the  Colville  reservation. 
At  the  last  election  in  Stevens  county  he  was  chosen  auditor,  and  now 
serves  in  that  position.  He  is  a  brother  of  Daniel  O'Neill,  of  our 
city,  so  long  known  as  a  navigator  on  the  lower  Willamette  and 
Columbia  rivers. 

A.  M.  Starr,  ele<5led  in  1858,  was  a  New  Yorker  by  birth,  and 
came  to  Portland  as  early  as  1850,  opening  a  stove  and  tin  store  on 
the  block  now  occupied  by  the  business  house  of  Corbitt  &  Macleay. 
He  was  one  of  the  parties  to  the  famous  suit  of  Stark  vs.  Starr. 

S.  J.  McCormick,  who  held  the  office  next .  in  succession,  was 
from  Ireland,  and  for  many  years  infused  into  the  life  of  our  city 
much  of  his  own  native  enthusiasm  and  humor.     He  first   set  up  in 


194  History  of  Portland. 


business  with  a  little  job  printing  office  in  a  room  seven  by  nine  on 
the  west  side  of  Front  street  between  Washington  and  Alder.  For 
many  years  McConnick's  Almanac  was  a  regular  publication,  and 
seemed  to  be  a  part  of  the  on-goings  of  the  city  itself.  It  was  a 
breezy  little  pamphlet  and  of  much  value  throughout  the  State.  In 
addition  to  his  Almanac  he  began  in  1863  the  publication  of  a  City 
Directorv'  and  continued  this  yearlv  until  late  in  the  seventies.  The 
historians  of  Portland  will  ever  be  grateful  to  him  for  the  information 
which  he  stored  awav  in  these  volumes.  He  first  came  to  Portland 
in  1851,  having  with  him  his  wife  and  his  wife's  sister.  The  latter 
lady  was  then  immarried,  but  was  afterwards  joined  in  wedlock  with 
Thomas  Robinson,  who  lived  upon  the  hill  now  known  by  his  name 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  citv.  Mr.  McCormick  moved  to  San 
Francisco  a  number  of  years  ago. 

George  C.  Robbins,  eledled  in  1860,  came  to  Portland  in  1854 
and  engaged  in  business  as  a  jeweler.  He  brought  with  him  a 
familv.     Some  vears  since  he  removed  from  the  citv  to  Nevada. 

John  M.  Breck,  who  served  in  1861,  is  at  present  one  of  our  well 
known  and  active  citizens.  He  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1828. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  went  out  to  Wisconsin,  but  in  1850,  at  the 
instance  of  Aspinwall,  president  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Co., 
took  passage  on  the  Columbia  for  Oregon.  On  this  vessel  he 
served  as  purser  for  the  voyage,  and  brought  a  stock  of  goods. 
From  1852  imtil  1855  he  was  in  business  with  W.  S.  Ogden,  of 
New  York,  a  well  educated  yoimg  man,  nephew  of  Peter  Skeen 
Ogden,  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  In  1860  Mr.  Breck  received 
appointment  as  purser  on  the  steamer  Northerner  of  the  Pacific  Mail 
Steamship  Company,  which  made  the  trip  from  San  Francisco  to 
Victoria,  Olympia  and  Portland.  On  his  second  voyage  he  sdffered 
shipwreck  in  this  steamer,  off  Cape  Mendocino,  on  Blunt's  Reef. 
Reaching  Portland  after  this  disaster,  he  accepted  a  position  as 
shipping  agent  of  the  company,  and  remembers  the  immense  cargoes 
of  apples  with  which  the  steamships  were  loaded  down — ^believing 
the  estimates  of  shipments  usually  given  as  to  that  period,  much  too 
low.  In  1 862  he  received  imexpectedly  the  nomination  as  countv'  clerk 
on  the  Union  ticket  and  was  eledted  over  a  very  popular  opponent. 


Mayors.  195 


With   the  exception  of  a  few  years  in  California,    he  has  been  in 
business  in  our  city,  and  is  still  one  of  our  most  energetic  business  men. 

W.  H.  Farrar,  the  next  in  order,  was  a  lawyer  of  ability  and  is 
said  to  have  been  a  native  of  Massachusetts.  While  a  citizen  of 
Portland  he  was  active  in  public  affairs,  giving  evidence  of  somewhat 
larger  mind  and  greater  general  ability  than  he  usually  chose  to  bring 
into  action — but  nevertheless  bore  his  share  of  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  day.     He  served  two  terms. 

David  Logan,  mayor  in  1864,  was  a  man  of  intense  and  brilliant 
mind,  popular  with  the  men  of  the  city  on  account  of  his  ready 
speech  and  familiar  manners.  His  abilities  as  a  lawyer  were  of  the 
first  order;  as  a  political  speaker  his  powers  were  unrivalled  in  his 
day,  and  his  fame  was  co-extensive  with  the  Northwest.  He  was 
three  times  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  congress,  but  at  each  time 
may  be  said  to  have  **led  a  forlorn  hope,''  as  the  opposition  was  too 
strong  to  be  overcome.  About  the  year  1871  he  retired  from  the 
practice  of  the  law  in  Portland,  took  a  fann  in  Yamhill  county,  and 
died  there  a  few  years  later. 

In  1864-5,  in  1865-6  and  again  in  1873—4,  Henry  Failing  was 
mayor.  For  a  full  account  of  this  representative  man  of  the  city  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  biographical  sketch  in  another  part  of  this 
volume. 

For  sketch  of  T.  J.  Holmes,  reference  will  be  had  to  the  biog- 
raphies at  the  close  of  the  volume. 

Dr.  J.  A.  Chapman  was  bom  in  Allegheny  county.  New  York,  in 
1821.  At  an  early  age  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  Cuba, 
New  York,  and  graduated  from  the  medical  college  at  Geneva,  in 
that  State,  in  1846.  In  1861,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of 
the  Rebellion,  he  placed  his  services  at  the  disposal  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  was  appointed  anny  surgeon.  After  serving  during  a 
campaign  at  the  South,  he  was  transferred  to  an  overland  expedition 
and  came  with  it  to  Oregon  as  acting  surgeon,  with  rank  of  major. 
Returning  to  civil  life  he  came  to  Portland  and  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  with  Dr.  William  H.  Watkins.  He  filled  three 
terms  as  mayor  of  Portland,  and  was  also  surgeon-general  of  the 
Oregon  militia  by  appointment  of  Gov.  L.  F.  Cirover. 


196  History  of  Portland. 


Hamilton  Boyd,  who  was  mayor  in  1868-69;  came  to  Portland 
about  the  year  1860.  He  was  reckoned  a  good  man  of  business, 
became  an  assistant  in  the  office  of  county  clerk  and  shortly  afterward 
took  a  position  as  leading  accountant  in  the  banking  house  of  Ladd 
&  Tilton.  In  1868  he  was  elected  county  commissioner,  and  served 
two  years.  He  was  elected  to  the  mayoralty  by  the  common  council 
to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Thomas  J.  Holmes.  Mr. 
Boyd  died  in  Portland  in  1886. 

B.  Goldsmith,  who  was  mayor  in  1869-70  and  1870-1,  is  an  old 
resident  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  came  to  California  in  1851,  thence 
to  Oregon  in  1856,  and  to  Portland  in  1861.  He  has  been  in 
business  at  Portland  ever  since.  Throughout  his  career  in  this  city 
he  has  been  known  as  a  man  of  business  ability  and  energetic  char- 
acter. He  bore  a  leading  part  in  bringing  about  construction  of  locks 
at  Willamette  Falls,  and  later  has  been  prominently  connected  with 
development  of  mining  property  in  Northern  Idaho.  During  many 
years  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  wholesale  dry  goods  house  in  Portland. 
Mr.  Goldsmith  was  bom  in  Germany  in  1832. 

Philip  Wassennan,  elected  mayor  in  1871,  was  born  in  Germany 
in  1827,  and  came  to  America  in  1849.  He  has  had  an  active  life 
in  mercantile  pursuits.  In  1858  he  came  to  Portland,  and  still  lives 
here.  He  served  in  the  legislature  of  the  State  two  terms.  Declining 
further  legislative  honors,  he  was  prevailed  on  to  stand  as  a  candidate 
for  mayor,  and  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  was  a  careful 
and  efficient  mayor,  but  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  decided  to 
withdraw  from  further  service  in  office.  Mr.  Wasserman  has  always 
been  known  as  a  worthy  and  successful  man  of  business,  and  is  held 
in  high  esteem. 

W.  S.  Newbury,  who  was  elected  mayor  in  1877,  is  one  whose 
life  has  been  spent  much  in  the  Old  West,  or  interior,  as  well  as  upon 
the  Pacific  Coast.  He  was  bom  at  Ripley,  N.  Y.,  in  1834.  In 
1850  he  went  to  Chicago,  engaging  as  salesman  with  one  of  the  first 
firms  of  that  city,  on  Lake  street.  Four  years  later  he  went  to 
Wisconsin,  and  there  pursued  a  course  of  study  in  law,  completing 
his  education  at  a  commercial  college.  He  soon  accepted  an  impor- 
tant position  as  book-keeper  and  accountant,  and  afterwards  became 


Mayors.  197 


manager  of  a  large  business  at  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  for  the  Little 
American  Fur  Company,  of  St.  Louis.  Removing  to  lola,  Kansas, 
in  1860,  he  soon  became  identified  with  that  town,  some  years  later 
being  elected  mayor.  He  served  in  the  Union  army,  and  was  assistant 
provost  marshal  of  Kansas,  and  also  assistant  secretary  of  the  State 
senate.  He  came  to  Oregon  in  1870,  settling  at  Portland  in  1874. 
Until  1880  he  condudled  an  extensive  business  in  farm  machinery, 
but  since  that  date  has  been  practicing  law. 

David  P.  Thompson,  one  of  the  most  widely  known  men  in  our 
State,  was  bom  in  Harrison  county,  Ohio,  in  1834.     In  his  nine- 
teenth year  he  came  to  Oregon,  driving  sheep  across  the  plains  and 
walking  every  rod  of  the  way.     Upon  his  arrival  at  Oregon  City  in 
1853  he  took  a  job  of  cutting  cordwood,  which  lasted  through  the 
winter.     Soon  after  he  entered  upon  the  profession  of  a  surveyor, 
which  he  followed  during  several  years.     In  pursuance  of  this  business 
he  acquired  an  unequaled  knowledge  of  the  northwestern  country',  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  his  present  ample  fortune.     He  lived  at  Oregon 
City  till  1876,  when  he  removed  to  Portland.     In  1879,  and  again 
in  1881,  he  was  elected   mayor,  and  gave  the  city  a  vigorous  and 
efficient  administration.     Mr.  Thompson,  throughout  his  whole  life, 
has  been  noted  for  activity  and  energy.     He  is  a  man  of  firm  and 
positive  character,  tenacious  of  his  purposes,  active  in  business  and 
successful  in  his  undertakings.      By  appointment  of  President  Grant 
lie  became  governor  of  Idaho  Territory  in  1875,  but  resigned  the 
office  in   1876.     He   is   now   engaged  in   the  banking  business  in 
Portland. 

John  Gates,  who  was  elected  mayor  in  1885,  was  a  native  of 
Maine.  Born  in  1827,  he  came  to  Portland  in  1851,  and  passed  all 
his  active  life  here.  His  first  situation  was  that  of  engineer  at  the 
steam  saw-mill  at  the  foot  of  Jefferson  street.  When  the  Oregon 
Steam  Navigation  Company  was  organized  he  became  its  chief 
engineer,  and  superintended  the  construction  and  the  placing  of  the 
machiner>^  in  all  its  boats.  He  made  many  inventions,  including 
one  which  produced  almost  a  revolution  in  the  construction  of  stem- 
wheel  steamers.  He  devised  the  method,  now  known  to  be  highly 
successful,  of  sluicing  out  the  sand  bars  of  navigable  streams  with 


198  History  of  Portland. 


powerfiil  propellers,  and  invented  a  most  excellent  and  successful 
apparatus  for  applying  hydraulic  power  to  the  steering  gear  of 
steam  vessels.  Mr.  Gates  was  a  man  of  original  mind  and  great 
industry.  He  died,  while  holding  the  office  of  mayor,  in  April, 
1888. 

Van  B.  De  Lashmutt,  now  serving  the  second  term,  is  a  repre- 
sentative man  of  our  city  and  time,  of  whom  a  full  sketch  will  be 
found  elsewhere. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  officers  from  the  year  1851  to  1889, 
inclusive  : 

7S57— Mayor,  Hugh  D.  O'Bryant;  Recorder,  W.  S.  CaldweU;  Councilmen— Robert 
Thompson,  Shubrick  Norris,  George  A.  Barnes,  Thomas  G.  Robinson,  L.  B. 
Hastings. 

1852 — Mayor,  A.  C.  BoneU,  Recorder,  S.  S.  Slater;  Marshal,  Wm.  Grooms;  Council- 
men — W.  P.  Abrams,  A.  P.  Dennison,   Thomas  Pritchard,  Abell  G.  Tripp,  Hiram 
Smith. 
In  November  of  that  year  by  a  new  election,  under  change  of  charter,  the  following 

were  chosen:    Mayor,  S.  B.  Marye;   Recorder,  C.   B.  Pillow;  Councilmen — Shubrick 

Norris,  Thomas  Pritchard,  Josiah  Failing,  P.  A.  Marquam,  A.  P.  Dennison. 

1853 — Mayor,  Josiah  Failing;  Recorder,  A.  C.  Bonnell;  Assessor,  S.  S.  Slater;  Treas- 
urer, W.  H.  Bamhart;  Marshal,  William  Grooms;  Councilmen —Robert 
Thompson,  W.  S.  l^add,  John  H.  Couch,  W.  P.  Abrams,  R.  N.  McLaren,  R.  N. 
Field,  Charles  B.  Pillow,  H.  W.  Davis,  Jonas  Williams. 

7/?54— Mayor,  W.  S.  Ladd;  Recorder,  A.  P.  Dennison;  Treasurer,  Thomas  Pritchard; 
Assessor,  Charles  P.  Bacon;  Marshal,  W.  L.  Higgins;  Councilmen  —A.  M.  Starr, 
•    James   Field  jr.,  Shubrick  Norris,   Thomas   Carter,   William   McMillan,  A.  D. 
Fitch,  O.J.  Backus,  A.  R.  Shipley,  James Tumbull. 

1855— Mayor,  George  W.  Vaughn;  Recorder,  L.  Limerick;  Marshal,  Thomas  J. 
Holmes;  Assessor,  W.  S.  Ogden;  Treasurer,  Thomas  Frazer;  Councilmen— George 
Kittridge,  John  Green,  H.  S.  Jacobs,  Matthew  Patton,  Lewis  Love,  John  C. 
Carson,  Thomas  Hartness,  E.  B  Calhoun,  George  C.  Robbins.  (Anthony  L. 
Davis  filled  the  position  of  Limerick,  resigned). 

1856 — Mayor,  James  O'Neill;  Recorder,  A.  L.  Davis;  Treasurer,  Thomas  A.  Savier; 
Assessor,  Z.  N.  Stansbury;  Marshal,  Thomas  J.  Holmes;  Councilmen — Robert 
Porter,  A.  D.  Shelby,  A.  B.  Elfeldt,  L.  M.  Starr,  W.  S.  Ladd,  William  Beck.  H. 
W.  Davis,  S.  M.  Smith,  James  Burke. 

1857 — Mayor,  James  O'Neill;  Recorder,  A.  L.  Davis;  Treasurer,  T.  N,  Lakin; 
Assessor,  J.  M.  Breck;  Marshal,  S.  R.  Holcomb;  Councilmen— J.  H.  Couch,  T.J. 
Holmes,  A.  B.  Hallock,  Charles  Hutchins,  P.  Hardenburg,  N.  S.  Coon,  B.  F. 
Goodwin,  S.  G.  Reed,  James  M.  Blossom. 

1858— M&yor,  L.  M.  Starr;  Recorder,  Alonzo  Leland;  Treasurer,  H.  W.  Corbett; 
Assessor,  J.  M.  Breck;  Marshal,  S.  R.  Holcomb;   Port  Warden,    Z.  N.  Stansbury; 


Officers.  199 

Councilnien— George  C.  Robbins»  A.  P.  Ankeny,  C.  P.  Bacon,  T.  N.  I^akin,  R. 
Porter,  T.  J.  Holmes,  J.  C.  Carson,  William  King,  C.  S.  Kingsley. 

7A5.9— Mayor,  S.  J.  McCormick;  Recorder,  Noah  Huber;  Treasurer,  John  McCraken; 
Assessor,  William  Kapus;  Marshal,  J.  H.  Lapp^us;  Port  Warden,  Daniel 
Wright;  Councilmen — A.  B.  Hallock,  J.  M.  Vansyckle,  J.  Davidson,  A.  D.  Shelby, 
M.  M.  Lucas,  J.  C.  Hawthorne,  R.  D.  Shattuck,  A.  C.  R.  Shaw,  John  Blanchanl. 

1S60 — Mayor,  George  C.  Robbins;  Recorder,  O.  Risley;  Treasurer,  H.  Wasserman; 
Assessor,  James  W.  Going;  Marshal,  James  H.  Lappeus;  Councilman— J.  C. 
Ainsworth,  J.  Davidson,  A.  B.  Hallock,  A.  D.  Shelby,  M.  M.  Lucas,  W.  L. 
Higgins,  A.  C.  R.  vShaw,  E.  D.  Shattuck,  Jacob  Stitzel. 

1861 — Mayor,  J.  M.  Breck;  Recorder,  O.  Risley;  Treasurer,  H.  Wasserman;  Marshal, 
William  Grooms;  Assessor,  James  W.  Going;  Councilmen — John  McCraken,  A.  B. 
Hallock,  F.  Harbaugh,  W.  L.  Higgins,  W.  C.  Hull,  William  M.  King,  E.  R. 
Scott,  William  Masters,  John  S.  White.  (S.  E.  Barr  filled  vacancy  of  Scott, 
resigned. ) 

7/?6^— Mayor,  W.  H.  Farrar;  Recorder,  J.  F.  McCoy;  Marshal,  William  Grooms; 
Treasurer,  H.  B.  Morse;  Assessor,  R.  J.  Ladd;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  Thomas 
A.  Davis,  Thomas  J.  Holmes,  A.  B.  Hallock;  Second  Ward.  O.  Risley,  J.  M. 
Breck,  A.  P.  Dennison;  Third  Ward,  S.  Coffin,  C.  S.  Silvers,  A.  G.  Walling. 

7^6»V— Mayor,  W.  H.  Farrar;  Recorder,  J.  F.  McCoy;  Treasurer,  H.  B.  Morse; 
Marshal,  William  Grooms;  Deputies,  A.  B.  Brannan,  F.  M.  Arnold;  Assessor,  O. 
Risley;  Collector,  J.  F.  McCoy;  Street  Commissioner,  A.  B.  Stewart;  City 
Surveyor,  A.  B.  Hallock;  President  of  Council,  O.  Risley;  Clerk,  H.  Boyd; 
Councilmen — First  Ward,  T.  J.  Holmes,  A.  B.  Hallock,  N.  Williams;  Second 
Ward.  O.  Risley,  A.  P.  Dennison;  Third  Ward.  S.  Coffin,  C.  S.  Silvers,  A.  G. 
Walling. 

1863-4  (elected  in  April,  1863) — Mayor,  David  Logan;  Recorder,  J.  F.  McCoy;  Treas- 
urer, O.  Risley;  Marshal,  W.  B.  Clark;  Deputies,  T.  C.  Foreman,  J.  N.  Skidmore; 
Assessor,  F.  C.  Pomeroy;  Collector,  J.  F.  McCoy;  Street  Commissioner.  Daniel 
Wright;  Surveyor,  A.  B.  Hallock;  President  of  Council,  John  M.  Sutton;  Clerk, 
H.  Boyd;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  Al  Zieber,  H.  Saxer,  Alex.  Dodge;  Second 
Ward,  John  W.  Sutton,  I.  A.  Austin,  P.  S.  Watson;  Third  Ward,  M.  M.  Lu.as. 
Joseph  Knott,  David  Monastes. 

1864-5— Mayor,  Henry  Failing;  Recorder,  J.  F.  McCoy;  Treasurer,  H.  B.  Morse; 
Assessor,  J.  W.  Going;  Auditor,  H.  R.  Meeker;  Street  CDmmissioner,  Nelson 
Northrup;  Surveyor,  C.  W.  Burrage;  Attorney,  J.  N.  Dolph;  Marshal,  Henry  S. 
Hoyt;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  James  W.  Cook.  John  McCraken,  A.  M.  Starr; 
Second  Ward,  Wm.  H.  Bennett,  J.  J.  Hoffman,  Thos.  Robertson;  Third  Ward. 
Thos.  Frazer,  S.  N.  Gilmore,  Israel  Graden. 

1865-6 — Mayor,  Henr>'  Failing;  Recorder,  J.  J.  Hoffman;  Treasurer,  C.  P.  Ferr>-; 
Assessor,  S.  A.  Moreland;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  H.  R.  Meeker;  Street  Commis- 
sioner, Samuel  Simmons;  Surveyor,  C.  W.  Burrage;  Attorney,  J.  N.  Dolph; 
Marshal,  H.  L.  Hoyt;  Councilmen— First  Ward.  John  McCraken,  P.  C.  Schuyler. 
R.  R.  Thompson;  Second  Ward,  E.  S.  Morgan,  S.  A.  Clarke,  A.  Rosenheim;  Third 
Wanl,  J.  P.  O.  Lownsdale,  (>.  P.  S.  Plumnier,  S.  M.  Gilmore. 


200  History  of  Portland. 

1^66-7— Mayor,  Thos.  J.  Holmes;  Recorder,  J.  J.  Hofhnan;  Treasurer,  C.  P.  Ferry; 
Assessor,  S.  A.  Moreland;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  Ralph  Wilcox;  Street  Commis- 
sioner, H.  W.  Davis;  Surveyor,  C.  W.  Burrage;  Attorney,  W.  W.  Upton;  Marshal, 
Henry  L.  Hoyt;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  John  McCraken,  A.  B.  Hallock,  Al. 
Zieber;  Second  Ward,  A.  Rosenheim,  M.  0*Connor;  C.  H.  Fechheimer;  Third 
Ward,  J.  P.  O.  Lownsdale,  T.  J.  Carter,  J.  C.  Carson. 

1867-8 — Mayor,  J.  A.  Chapman;  Recorder,  J.  J.  Hoffman;  Treasurer,  C.  P.  Ferry; 
Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Assessor,  H.  H.  Johnston;  Street  Commis- 
sioner, Wm.  McMillan;  Attorney,  D.  Freidenrich;  Surveyor,  G.  H.  Belden; 
Chief  Engineer  of  Fire  Department,  W.  H.  Weed;  Marshal,  D.  Jacobi;  Coun- 
cilmen— First  Ward,  A.  B.  Hallock,  J.  McCraken,  A.  C.  Ripley;  Second  Ward, 
C.  S.  Fechheimer,  R.  Porter,  A.  Rosenheim;  Third  Ward,  L.  Besser,  C.  D.  Burch, 
M.  F.  Mulky. 

] 868-9— Msiy or,  Hamilton  Boyd;  Recorder,  O.  Risley;  Treasurer,  C.  P.  Ferry; 
Assessor,  H.  H.  Johnston;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Street  Commis- 
sioner, Joseph  Tucker;  Surveyor,  W.  S.  Morris;  Attorney,  W.  F.  Trimble;  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Fire  Department,  W.  H.  Weed;  Marshal,  J.  H.  Lappeus;  Coun- 
cilmen— First  Ward,  A.  B.  Hallock,  Wm.  Cree,  A.  C.  Ripley;  Second  Ward,  J.  M. 
Breck,  R.  Porter;  Third  Ward,  C.  D.  Burch,  L.  Besser,  Chas.  Hopkins. 

1869-70 — Mayor,  B.  Goldsmith;  Recorder,  Levi  Anderson;  Treasurer,  E.  D. 
Backenstos;  Assessor,  Oscar  Kilbum;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Street 
Commissioner,  Jacob Shartle;  Surveyor,  H.  J.Stevenson;  Attorney,  C.  A.  Dolph; 
Chief  Engineer  of  Fire  Department,  Robert  Holman ;  Marshal,  Joseph  Saunders; 
Councilmen— First  Ward,  C.  Bills,  Wm.  Cree,  A.  C.  Ripley;  Second  Ward,  J.  M. 
Breck,  R.  Porter,  W.  Moffett;  Third  Ward,  D.  C.  Lewis,  L.  Besser,  Chas.  Hopkins. 

1870-1 — Mayor,  B.  Goldsmith;  Police  Judge,  D.  C.  Lewis;  Treasurer,  E.  D.  Back- 
enstos; Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Attorney,  C.  A.  Dolph;  Assessor,  O. 
Kilburn;  Street  Commissioner,  J.  F.  Shartle;  Surveyor,  H.  J.  Stevenson;  Coun- 
cilmen— First  Ward,  Wm.  Cree,  C.  Bills,  A.  B.  Hallock;  Second  Ward,  John  M. 
Breck,  W.  Moffett,  J.  B.Congle;  Third  Ward,W.  Lair  Hill,  J.  M.  Drake,  L.  Besser. 

1871-2 — Mayor,  Phillip  Wassennan;  Police  Judge,  O.  N.  Denny;  Treasurer,  E.  B. 
Backenstos;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Attorney,  C.  A.  Ball;  Assessor, 
J.  M.  Breck;  Street  Commissioner,  A.  J.  Marshall;  Surveyor,  H.  J.  Stevenson; 
Councilmen — First  Ward,  George  L.  Story,  A.  B.  Halleck,  E.  M.  Burton;  Second 
Ward.  W.  Moffett,  J.  B.  Congle,  J.  M.  Caywood;  Third  Ward,  R.  G.  Combs,  L. 
Besser,  W.  Lair  Hill. 

1872-3 — Mayor,  Philip  Wasserman;  Police  Judge,  O.  N.  Denny;  Treasurer,  E.  D. 
Backenstos;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Attorney,  M.  F.  Mulky;  Assessor, 
J.  M.  Breck;  Street  Commissioner,  A.  J.  Marshall;  Surveyor,  W.  S.  Chapman. 
Chief  of  Police,  J.  H.  Lappeus;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  A.  B.  Hallock,  E.  M. 
Burton,  Geo.  L.  Story;  Second  Ward,  J.  B.  Congle,  J.  M.  Caywood,  E.  F.  Russell; 
Third  Ward.  L.  Besser,  W.Lair  Hill,  J.  C.  Moreland. 

1873-4 — Mayor,  H.  Failing;  Police  Judge,  O.  N.  Denny;  Treasurer,  L.  H.  Lewis; 
Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Attorney,  M.  F.  Mulkey;  Assessor,  J.  W. 
Going;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  R.  A.  Habersham;  Surveyor,  W.  S.  Chapman; 


Officers.  201 


Chief  of  Police,  J.  H.  Lappeus;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  E.  M.  Burton,  George 
L.  Story,  G.  W.  Hoyt;  Second  Ward,  J.  M.Caywood,  E.  F.  Russell,  J.  H.  Lyon; 
Thiri  Ward,  W.  Lair  Hill,  J.  C.  Moreland,  h.  Besser. 

1874-5 — Mayor,  Henry  Failing;  Police  judge,  O.  N.  Denny;  Treasurer,  L.  H.  Lewis; 
Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Attorney,  A.  C.  Gibbs;  Assessor,  J.  W.  Going; 
Superintendent  of  Streets,  Perry  W.  Davis;  Surveyor,  D.  W.  Taylor.  Councilmen 
—First  Ward,  R.  R.  Thompson,  Geo.  L.  Story,  G.  W.  Hoyt;  Second  Ward,  John 
Catlin,  E.  T.  Russell,  J.  H.  Lyon;  Third  Ward,  E.  Corbett,  J.  C.  Moreland,  L. 
Besser. 

1875-6 — Mayor,  J.  A.  Chapman;  Police  Judge,  W.  H.  Adams;  treasurer,  Joseph  Bach- 
man;  Assessor,  Andrew  pill;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Superintendent 
of  Streets,  Perry  W.  Davis;  Surveyor,  Douglas  W.  Taylor;  Attorney,  John  M. 
Gearin;  Chief  of  Police,  J.  H.  Lappeus.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  George  W. 
Hojrt,  H.  D.  Sandbom,  J.  R.  Wiley;  Second  Ward,  William  H.  Andrus,  John 
Catlin,  S.  G.  Skidmore;  Third  Ward,  L.  Besser,  Elijah  Corbett,  E.  J.  W. 
Stemme. 

1876-7 — Mayor,  J.  A.  Chapman;  Police  Judge,  W.  H.  Adams;  Treasurer,  Joseph 
Bachman;  Assessor,  W.  S.  Chapman;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Super- 
intendent of  Streets,  William  Showers;  Surveyor,  Douglas  W.  Taylor;  Attorney, 
John  Gearin.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  Thomas  Stephens,  D.  F.  Harrington,  J. 
R.  Wiley;  Second  Ward,  W.  H.  Andrus,  S.  Blumauer,  S.  G.  vSkidmore;  Third 
Ward,  Noah  Lambert,  Elijah  Corbett,  E.  J.  W.  Stemme. 

1877-8 — Mayor,  W.  S.  Newberry;  Police  Judge,  W.  H.  Adams;  Treasurer,  Joseph 
Bachman;  Assessor,  R.  H.  Love;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  W.  S.  Caldwell;  Superinten- 
dent of  Streets,  D.  E.  Budd;  Surveyor,  Douglas  W.  Taylor;  Attorney,  J.  C. 
Moreland;  Chief  of  Police,  L.  Besser.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  Thomas 
Stephens,  F.  Opitz,  J.  R.  Wiley;  Second  Ward,  W.  H.  Andrus,  Joseph  Simon,  S. 
G.  Skidmore;  Third  Ward;  Noah  Lambert,  G.  W.  Yocum,  E.  J.  W.  Stemme. 

1878-9 — Mayor,  W.  S.  Newbury;  Police  Judge,  W.  H.  Adams;  Treasurer,  Joseph 
Bachman;  Assessor,  R.  H.  Love;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  R.  L.  Durham;  Superinten- 
dent of  Streets,  W.  Braden;  Surveyor,  W.  S.  Chapman;  Attorney,  J.  C.  Moreland, 
Chief  of  Police,  L.  Besser.  Councilmen— First  Ward,  Thomas  Stephens,  F. 
Opitz,  J.  W.  Payne;  Second  Ward,  William  H.  Andrus,  Joseph  Simon,  E.  H. 
Stolte;  Third  Ward,  Noah  Lambert,  G.  W.  Yocum,  H.  Weber. 

1879-80— Mayor,  D.  P.  Thompson;  Police  Judge,  L.  B.  Steams;  Treasurer,  Joseph 
Bachman;  Assessor,  W.  J.  Kelley;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  R.  L.  Durham;  Surveyor, 
W.  S.  Chapman;  Attorney,  J.  C.  Moreland;  Chief  of  Police,  J.  H.  Lappeus. 
Councilmen — First  Ward;  F.  Opitz,  J.  W.  Payne,  R.Gerdes;  Second  Ward,  Joseph 
Simon,  E.  H.  Stoltze,  T.  L.Nicklin;  Third  Ward,  J.  F.  Watson,  J.  S.  Keller,  H. 
Weber. 

1880-1 — Mayor,  D.  P.  Thompson;  Police  Judge,  L.  B.  Steams;  Treasurer,  Joseph 
Bachman;  Auditor  and  Clerk,  R.  L.  Durham;  Surveyor,  W.  S.  Chapman;  Attor- 
ney, J.  C.  Moreland;  Street  Superintendent,  William  Braden.  Councilmen— First 
Ward,  J.  S.  Raleigh,  R.  Gerdes,  Henry  Hewett;  Second  Ward;  E.  H.  Stolte, 
T.  L.  Nicklin,  W.  A.  Andms;  Third  Ward,  H.  Weber,  J.  S.  Keller,  J.  B.  Kellogg. 

1881-2 — Mayor,  D.  P.  Thompson;  President  of  Council,  W.  B.  Honej-man;  Auditor, 
R.  L.  Durham;  Treasurer,  D.  C.  McKercher;  Attorney,  J.  C.  Moreland;  Surveyor, 


202  History  of  Portland. 


D.  W.  Taylor;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  William  Braden;  Deputy  Superinten- 
dent of  Streets,  J.  H.  Phirman;  Police  Judge,  t,.  B.  Steams;  Chief  of  Police, 
J.  H.  Lappeus.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  Henry  Hewett,  J.  S.  Raleigh,  Richard 
Gerdes;  Second  Ward,  T.  L.  Nicklin,  Charles  Holmm,  W.  L.  Chittenden;  Thinl 
Ward,  J.  B.  Kellogg,  J.  S.  Keller,  W.  B.  Honeyman. 

1SS2-S — Mayor,  J.  A.  Chapman;  President  of  Council,  W.  B.  Honeyman;  Auditor, 
M.  F.  Spencer;  Treasurer,  D.  C.  McKercher;  Attorney,  S.  W.  Rice;  Surveyor, 
D.  W.  Taylor;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  William  Braden;  Deputy  Superinten- 
dent of  Streets,  W.  F.  Matthews;  Police  Judge,  S.  A.  Moreland;  Chief  of  Police, 
J.  H.  Lappeus.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  Henry  Hewitt,  D.  Mackay,  J.  E. 
Smith;  Second  Ward,  W.  S.  Scoggin,  Charles  Holman,  W.  L.  Chittenden;  Third 
Ward,  J.  B.  Kellogg,  W.  H.  Adams,  W.  B.  Honeyman. 

1883-4— Mayor,  J.  A.  Chapman;  President  of  Council.  W.  H.  Adam*;  Auditor  and 
Clerk,  R.  B.  Curry;  Treasurer,  D.  C.  McKerchsr;  Attorney,  R.  M.  Dement; 
Surveyor,  W.  S.  Chapman;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  A.  F.  Sears;  Deputy 
Superintendent  of  Streets,  W.  F.  Burke;  Police  Judge,  S.  A.  Moreland;  Chief  of 
Police,  W.  H.  Watkinds.  Councilmen— First  Ward,  R.  Oerdes,  J.  B.  Hailey. 
J.  E.  Smith;  Second  Ward,  W.  A.  Scoggin,  W.  H.  Andrus,  W.  L.  Chittenden; 
Third  Ward;  A.  F.  Sears,  Jr.,  W.  H.  Adams,  W.  B.  Honeyman. 

1884-5 — Mayor,  J.  A.  Chapman;  President  of  Council,  W.  H.  Adams;  Auditor,  R.  B. 
Curry;  Treasurer,  D.  C.  McKercher;  Attorney,  A.  H.  Tanner;  Surveyor,  W.  S. 
Chapman;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  F.  E.  Vaughn,  Daputy,  W.  S.  Broocke. 
Police  Judge,  S.  A.  Moreland;  Chief  of  Police,  S.  B.  Parrish;  Councilmen — First 
Ward,  R.  Gerdes,  J.  J.  Holland,  J.  E.  Smith;  Second  Ward,  W.  A.  Scoggin,  W. 
H.  Andrus,  C.  M.  Forbes;  Third  Ward,  A.  F.  Sears,  Jr.,  W.  H.  Adams,  Wm. 
Fliedner. 

7/?/?5-6— Mayor,  John  Gates;  President  of  Council,  Wm.  Fliedner;  Auditor  and  Clerk, 
B.  L.  Norden;  Attorney,  A.  H.  Tanner;  Surveyor,  W.  S.  Chapman;  Strieet  Com- 
missioner, F.  E.  Vaughn;  Treasurer,  D.  C.  McKercher;  Police  Judge;  R.  M. 
Dement;  Chief  of  Police,  S.  B.  Parrish.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  R.  Gerdes, 
J.  J.  Holland,  J.  J.  Gallagher;  Second  Ward,  S.  Farrell,  W.  H.  Andrus,  C.  M. 
Forbes;  Third  Ward.  A.  F.  Sears,  Jr.,  F.  Hacheny,   Wm.  Fliedner. 

7^/?6-7— Mayor,  John  Gates;  President  of  Council,  Sylvester  Farrell;  Auditor,  W.  H. 
Wood;  Treasurer,  D.  C.  McKercher;  Attorney,  A.  H.  Tanner;  Superintendent  of 
vStreets,  W.  S.  Chapman;  Surveyor,  E.  W\  Paget;  Police  Judge,  Ralph  Dement; 
Chief  of  Police,  S.  B  Parrish;  Councilmen — First  Ward,  R.  Gerdes,  J.  J.  Holland. 
J.  J.  Gallagher;  Second  Ward,  S.  Farrell,  R.  H.  Schwab,  C.  M.  Forbes;  Third 
Ward,  Tyler  Woodward,  F.  Hacheny,  Wm.  Fleidner. 

1887-8 — Mayor,  John  Gates;  President  of  Council,  C.  M.  Forbes;  Auditor,  W.  H. 
Wood;  Treasurer,  H.  W.  Monnastes;  Attorney,  W.  H.  Adams;  Surveyor,  E.  W. 
Paget;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  W.  S.  Chapman;  City  Physician,  F.  B.  Perry; 
Councilmen — First  Ward,  R.  Gerdes,  C.  Castendieck;  J.  J.  Gallagher;  Second 
Ward,  S.  Farrell.  R.  H.  Schwab,  C.  M.  Forbes;  Third  Ward,  Tyler  Woodward, 
F.  Hacheney,  Wm.  Fleidner;  Police  Judge.  Ralph  M.  Dement;  Chief  of  Police, 
S.  B.  Parrish. 

1888-9 — Mayor,  Van  B.  DeLashniutt;  Treasurer,  H.W.  Monnastes;  Auditor  and  Clerk, 
W.  H.  Woods;  Attorney.  W.  H.  Adams;  Superintendent  of  Streets,  W.  S.  Chap- 


Street  Improvements.  203 


man;  Surveyor,  E.  W.  Paget;  City  Physician,  F.  A.  Meyer;  Police  Judge,  A.  H. 
Tanner;  Chief  of  Police,  S.  B.  Parrish;  Overseer  of  Street  Cleaning  and  Sprink- 
ling, S.  B.  Matthews;  Deputy  Auditor  and  Clerk,  Walter  Matthews;  Deputy 
Superintendents  of  Streets,  W.  E.  Mulhollam,  William  E.  Braden,  William  Con- 
ner; Assistant  Surveyor,  D.  S.  Whitfield.  Councilmen — First  Ward,  C. 
Castendieck,  R.  Gerdes,  Richard  Hoyt;  Second  Ward,  S.  Farrell,  R.  H.  Schwab, 
C.  M.  Forbes;  Third  Ward,  Tyler  Woodward,  William  Showers,  William  Flied- 
ner.    President  of  the  Council,  Tyler  Woodward. 

STREETS,  AND  STREET  IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  first  streets  were  laid  out  in  1845,  parallel  with  the  river, 
which  here  flows  a  few  degrees  east  of  north,  and  were  thereby 
defledled  to  the  same  extent  from  the  points  of  the  compass.  Front 
street  was  then  a  part  of  the  levee,  and  extended  to  the  Willamette, 
making  a  broad  landing  place  for  the  equal  use  of  all  residents. 
But  four  streets  were  at  first  laid  out.  They  were  numbered  First, 
Second,  etc. ,  and  were  but  60  feet  in  width.  The  side  streets  of  the 
same  width,  were  named  Washington,  Alder,  Morrison  and  Taylor, 
being  christened  by  Pettygrove,  as  is  thought.  It  was  natural  to 
name  the  first  for  the  great  president;  ** Alder''  probably  was  derived 
from  a  tree  of  that  species  at  its  foot;  * 'Morrison,*'  was  in  honor  of  a 
resident  of  that  name,  living  on  the  street;  **Salmon,"  named  later, 
was  for  the  senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Salmon  &  Elliot,  of  San 
Francisco;  and  **Taylor"  was  without  doubt  to  signify  the  Whig 
politics  of  the  city.  As  the  city  was  extended  in  1849,  surveyed  by 
Short,  and  mapped  by  Brady,  it  became  natural  to  use  the  ordinals  to 
designate  the  north  and  south  streets,  and  to  the  cross  streets  the 
names  of  presidents  were  applied  with  no  thought  of  mnemonic  value 
for  the  school  children,  giving  us  '^Jefferson,"  Harrison,"  etc. 
**Clay"  was  probably  named  by  some  one  who  thought  that  the  great 
Kentuckian  ought  to  have  been  president.  **Stark"wasfromBenjamin 
Stark,  who  owned  the  site  from  that  street  north  to  '*A."  The  names 
''Oak,"  "Pine"  and  "Ash"  were  naturally  suggested  by  "Alder." 
Upon  the  addition  of  Couch's  donation  claim  all  effort  to  think  up 
names  significant  or  pretty  was  discarded,  and  with  the  barrenness  of 
nomenclature  for  which  Americans  are  remarkable,  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet  were  used  for  the  cross  streets,  making  in  truth  a  convenient 


204  History  of  Portland. 


method  for  finding  blocks,  and  when  the  Roman  letters  are  exhausted 
we  hope  to  see  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  applied. 

On  the  environs  of  the  city,  as  the  streets  were  multiplied,  the 
names  of  early  pioneers  have  been  bestowed,  such  as  '^Chapman," 
''Lownsdale,''  ''Carruthers,''  *'Corbett,''  etc.  North  Portland  is  laid 
out  by  the  point  of  compass  and  South  Portland  is  also  square  with  the 
north  star.  The  east  and  west  streets  are  all  60  feet  broad,  excepting 
A,  which  is  but  30 — Stark  not  meeting  Couch  half  way,  when  the  latter 
laid  out  his  claim.  From  Third  street  the  width  of  the  streets  north 
and  south  is  80  feet,  except  East  and  West  Park,  which  are  but  half 
of  this.  Such  narrowness  would  be  fatal,  but  for  this  one  thing — 
that  between  East  and  West  Park  are  the  park  blocks,  120  feet  in 
width,  and,  except  for  a  small  distance  in  the  center  of  the  city,  are 
entirely  free.  These  are  of  little  value  as  parks,  but  will  make, 
together  with  the  streets  on  each  side,  a  splendid  avenue  200  feet 
broad,  from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other — barring  the  encumbran- 
ces from  Yamhill  to  B,  which  may  be  removed.  An  avenue  125 
feet  broad  leads  down  to  the  water  front  in  North  Portland,  and 
this  and  the  park  boulevard  will  become  the  common  center  for  motor 
lines  and  driveways.  Properly  ornamented,  provided  with  fountains, 
statues,  arches,  seats  for  the  strollers,  and  shade  trees,  it  will  become 
the  pride  and  joy  of  Portland.  This  prediction — made  by  another — 
will  be  fulfilled.' 

The  bend  of  the  river,  detennining  the  course  of  the  streets, 
gives  Portland,  particularly  upon  the  map,  the  irregularity  of 
appearance  that  Europeans  contend  is  picturesque — or  at  least  like 
their  capitals.  By  reason  of  the  undulating  face  of  the  hills  to  the 
west  the  uniformity  of  straight  lines  and  parallels  is  still  further 
prevented.  The  blocks  on  all  the  Heights  are  so  laid  off  as  to  best 
suit  the  knolls  and  hollows,  and  to  make  the  grades  of  the  streets  as 
easy  as  the  incline  will  allow.  In  this  manner  the  curves  of  the 
hills  are  preserved  in  the  streets,  and  the  'Mine  of  beauty'^  cannot  be 
banished,  even  by  force.  In  time  this  will  cause  the  residence 
portion  of  the  city  to  assume  a  striking  grandeur  of  appearance,  and 
stimulate  the  erection  of  buildings,  and  the  beautifying  of  grounds, 
on    a    style    and    scale    to    consort  with  the  requirements   of  the 


Street  Improvements.  205 


topography.  There  is  something  in  having  a  site  which  forbids  the 
geometrical  homeliness  into  which  the  crudely  civilized  so  insensibly 
slip. 

Some  sort  of  improvement  of  streets  early  began  to  be  imperative 
Digging  stumps  was  the  first,  and  the  millionaire  now  lives  who 
worked  out  road  taxes  by  removing  the  roots  of  a  fir  tree  from  the 
highway  in  front  of  his  store.  The  surface  was  also  vrey  irregular, 
from  gulches,  knolls,  hummocks  formed  by  the  roots  of  fallen  trees, 
and  by  the  hollows  or  pits  left  by  the  lifting  of  the  soil  beneath. 
All  these  inequalities  were  to  be  remedied,  and  the  work  was  early 
undertaken.     The  grading   of  the  streets  was  heavy  and  expensive. 

Immediately  following  was  the  paving.  During  the  soft  months 
the  mellow  brown  soil  was  quickly  cut  into  mire,  and  trodden  into 
mortar.  Planks  were  first  used.  In  about  1858  a  macadam  road 
was  built  out  to  the  Red  House,  some  three  miles  south,  the  first  of 
its  kind  in  the  State.  In  1865  the  Nicholson  pavement  was  laid 
on  Front  and  First  streets,  and  for  a  number  of  years  was  in  great 
favor.  It  soon  began  to  fail,  however,  due  either  to  improper 
construdlion,  or  to  the  extremes  of  moisture  and  dryness  of  our 
seasons,  and  quickly  fell  into  condemnation.  In  the  June  floods, 
moreover,  which  occasionally  overflowed  the  levee  part  of  the  city,  it 
had  to  be  weighted  down  with  rock  to  be  kept  in  place.  As  this 
pavement  gave  away,  the  Belgian  block  was  substituted,  and  now 
prevails  on  Front,  First  and  Second  streets,  from  G  street  on  the 
north,  to  Jefferson  street  (with  some  exception  on  Second  street)  on 
the  south.  It  is  a  block  clipped  or  split  out  from  the  basalt  along  the 
river,  the  principal  quarry  being  near  St.  Helens.  It  is  obtained  in 
brick-shaped  pieces,  some  4x10x15  inches.  The  stone  is  hard  and 
when  evenly  laid  makes  a  finn,  but  noisy,  road.  By  constant  use, 
however,  the  comers  of  the  blocks  are  worn  down,  making  a  sort  of 
cobble  stone  surface,  which  is  slippery  and  difficult  of  hold  to  horses 
drawing  heavy  loads.  Owing  to  the  non-uniformity  of  the  ground 
beneath,  as  to  firmness,  the  old  sections  are  becoming  warped,  with 
hollows  and  bunches.  The  constgiit  lifting  of  the  blocks  to  repair 
sewer  and  water  pipes,  or  for  street  railway  purposes,  has  also  worked 
toward  an  uneven  surface.  f 


206  History  of  Portland. 

A  short  piece  of  bituminous  rock  pavement  has  been  laid  on 
Wasliington  street,  and  as  affording^  a  ver\'  easy,  neat  and  quiet 
surface  is  far  in  adv^ance  of  all  else,  but  it  has  not  proved  substantial. 

The  rest  of  the  streets  are  macadamized.  The  material,  made 
from  the  andesite  rock  of  the  hills  near  by,  is  rather  soft,  and  a  little 
hard  wear  reduces  it,  under  exposure  of  the  weather,  to  fine  dust, 
which  is  washed  into  the  sewers  or  carted  off  with  the  street  sweep- 
ings. Much  of  the  macadamizing  has  been  cheaply  and  improperly 
done,  and  the  reconmiendation  of  Street  Commissioner  Chapman  that 
heavier  rollers  be  used  in  compadling  the  work  should  be  heeded. 
It  is  hardly  excusable  to  use  iqiproper  material,  since  the  hardest  of 
basalt,  limestone,  and  even  granite,  may  be  obtained — ^although  not 
without  added  expense.  Much  consideration  has  been  given  to  the 
use  of  gravel,  which  exists  in  immense  deposits  near  East  Portland, 
and  is  extensively  laid  on  her  streets.  A  proper  assortment  of 
boulders,  coarse  and  fine  gravel,  with  sand  intermixed,  is  believed  to 
afford  the  best  of  road  beds,  and  will  perhaps  be  tried. 

Cross-walks  of  the  streets  are  of  plank  or  slabs  of  stone,  the  latter 
a  foot  or  more  in  breadth  by  some  four  or  five  in  length,  laid  treble. 
Many  of  them  are  of  granite,  brought  from  Kngland  or  China  in 
ships  as  ballast,  being  most  cheaply  obtained  in  that  manner. 

The  sidewalks  in  the  business  portion  of  the  city  are  of  stone 
squares,  quarried  from  the  hills,  or,  now  ahnost  universally,  of  the 
artificial  stone,  manufactured  from  sand.  This  is  handsome  and  dur- 
able. Brick,  with  concrete  dressing  of  fine  gravel,  was  used  a  little  in 
old  times,  and  now  remains  on  a  few  walks  on  Front  street.  The  manu- 
factured stone  is  used  extenjiively  around  the  blocks  occupied  by  fine 
residences,  but  for  the  most  part  the  walks  are  of  plank.  Quite 
frequently  they  are  made  too  broad  for  beaut}',  especially  on  the 
upper  streets,  but  the  most  are  not  thus  cumbrous,  and  a  space  for 
turf  is  left  between  the  foot-walk  and  the  pavement,  giving  relief 
from  the  glare  and  hardness  of  aspect  which  is  painful  to  the  eye  and 
offensive  to  the  taste. 

In  1885  there  were  fifty-two  and  one-half  miles  of  improved 
streets — thirty  miles  macadamized,  three  Belgian  blocks,  three  and 
one-fourth  planks,  si.xteen  and  one-fourth  graded  only.     There  were 


Car  Lines.  207 


one  hundred  miles  of  sidewalks,  sixteen  and  one-half  of  wooden  cross- 
walks, nearly  two  of  stone  and  over  two  miles  of  trestles. 

In  1886  about  nine  miles  of  new  sidewalks  were  built,  a  mile  of 
cross-walks,  a  mile  of  macadamized,  three-fourths  of  a  mile  of  pave- 
ment, six  miles  of  plank  roadway,  quarter  of  a  mile  of  bridging,  and 
two  miles  of  grading. 

In  1887,  sidewalks,  ten  and  a  quarter  miles;  cross-walks,  two; 
macadamized,  one  and  three-quarters;  bridging,  one-half;  grading, 
four;  sewers,  three. 

In  1888  were  built,  sidewalks,  ten  miles;  cross-walks,  one  and  a 
half;  macadamized,  two  and  three-quarters;  bridging,  one-half; 
grading,  four  and  three-quarters;  sewers,  three;  bituminous  rock 
pavement,  two  hundred  feet. 

These  figures  represent  a  large  expenditure,  and  show  an  attempt 
to  fulfill  the  requirements  of  the  city.  In  the  main,  the  streets  look 
well  and  are  kept  tolerably  clean.  The  greatest  need  is  a  proper 
cremator)',  or  incinerary,  to  consume  the  refuse  and  garbage. 

STREET  CAR    LINES. 

Portland  is  well  supplied  with  this  necessity  of  rapid  transit  from 

one  point  to  the  other.     The  first  track  was  laid  in  1872,  on  First 

street,  from  the  Clarendon  Hotel — then  new — and  the  railroad  station 

at  the  foot  of  F  street  to  the  vicinity  of  Jefferson  street  on  the  south. 

This   has   been  subsequently  extended   to   South   Portland.     Some 

years  later  the  Third  street  double  track  was  laid,  now  extending 

from  the  Marquam  gulch  on  the  south  to  G  street  on  the  north,  and 

up  that  street  to  Twenty-first  on  the  west,  with  a  branch  to  North 

Portland.    The  Washington  street  line — double  track — then  followed, 

with  branches   to  south   and   north  respectively   on   Eleventh   and 

Fifteenth  streets.     This  leads  into  B  street  and  out  to  the  Exposition 

building  and  the  City  Park.      A.  line  beginning  on  Morrison  street 

leads  into  Ninth  street  and  on  to  B,  with  a  return  on  Yamhill  to 

Front.     A  cable  road  extends  from  Front  by  Alder  to  Fifth,  reaching 

Jefferson,  and  proceeds  thence  to  the  Heights.    An  electric  road  makes 

a  continuous  line  from  G  street  to  Fulton  Park,  three  miles,  on  Second 
[1*1 


208  History  of  Portland. 


street.  Entering  by  the  Morrison  street  bridge  there  is  the  East 
Portland  system,  extending  to  all  of  East  Portland  and  to  Mt.  Tabor 
by  motor  line.  By  way  of  the  Stark  street  ferry,  the  motor  line  to 
Vancouver  enters  the  citv.  Bv  wav  of  the  Jefferson  street  ferrv  the 
Hawthorne  avenue  motor  line  is  accessible.  By  tlie  Steel  bridge  the 
electric  motor  cars  have  exit  to  McMillan's  and  Holladay's  addition  to 
East  Portland,  to  Albina  and  St.  John's. 

The  following  from  the  report  of  the  street  commissioner  for 
1888  gives  more  exact  details: 

*  ^Street  car  tracks  have  been  extended  over  quite  a  nmnber  of 
streets  during  the  last  year,  increasing  the  total  length  of  all  street 
car  tracks  in  the  city  from  12.7  miles  in  December,  1887,  to 
17.4-5  miles  at  the  date  of  this  report,  an  increase  of  4.75  miles. 
The  increase  is  divided  between  the  Transcontinental  Street  Railwav 
Company,  which  have  laid  three  miles  in  extending  their  tracks  down 
Yamhill  and  Morrison  streets  to  Front,  and  there  connecting  them; 
in  doubling  their  track  on  G  street  from  North  Thirteenth  street 
to  North  Twenty  first  street,  on  North  Thirteenth  between  G  and  S 
streets  and  on  S  street  between  North  Thirteenth  and  North  Sixteenth 
streets,  and  laying  a  doable  track  on  S  street  from  North  Sixteenth 
street  to  North  Twenty-third  street,  where  said  company  has  erected 
large  brick  stables;  the  Multnomah  Street  Railway  Company,  which 
has  laid  1.2  miles  in  making  the  Washington  and  B  streets  line  a 
double  track  road  from  vSecond  street  to  the  old  city  boundary,  near 
the  City  Park,  in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  and  the  Willamette 
Bridge  Railway  Company,  which  has  laid  0.55  miles  of  track,  from 
Front  street  across  the  bridge  to  the  city  boundary,  in  the  center  of 
the  Willamette  river. 

**The  Traction  Street  Car  Company  has  a  franchise  for  laying 
tracks  from  the  northwestern  part  of  the  city  through  E,  Second, 
Sheridan,  Front,  Porter  and  Corbett  streets,  a  distance  of  nearly  four 
miles.  The  Transcontinental  Company  has  also  been  granted  the 
right  to  extend  their  Yamhill  and  Taylor  street  tracks  to  Fourteenth 
street  and  thence  along  North  Eighteenth  street  to  their  double 
track  on  (i  street,  and  this   extension  will  undoubtedly  be  completed 


vSkwkrs.  201) 

and  in  operation  before  the  approaching  summer  shall  have  passed. 
Appearances  indicate  that  more  street  car  tracks  will  be  laid  in 
Portland  during  the  coming  season  than  in  any  previous  year/' 

SEWERS. 

The  surface  of  the  city  is  very  favorable  to  good  drainage,  sloping 
well  toward  the  river.  It  gains  thereby  a  strong  wash,  and  throws 
the  refuse  far  into  the  stream.  There  are,  however,  two  great 
difficulties  to  contend  with ;  one  is  natural,  and  the  other  results  from 
the  carelessness  of  the  first  who  laid  the  sewers;  or,  perhaps,  more 
strictlv  to  the  inertia  of  those  who  are  allowing  a  svstem  that 
worked  very  well  for  a  village  to  still  serve  for  the  city.  The  natural 
difficulty  is  the  backing  up  of  the  river  by  the  Columbia  in  the 
summer  and  the  other  the  mistake  of  laying  the  sewers  down  the 
streets  east  and  west,  to  discharge  in  the  river  in  front  of  the  city, 
instead  of  northward,  to  cast  their  outflow  below  the  city. 

As  to  the  pollution  of  the  river  front  by  sewage,  F.  E.  Vaughn, 
then  superintendent  of  streets,  said  in  1885:  **  These  mains  all 
extend  to  the  Willamette  river,  and  discharge  their  contents  into  that 
stream  immediately  in  front  of  the  city,  a  disagreeable  fact,  which 
will  eventually  demand  more  serious  consideration  than  is  now 
accorded  jt.  *  *  *  *  I  would  respectfully  ask  that  you  consider 
the  practicability  of  adopting  a  system  whereby  all  river  mains  that 
are  hereafter  laid  in  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  city  shall  extend 
north  and  south.  By  this  means  their  outlet  will  be  below  the  city 
front  as  now  defined. ' ' 

In  1886  he  called  attention  again  to  the  same  fact,  and  in  1887 
recommended  that  to  correct  the  evil  a  sewer  be  built  in  Front 
street,  *'  from  Sheridan  street  to  a  point  entirely  beyond  the  occupied 
portions  of  our  city,  large  enough  to  take  up  the  sewers  entering 
therein,  as  all  the  present  sewers  extend  into  the  Willamette  river 
and  discharge  their  contents  into  said  stream  along  the  city  front/'  a 
state  of  affairs  detrimental  to  the  healthy  condition  of  the  city.  The 
bad  condition  thus  recognized  and  described  must  very  soon  be 
rectified. 


/ 


f 


210  History  of  Portland. 


As  early  as  1883,  Major  A.  F.  Sears  thus  strongly  described  the 
situation : 

In  the  montli  of  June,  when  the  floods  of  the  Columbia  river  back  up  the  Wil- 
lamette, the  mouth  of  everj-  sewer  is  closed  by  the  high  water. 

In  the  winter,  during  the  rainy  season,  all  this  filth  is  carried  safely  away  from  the 
town,  because  in  those  months  there  is  a  strong  outward  current ;  the  river  water  then 
is  of  excellent  quality.  Already  the  drainage  of  more  than  twenty  streets,  with  the 
wastes  of  three  hundred  blocks,  or  five  hundred  acres,  finds  its  way  to  our  river.  So 
near  as  I  can  estimate  this  sewage  contains  the  wastes  of  about  twelve  thousand  lives. 

The  movement  of  this  water  in  passing  up  stream  under  the  summer  sun  is  so 
sluggish,  that  if  no  extraneous  filth  enteretl  the  river,  the  organic  matter  contained 
in  suspension  is  subject  to  putrifying  influence  that  cannot  but  have  a  disastrous  efiect 
on  the  public  health. 

While  the  evil  thus  stated  is  an  important — may  I  not  say  a  horrible — one,  it  is  not 
the  only  danger.  When  the  water  on  the  city  front,  during  the  summer,  remains  in 
this  quiet  condition,  certain  gross  particles  of  filth,  not  dissolved,  but  held  in  suspen- 
sion, as  well  as  the  tainted  liquid  itself,  assists  to  poison  the  earth  of  the  shore  and 
create  an  infecting,  stinking  sludge,  to  be  thrown  open  to  the  seething  influence  of 
the  sun  when  the  floods  retire,  producing  a  second    source  of  disease. 

But,  during  these  months  of  flood,  when,  as  previously  stated,  no  rain  is  falling 
and  the  ends  of  the  sewers  are  closed,  there  is  only  the  intermitting,  ordinary 
domestic  water  supply  to  keep  them  clean.  I  have  lately  had  occasion  to  learn  the 
insignificance  of  this  amount  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  cleansing.  In  the  last 
month  of  November,  after  twenty-four  hours  of  continuous,  though  light,  rains,  the 
greatest  depth  of  flow  in  any  sewer  has  been  less  than  three  inches,  and  this  was 
regarded  as  extraordinary,  the  truth  being  that  it  was  rare  to  find  more  than  one  inch, 
and  generally  only  a  film  of  liquid  running  along  the  pipes. 

In  the  summer,  therefore,  when  the  sewers  must  rely  solely  on  the  domestic  water 
supply,  they  become  elongated  cesspools  and  throw  their  poisonous  gases  on  our 
atmosphere  or  into  our  houses. 

The  catch-basins,  that  are  filled  by  the  last  rainy  season  with  a  rich  deposit  of 
rotting  wood,  street  filth,  dead  cats  and  all  unnameable  things  that  reek,  are 
disj>ensing  the  gases  of  putrefaction  along  the  sewers  for  distribution  in  our  houses  or 
at  the  street  comers. 

This  is  a  condition  of  things  existing  at  the  present  time,  while  the  district  under 
consideration  is,  as  compared  with  other  cities,  sparsely  settled. 

He  spoke  of  the  suggestion  of  Wm.  E.  Morris,  in  1872,  that  an 
intercepting  sewer  be  built  along  Front  street  to  lead  to  a  point  below 
the  city,  and  that  the  Warring  system  be  adopted,  by  which  the 
waste  of  water,  etc. ,  is  carried  off  in  separate  pipes,  which  are  kept  clean 
and  flushed  by  steady  automatic  injectments  of  water  at  the  dead 
end  from  a  flushing  tank  furnished  with  syphons.  The  expense  of  the 
work,  $348,958,    was   deemed  so   great   as   to   render   the   change 


Sewers.  211 


impracticable.  Nevertheless,  at  this  day,  when  the  population  is  five 
times  that  at  the  time  the  report  was  made  by  Major  Sears,  and  the 
expense  would  not  be  above  six  dollars  per  capita,  no  better  system 
could  be  devised. 

The  condition  of  the  sewers  in  the  summer  time  is  thus  spoken 
of  by  W.  S.  Chapman,  presentsuperintendent  of  streets:  ''Something 
like  five  miles  of  street  sewers  are  submerged  from  one  end  to  the 
othet  by  from  ten  to  eighteen  feet  of  back  (dead)  water  during  the 
summer  freshets."  The  sewers  thus  referred  to  are  in  the  lower,  or 
northern,  portion  of  the  city.  But  all  the  sewers  are  stopped  up  at 
the  mouth  by  the  high  water.  How  this  great  difficulty  may  be 
remedied  it  is  hard  to  see,  unless  it  be  by  concentrating  all  the  mains 
upon  one  large  sewer,  and  carrying  that  far  below  the  city,  and  there, 
during  high  water,  emptying  it  by  means  of  powerful  pumps. 

In  1885  the  total  length  of  sewers  aggregated  fifteen  and  a  half 
miles  of  terra  cotta  pipes,  ranging  from  nine  to  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter.  During  1886,  12,739  feet  (two  and  one-fourth  miles) 
were  added,  the  principal  work  being  on  Jefferson  street.  Work  was 
also  begun  on  the  Tanner  Creek  sewer.  This  is  of  brick,  500  feet 
in  length  of  circular,  and  3,836  feet  egg-shaped,  making  upwards  of 
three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  all;  to  which  has  been  added  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  within  the  past  year.  It  carries  a  large  volume  of 
water,  draining  a  considerable  portion  of  the  range  of  hills; 
$36,067.74  were  spent  on  this  in  1887,  and  $16,181.25  for  pipe 
sewers.  In  1888  special  attention  was  given  to  the  southern 
portion  of  the  city,  laying  a  sewer  to  carry  off  the  drainage  of  the 
Marquam  creek.  This  is  of  brick,  built  at  a  cost  of  $7,559.25,  and, 
together  with  lateral  pipes,  aggregated  some  $25,000;  $40,788.97 
were  spent  on  pipe  sewers  in  1888.  The  great  work  for  1889  has 
been  the  beginning  of  the  Johnson  creek  sewer,  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  city,  to  be  erected  at  a  cost  of  $60,000.  Pipe  sewers  in  the 
northwestern  portion  are  also  being  provided  with  arrangements  for 
a  main.  The  expense  of  construction  of  sewers  is  borne  by  the 
property'  adjacent,  and  averages  about  $20  per  lot.  This  is 
undoubtedly  a  bad  plan,  as  lot  owners  along  the  line  use  every 
method  to  reduce  expense,  and  the  sewers  are  not  built  except  in  the 


212  History  of  Portland. 

• 

last  extremity.  The  benefit,  moreover,  is  to  the  whole  cit>',  since 
the  cleanliness  and  healthfnlness  of  each  part  has  a  fnll  inflnence  npon 
the  whole. 

The  Marquam  giilch  on  the  sonth,  the  Tanner  creek  vale  in  the 
center,  and  the  Johnson  creek  hollow  on  the  north  are  the  main 
depressions  in  the  city,  and  the  work  in  them  is  of  a  substantial  and 
permanent  character.  Portland  has  not  been  niggardly  in  expen- 
diture for  sewers,  yet  her  system  is  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  condition. 
The  work  to  be  done  at  once  is  introduction  of  an  entirely  new  plan, 
by  which  the  pipes  are  thoroughly  flushed  and  washed  out  every 
dav  in  the  vear  and  the  contents  taken  far  below  the  citv,  even,  if 
necessary,  to  the  Columbia  river.  One  million  dollars  raised  by 
special  tax,  if  by  no  other  means,  would  be  a  small  outlay  in 
comparison  with  the  health  and  benefit  to  be  derived. 


CHAPTER  VH. 

COMMERCE. 

Primitive  Commerce — Commercial  Operations  of  Hudson's  Bay  Company — Trade 
Enterprises  of  HaU  J.  KeUey,  Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth  and  Nathaniel  Crosby — Period  of 
Commercial  Adventurers— Discovery  of  Ciold  and  Its  Effects  on  Commerce — Earlv 
Trade  in  Lumber — Portland  a  Market  for  Oregon  Produce— Early  Sailing  Vessels 
Which  visited  Portland — Beginning  of  Steam  Navigation — Character  and  Value  of 
Portland's  Exports  From  1855  to  1865 — Steamships  running  to  Portland  from  1864 
to  1869— Value  of  Portland's  Exports  in  1866  and  1867— Measures  Which  Secured 
Portland's  Commercial  Independence — Growth  of  Foreign  Commerce — Trade  Statis- 
tics for  1870 — Period  of  Business  Depression — Commercial  Growth  and  Development 
During  Recent  Vears — Present  Character  and  Condition  of  Portland's  Commerce. 

IN  approaching  the  snbject  of  the  commerce  of  Portland,  it  will  be 
found  that  it  divides  itself  most  naturally  into  three  periods. 
The  first  of  these  begins  in  the  most  remote  times,  dating,  indeed,  as 
far  back  as  the  year  1811,  when  Astor  projected  his  fur  enterprise 
from  New  York  upon  our  shores.  This  extends  as  far  down  as  to 
1848  and  the  first  months  of  1849 — the  period  of  gold  in  California. 


CoMMKRCK.  213 

The  period  from  1811  until  1849  may  be  termed  the  age  of  commer- 
cial adventurers  and  independent  shippers,  or  the  period  of  our 
primitive  commerce.  The  second  stage,  beginning  with  1849, 
continues  until  1868,  and  may  be  styled  the  period  of  dependence, 
or  at  least  sub-dependence,  upon  San  Francisco.  The  third, 
beginning  with  1869,  and  extending  up  to  the  present  time  may  be 
styled  the  period  of  independent  commerce  with  the  Atlantic  seaports, 
Europe,  and  all  the  world. 

Recurring  to  the  primitive  age  we  find  included  in  this  the 
enterprise  of  Winship,  of  Astor,  a  long  regime  of  the  Hudson^s  Bay 
Company,  and  the  ineffectual  attempts  of  Kelley,  Wyeth,  and  Couch ; 
with,  perhaps,  a  few  independent  ventures  of  other  bold  but  unlucky 
Americans.  It  is  not  necessar\-  here  more  than  to  refer  to  the  scheme 
of  Astor.  It  is  well  enough,  however,  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  days 
so  early  as  1809  and  1810,  commercial  men  upon  the  Atlantic 
sea-board  were  looking  toward  the  Columbia  River  as  the  next  great 
opening  for  their  enterprise.  Looking  upon  the  map  of  North 
America,  they  saw  how  the  Columbia  river  and  its  tributaries  made 
an  open  way  from  the  heart  of  the  continent  so  that  the  produAs  of 
the  interior  might  readily  float  thence  to  the  sea,  and  were  therefore 
impressed  that  at  the  mouth  of  this  stream  would  rise  the  great 
emporium  of  the  Pacific  Coast  and  command  the  trade  of  the  Orient. 
Astor's  proximate  object  was  to  nourish  a  trade  in  furs  and  to 
thereby  gain  a  foothold  for  American  institutions.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  he  intended  to  so  far  extend  his  plans  and 
operations  as  to  include  the  planting  of  colonies,  the  development 
of  agricultural  and  pastoral  pursuits,  and  thereby  to  insure  the 
conditions  by  which  a  great  commerce  such  as  then  was  crystalizing 
about  New  York  City,  should  be  developed  upon  the  western  waters. 
It  is  well  enough  known  how  his  enterprise  failed,  how  his  ships 
were  blown  up  or  wrecked,  and  how  his  agents  upon  this  Coast 
betrayed  his  interests  to  his  British  rivals.  Nevertheless,  in  the  two 
years  during  which  his  business  flourished,  in  spite  of  all  his  di.sasters, 
he  succeeded  in  establishing  the  first  settlement  on  the  North  Pacific 
coast,  and  in  collecting  furs  worth  something  like  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 


214  History  of  Portland. 


The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  which  succeeded  to  this  enterprise, 
was  a  well  established  business  corporation,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a 
centun-  and  more — 1818  to  1846— carried  on  a  commerce  worth  on 
the  average  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  per  annum.  This  was,  in 
the  first  years,  almost  exclusively  devoted  to  the  export  of  peltries 
and  to  the  import  of  only  such  articles  as  were  necessary  to  secure 
them — that  is  clothes,  gew-gaws,  trinkets,  beads  and  a  modicum  of 
powder  and  shot  For  more  than  ten  years  their  commerce  was  thus 
restricted,  and  one  ship  a  year  from  London  was  amply  sufficient  to 
bring  all  imports  and  to  carr>'  off  all  exports.  About  1829,  however, 
McLoughlin,  the  chief  factor  at  Fort  Vancouver,  found  that  he 
might  advantageously  supply  the  Russian  post  at  Sitka,  or  New 
Archangel,  as  then  denominated,  with  wheat;  and  settling,  therefore, 
a  number  of  his  servants  upon  lands  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  and 
in  after  years  encouraging  the  American  settlers  to  engage  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  cereals,  he  built  up  a  considerable  commerce  in  the 
Northern  waters.  As  early  as  1835,  or  1836,  it  was  found  that  an 
incidental  commerce  of  much  value  might  be  conducted  with  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  And  at  this  time  began  our  first  real  export  of 
salmon,  lumber,  and  hoop-poles  and  staves.  The  annual  ship  passing 
by  Honolulu  on  her  voyage  to  the  Columbia  left  at  that  point  a 
portion  of  her  cargo  to  be  sold  to  the  Islanders.  Taking  on  here  a 
supply  of  molasses,  she  proceeded  to  the  Columbia  river,  and  after 
discharging  at  the  little  fort  at  Vancouver,  took  on  some  salt  salmon, 
lumber,  hoop-poles  and  staves  to  leave  at  the  Islands  as  she  went 
on  back  to  London.  This  amounted  to  as  much  as  sixty  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.  This  British  circuit  of  trade  flourished  until 
1845,  when  Nathaniel  Crosby,  a  Yankee  sea  captain,  began  to  make 
inroads  upon  it;  and,  as  by  the  treaty  of  1846,  Oregon  as  far  north 
as  the  parallel  of  49  degrees  fell  to  our  nation,  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  relinquished  all  this  business  to  the  Americans. 

It  was  in  1830  that  Hall  J.  Kelley  began  his  unlucky  series  of 
enterprises,  and  although  he  met  nothing  but  failure  from  beginning 
to  end,  and  contemplated  a  system  of  colonization  rather  than 
commerce,  the  agitation  into  which  the  Eastern  States,  and  especially 
the  commercial  circles  of  Boston  were   thereby   thrown,  produced 


Commerce.  215 


fruit  later  on.  Nathaniel  J.  Wyeth,  of  Boston,  a  clever,  mettlesome, 
idealistic,  but  nevertheless  sagacious  New  Englander,  conducted  his 
expedition  across  the  continent  to  the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  river. 
His  plan  was  to  establish  forts  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Columbia, 
which  were  to  be  supplied  with  goods  for  the  Indian  trade,  while  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Willamette  he  was  to  have  a  central  station.  To 
this  point  should  be  gathered  the  pelts  collected  from  the  Indians, 
and  hither  a  ship  should  come  every  year  bringing  a  supply  of  goods 
sufficient  for  the  interior  posts.  A  system  of  salmon  fishing  was 
also  to  be  condu6led  on  the  lower  Columbia,  and  as  his  vessel  sailed 
away  with  the  product  of  the  yearns  labor  of  the  trappers  and  the 
traders,  she  was  also  to  carry  a  cargo  of  salt  fish  to  be  traded  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands  for  whale  oil  or  other  products  of  that  region. 
This  brilliant  scheme  proved  equally  disastrous  with  that  of  Kelley's. 
Wyeth's  little  band,  which  he  left  at  Fort  Hall,  had  much  ado  to 
escape  extermination  at  the  hands  of  the  red  men.  His  fishermen  on 
the  lower  Columbia  had  bad  luck  in  taking  salmon — ^some  of  them 
being  drowned ;  and  he  was  only  too  willing,  after  a  struggle  of  less 
than  three  years,  to  sell  out  to  his  rivals  and  accept  passage  home  in 
one  of  their  ships.  Captain  Couch,  in  1839,  under  the  direction  of 
John  and  Caleb  Cushing,  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  entered 
upon  a  scheme  very  similar  to  that  of  Wyeth's,  with  the  exception 
that  he  did  not  contemplate  dealing  to  any  iextent  in  furs.  With  the 
brig  Maryland  he  sailed  around  Cape  Horn,  arriving  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia  river  and  passing  up  its  waters  to  the  Willamette, 
and  thence  to  Oregon  City  on  the  solsticial  freshet  of  May,  1840. 
He  had  on  board  an  assorted  cargo  for  trade  with  the  American 
settlers  in  Oregon,  and  intended  to  load  up  with  salmon  and  return 
to  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  there  exchange  his  cargo  for  whale  oil 
and  return  via  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Massachusetts.  His  plans, 
however,  totally  failed  from  his  inability  to  sell  his  goods  at  Oregon 
City  at  prices  to  compete  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  from 
the  impossibility  of  obtaining  a  cargo  of  fish.  He  sailed  empty  to 
Honolulu,  and  there  had  to  sell  the  Maryland  in  order  to  get  home. 
In  1845,  however,  the  persevering  attempts  of  Americans  to 
control  this  trade  met  with  success.     It  was  in  that  year  that  Captain 


216  History  of  Portland. 

Nathaniel  Crosby  came  around  the  Horn  from  Massachusetts,  and 
entering  the  Cohimbia  river,  sailed  up  to  Portland,  and,  anchoring 
here,  began  to  sell  off  his  stock  of  goods.  By  means  of  batteaux,  or 
flat  boats,  his  goods  were  lightered  up  to  Oregon  City  and  there 
disposed  of  as  the  settlers  found  need.  It  was  in  connection  with 
this  bark,  the  Toulon,  that  the  name  of  Portland  began  to  be  known. 
People  at  the  thriving  city  of  the  falls  inquired  when  they  learned 
that  Crosby's  ship  was  in  the  river  where  she  would  unload,  and  the 
answer  was  made  "At  Portland. '^  This  venture  was  measurablv 
successful,  and  thenceforward  Crosby  began  a  regular  trade  between 
Portland  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  carrying  away  salmon,  hoop- 
poles,  staves,  and  a  little  whip-sawed  lumber,  or  perhaps  something 
of  the  product  of  the  saw-mills  at  Oregon  City,  near  Vancouver,  or 
the  Hunt's  mill  onCathlamet  bay.  In  1846  this  success  of  Crosby's 
was  followed  up  by  the  arrival  of  the  Chenamus,  from  Newburyport, 
under  Captain  Couch,  on  his  second  venture. 

In  1847,  as  the  supremacy  of  the  United  States  in  the  western 
waters  began  to  be  fully  assured,  other  ships  with  cargoes  of  goods 
began  to  arrive.  One  of  these  was  the  bark  Whitton,  of  New  York, 
under  Captain  Ghelstom.  She  came  up  to  Portland,  and,  after 
discharging,  took  on  a  considerable  supply  of  produce,  making  a 
temporary  wharf  by  drawing  up  near  to  the  shore  and  placing  poles 
from  the  bank  to  her  deck,  and  upon  these  laying  planks.  At  the 
same  time  the  brig  Henry  was  in  the  river  on  the  East  Portland  side; 
the  American  bark  Parsons  is  also  mentioned  as  having  entered  the 
Columbia,  and  the  Eveline  from  Newbur\'port. 

The  Star  of  Oregon,  a  schooner,  built  in  the  early  forties  by 
Joseph  Gale  and  other  Americans,  on  Swan  Island,  was  run  down  to 
San  Francisco,  but  of  course  exported  nothing,  unless  she  herself  be 
considered  an  export — for  she  was  sold  at  San  Francisco,  and  the 
money  thus  obtained  was  invested  in  cattle,  which  were  driven 
to  Oregon.  It  is  not  known  that  there  were  any  other  exports 
from  Oregon,  or,  at  least,  that  any  passed  Portland  during 
those  early  times.  This  whole  epoch,  at  least  so  far  as  concerns 
Americans,  was  that  of  commercial  adventurers,  and  old-time  traders, 
such  as  flourished  on  everv  sea  from  about  the  vear  1790  to  1850. 


Commerce.  217 

Coming  now  to  the  second  epoch  we  find  a  commercial  revolution 
consequent  upon  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  Thenceforth 
the  objective  point  of  the  commerce  of  Oregon  and  of  Portland  as 
her  principal  shipping  point  was  the  Golden  Gate.  At  the  time  that 
the  discovery  of  gold  was  announced  in  Oregon  in  August,  1848,  the 
brig  flen/y  happened  to  be  lying  in  the  river,  and  her  captain  believ- 
ing that  the  discovery  of  gold  would  produce  permanent  industries 
on  the  most  gigantic  scale,  seized  the  opportunity,  before  the  news 
became  general,  to  buy  up  as  many  as  possible  of  the  spades,  shovels 
and  pans,  that  were  to  be  found  among  the  householders  and  farmers 
of  young  Oregon.  With  these  he  sailed  off,  and,  although  experien- 
cing a  long  delay  on  the  bar  of  the  Columbia,  and  passing  through  a 
storm  at  sea,  by  which  he  was  well  nigh  shipwrecked,  he  made  the 
port  of  San  Franciso  without  great  loss,  and  realized  a  fortune. 
Other  craft  going  down  the  coast  to  the  same  place  carried  produce 
of  various  kinds  and  some  deck  loads  of  lumber  which  had  been  cut 
out  by  whip  saws,  or  at  Hunt^s  mill.  From  1849  until  about  1855, 
and  even  later,  the  trade  in  Oregon  produce  and  lumber  became 
exceedingly  remunerative.  One  of  the  ship  captains  who  made  it  a 
great  success  was  Couch.  He  arrived  on  his  third  trip  from 
Massachusetts  at  San  Francisco  in  1849,  with  the  Madonna^  and  sold 
what  lumber  he  had  on  board  at  the  fabulous  price  of  six  hundred 
dollars  per  thousand  feet.  Five  hundred  dollars  a  thousand  was  for 
some  time  the  regular  market  price.  The  Madonna  came  up  to 
Portland  and  thereafter  made  regular  trips  under  command  of  Captain 
Flanders,  now  of  our  city.  Stimulated  by  the  great  demand  for 
lumber,  mills  began  to  spring  up  along  the  lower  Willamette,  and  a 
heavy  export  trade  was  continued.  Lot  Whitcomb  and  Captain 
Kellogg,  at  Milwaukie,  operated  a  saw  mill  and  regularly  despatched 
vessels  to  the  Golden  Gate,  carrying  their  own  lumber  and  also  that 
of  other  mills,  for  which  they  received  a  hundred  dollars  a  thousand 
as  freight.  The  exa6l  amount  of  lumber  thus  exported  during  these 
years  is  not  known,  but,  together  with  shingles,  puncheons,  poles, 
timbers,  hoop-poles,  shooks  and  staves,  aggregated  a  value  of  many 
thousand  dollars. 


218  History  of  Portland. 


Under  the  stimulus  of  enonnous  prices  and  unlimited  demand 
Oregon  produce  began  to  be  gathered  likewise  and  sent  below. 
Butter  at  two  dollars  a  pound,  beef  at  one  dollar;  wheat,  potatoes 
and  other  vegetables,  at  corresponding  figures,  were  eagerly  brought 
from  all  parts  of  the  Willamette  valley  and  shipped  at  Portland  or 
other  points  on  the  lower  Willamette  and  Columbia.  To  meet  this 
growing  commerce  sailing  craft  became  multiplied,  and  steam 
communication  was  soon  demanded.  The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship 
Company,  of  New  York  City,  under  the  presidency  of  Aspinwall, 
had  in  1849  sent  the  old  PaciSc  through  the  straits  of  Magellan  for 
Astoria,  but  she  stopped  at  San  Francisco.  In  1851  she  was  followed 
by  the  old  Columbia^  a  side- wheeler  of  about  six  hundred  tons,  which 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river  and  stopped  at  Astoria. 
After  this  she  made  regular  trips  between  San  Francisco  and  the 
Columbia  river,  coming  finally  as  far  up  that  stream  as  St.  Helens.  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  same  year  the  Gold  Hunter  came  up  from  San 
Francisco,  and  being  purchased  by  the  town  proprietors  and  other 
citizens  first  connected  our  city  by  steam  with  the  outer  world. 

There  was  no  product  of  our  valley  which  met  with  a  greater 
demand  than  the  Oregon  apple.  Orchards  were  exceedingly  few, 
and  in  1850  to  1855  the  trees  were  so  young  that  even  the 
total  aggregate  of  the  entire  Willamette  valley  was  not  large. 
People  from  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  who  had  been  accustomed 
to  this  fniit,  and  in  crossing  the  plains  or  sailing  around  the  Horn,  or 
via  the  Isthmus,  when  they  had  been  compelled  to  live  upon  fried 
bacon  or  salt  beef,  with  little  or  no  fniit  or  vegetables,  were  ravenous 
for  the  beautiful  red  or  golden  apples  that  grew  large  and  fair  in  the 
Oregon  rain  and  sunshine.  They  were  willing,  especially  if  their 
belts  were  full  of  **  dust/'  to  give  almost  their  weight  in  gold  for  the 
pomes.  A  dollar  apiece,  and  even  five  dollars  for  a  big  one,  was  a 
regular  price  in  the  earliest  days.  The  first  shipnient  was  made  from 
the  nurser>'  of  Luelling  &  Meek,  at  Milwaukie,  in  1853.  This  was 
a  consignment  of  two  hundred  pounds  for  the  San  Francisco  market, 
from  which  they  realized  five  hundred  dollars.  In  1854  they  sent 
forty  bushels  down,  making  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  by  the  trans- 
action.    About  the  same  time  Mr.  J.  A.  Strowbridge,  now  one  of  our 


Commerce.  219 


most  substantial  citizens,  began  making  collections  and  consignments, 
going  about  from  orchard  to  orchard,  and  encouraging  the  farmers  to 
plant  trees  as  rapidly  as  possible.  His  returns  were  large,  and 
the  encouragement  which  he  gave  the  farmers  resulted  in  the 
extension  of  the  early  orchards.  In  1855  the  export  reached  fifteen 
hundred  boxes,  which  sold  at  fifty  cents  to  a  dollar  a  pound;  in  1856, 
five  thousand  boxes,  selling  at  twenty-five  to  fifty  cents  a  pound;  in 
1857,  fifteen  thousand  boxes,  at  fifteen  cents  to  fifty  cents;  in  1858, 
twenty-nine  thousand,  one  hundred  and  ninety  boxes,  at  seven  cents 
to  thirty-five  cents;  in  1859,  seventy-two  thousand  boxes,  at  three 
cents  to  twenty-five  cents;  in  1860,  eighty-six  thousand  boxes,  at 
three  cents  to  nineteen  cents.  In  the  winter  of  1861,  owing  to  the 
severity  of  the  season,  the  orchards  suffered  a  gjeat  loss,  many  of 
them  being  completely  ruined,  so  that  the  exports  did  not  for  many 
years  come  up  to  their  early  productiveness.  Even  in  1863  we  find 
the  exports  only  forty-two  thousand  and  thirty-one  boxes.  Yet  it  is 
to  be  noticed  that  after  the  discovery  of  gold  and  silver  in  Eastern 
Oregon  and  Idaho,  quite  considerable  shipments  were  made  thither, 
of  which  no  record  is  found;  and  it  was  becoming  customary  also  to 
turn  the  product  into  dried  fruit,  which  subsequently  exceeded  in 
value  the  shipments  of  the  green.  Moreover,  as  prices  fell,  the  crops 
were  not  fully  gathered  and  thousands  of  bushels  were  suffered  to  rot 
under  the  trees,  or  were  fed  to  the  cattle  and  hogs. 

About  the  year  1860,  and  until  1865,  there  began  a  steady 
change  in  the  character  of  exports.  It  was  during  those  years  that 
many  of  the  people  of  Western  Oregon  went  mining  in  Eastern 
Oregon  or  in  Idaho,  and  as  they  returned,  brought  with  them  large 
quantities  of  gold  dust;  while  bars  of  the  precious  metals,  which  had 
been  made  in  the  mining  camps  or  towns  of  the  upper  Columbia, 
began  to  come  down  to  Portland  and  were  shipped  thence  as  treasure. 
These  shipments  soon  vastly  exceeded  in  value  all  other  exports 
combined.  Frequently  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars,  and  occa- 
sionally twice  or  three  times  that  sum,  was  sent  away  on  a  single 
steamer. 

To  begin  now  with  a  more  exact  account  of  our  exports,  those  of 
1863  are  stated  as  follows:  (It  will  not  be  supposed  that  these  figures 


220  History  ok  Portland. 


are  exact,  or  wholly  comprehensive,  since  many  shipments  were  made 
of  which  no  acconnt  was  taken,  and  gold  dust  especially  was  carried 
off  in  the  ix)uches  of  the  miners,  the  quantity  of  which  was  altogether 
unknown).  Apples  shipped  aggregated  forty-two  thousand  and 
thirty-one  boxes;  hides,  two  thousand,  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
four;  wool,  two  thousand  pounds  and  fifty  bales.  There  were  butter, 
flour,  packages  of  eggs,  gunnies  of  bacon,  and  live  stock  in  consid- 
erable numbers.  Of  treasure  there  were  nearlv  three  million  dollars. 
In  18G4-  the  shipments  of  treasure  rose  to  upwards  of  six  million 
dollars,  while  other  products  swelled  these  export  figures  by  about 
six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Apples  had  come  up  to  sixty-one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight  boxes.  The  shipment  of 
flour  was  insignificant  compared  with  that  of  later  days,  and  that  of 
wheat  figured  scarcely  more,  although  we  find  that  the  bark  Almatia 
took  down  a  hundred  tons  on  one  of  her  trips.  We  also  find  a 
shipment  of  two  hundred  barrels  of  salmon.  Although  this  fish  was 
caught  in  considerable  quantity  and  prepared  by  salting  for  domestic 
consumption,  it  figured  comparatively  nothing  in  those  days  before 
the  canneries.  Of  other  exports  we  find  oats,  potatoes,  turpentine, 
hoop-poles,  lumber,  lard,  oil,  fish,  beans,  butter  and  bacon.  The 
characteristic  of  these  early  shipments  is  that  of  a  community  of 
small  farmers  and  housekeepers,  who,  of  afternoons,  rainy  days  and 
long  winter  evenings,  treasured  up  betimes  the  various  odds  and  ends 
of  their  domestic  and  agricultural  economies,  rather  for  the  sake  of  a 
little  ready  money  when  they  went  down  to  Portland,  than  as  a 
regular  established  industry.  Even  the  exports  of  wheat,  flour, 
lumber  and  cattle  seemed  to  be  the  picking  up  and  saving  of  the  odds 
and  ends  after  the  domestic  wants  had  been  supplied.  The  shipment 
of  treasure  was  about  the  only  thing  that  constituted  a  great 
industry.  To  acomino  late  this  cDUimerce,  and  to  meet  the  wants 
of  tra\elers,  the  steamships  Oregon,  Sierra  Nevada,  Brother 
Jonathan,  Pacific,  George  S.  Wright  and  Moses  Taylor  were  kept 
in  operation.  These  were  old  fashioned,  side-wheelers,  high,  and 
wide,  and  also  slow.  They  are  well  known  among  old  Oregonians, 
and  the  fate  of  the  Brother  Jonathan,  which  was  wrecked  on  the 
reef  near    Crescent    Citv,    in   California,    is    still    remembered  with 


COMMKRCK.  221 

something  of  the  horror  that  fell  upon  the  isolated  conununities  in 
Oregon  when  the  news  of  the  great  disaster  was  first  received.  The 
George  S.  Wright  also  suffered  shipwreck,  being  many  years  later 
lost  in  the  northern  waters.  Of  sailing  vessels,  the  barks  Industry, 
Jennie  Jones,  Cambridge,  Jane  A.  Falkenburg,  Almatia,  Samuel 
Merritt,  Helen  W.  Almv  and  Panama  are  named. 

In  1865  the  value  of  exports  is  given  as  seven  million  six 
hundred  and  six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-four  dollars,  the 
greater  portion  of  which  was  treasure. 

Holladay's  California,  Oregon  and  Victoria  Steamship  Line  was 
running  in  that  year,  the  Sierra  Nevada  (1,395  tons)  and  the  Oregon 
(1,035  tons).  The  California  Steam  Navigation  Company's 
line — Hensley  —  was  now  operating  the  Pacific  (1,100  tons), 
and  here  appears  also  the  new  name  Orizaba  (1,400  tons).  The.se 
plied  to  San  Francisco.  Their  rates  for  transporting  horses  were 
twenty-five  dollars  a  head;  cattle,  twelve  dollars;  sheep,  two  dollars 
and  fifty  cents;  and  hogs,  four  dollars.  The  slaughtered  animals  were 
reduced  somewhat;  rates  for  hogs,  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents;  while 
cattle  were  still  twelve  dollars.  General  merchandise  paid  ten 
dollars;  wheat,  eight  dollars,  and  flour,  six  dollars  per  ton.  To 
Victoria  the  steamer  Active  was  run  by  Captain  Thorn. 

Sailing  vessels  to  San  Francisco  were  the  Jane  A,  Falkenburg, 
600  tons.  Captain  A.  D.  Wass;  the  H.  W.  Almy,  600  tons,  Captain 
E.  Freeman;  the  bark  Almatia,  700  tons,  Capt.  Stannard;  bark 
W.  B,  Scranton,  700  tons,  Captain  W.  Cathcart;  bark  Samuel  Merritt, 
550  tons.  Captain  Joseph  Williams,  and  bark  Live  Yankee,  Captain 
Wiggins. 

The  Hawaiian  Packet  line  comprised  the  bark  A.  A.  Eldridge,  of 
400  tons,  under  Captain  M.  Abbott,  and  the  bark  Comet,  of  700 
tons.     Of  this  line,  McCraken,  Merrill  &  Co.  were  agents. 

While  the  lines  of  commerce  were  thus  maintained  to  ports  outside 
the  State,  the  internal  commerce  on  our  rivers  was  very  active 
and  attained  large  proportions.  The  O.  S.  N.  Co.,  ran  steamers  to 
Astoria,  to  the  Cowlitz  river,  to  The  Dalles,  and  the  Snake  river. 
To  Astoria,  the/.  H.  Couch;  to  Monlicello,  a  place  at  the  mouth  ol 
the  Cowlitz  river,  which  was  washed  away  in  the  flood  of  1866,  and 


t 


222  History  of  Portland. 


has  since  been  called  Freeport,  the  Cowlitz  or  Rescue;  to  the 
Cascades,  the  New  World,  Wilson  G.  Hunt,  Cascade  or  Julia^  to 
connect  by  means  of  the  portage  railway  with  the  Oneonta,  Idaboy 
or  Iris,  The  fare  to  The  Dalles  was  six  dollars;  freight,  twelve 
dollars  per  ton.  Connection  was  made  between  The  Dalles  and 
Celilo,  by  means  of  another  portage  railway,  with  the  Owyhee,  Spray ^ 
Okanogon^  Webfoot^  Yakima^  Tenino^  or  Nez  Perces  Chief,  for 
Umatilla,  or  the  Snake  river.  Fare  to  Umatilla  was  twelve  dollars, 
and  freight  seventeen  dollars  and  fifty  cents.  To  Lewiston  the  fare 
was  twenty-two  dollars,  and  freight  sixty  dollars. 

The  People's  Transportation  Company  ran  between  Portland  and 
Oregon  City  the  Senator  and  Rival,  to  connect  at  Canemah  with  the 
Reliance  or  Fannie  Patton.  For  Eugene,  the  Enterprise  ran  from 
Canemah. 

Some  independent  steamers,  then  as  now,  were  moving  upon 
these  inland  waters,  among  which  were  the  Alert^  for  Oregon  City, 
to  connect  at  Canemah  with  the  Active  for  points  above;  the  Union, 
plying  between  Canemah  and  Lafayette;  the  Echo,  for  Eugene;  and 
on  the  Cohimbia  between  Portland  and  Vancouver,  the  Fannie 
Troupe. 

In  1866  the  total  export  amounted  to  $8,726,017.  The  details 
are  given  as  follows:  Pork,  72  barrels  (<v  $20;  apples,  68,860  boxes 
(fi  $1;  eggs,  1763  packages  Or  $10;  bacon,  4376  gimnies  (in  $16; 
hides,  4674  0^  $1.50;  onions,  1325  sacks  (a  $4;  syrup,  185  barrels 
(ft  $8;  wool,  1671  bales  Of  $40;  pitch,  292  barrels  (<n  $6;  varnish, 
124  cases  Ot  $10;  dried  apples,  2603  packages  (a  $10;  flour,  29,815 
barrels  0'  $5;  salmon,  2564  packages  at  $8.50;  staves  and  headings 
59,203;  shooks,  14,972  (o  40  cents. 

The  foregoing  items  foot  up  $555,457;  to  which  should  be 
added  $200,000  for  cargoes  of  which  no  manifests  were  made.  The 
shipments  of  treasure  aggregated  $8,070,600. 

During  this  Near  the  steamer  Ranger  was  put  on  the 
\'ancouver  line,  and  the  steamer  Yamhill  made  tri-weekly  trips  to 
Hillsboro. 

To  San  Francisco  the  new  steamer  Montana  first  appeared;  and 
the  schooner  Alfred  Crosby,  to  Victoria;  the   schooner  Champion, 


Commerce.  223 


and  the  bark  Ethan  Allen,  were  found  in  our  trade.  The  steamship 
Fidelitery  a  small,  low  screw  propeller,  which  always  went  with  a 
buzz,  and  at  least  preserved  the  appearance  of  activity,  took  up  the 
route  to  Victoria.  This  same  year  also  the  dashing  and  swift  steamer 
OriBamme,  began  to  ply  on  the  route  to  San  Francisco. 

For  1867  the  total  export  is  given  as  $6,463,793.75.  This 
appears  to  be  more  than  $2,000,000  less  than  the  preceding  year, 
but  this  diminution  is  due  to  a  great  decrease  in  the  export  of 
treasure  which  fell  from  more  than  $8,000,000  to  about  $4,000,000. 

COMMERCIAL   INDEPENDENCE. 

During  this  whole  period,  from  about  1845  until  1868  or  1869, 
the  Oregon  merchants,  although  industrious  and  active,  and  carrying 
on,  as  we  have  seen,  a  considerable  volume  of  business,  had  been  in 
reality  working  under  the  hand  of  San  Francisco  dealers.  In  the 
first  part  of  this  time  many  of  them  entertained  the  idea  that  as 
Oregon  was  the  region  from  which  the  mines  of  California  drew 
supplies,  she  must  ultimately  secure  the  gold  that  flowed  forth  from 
the  depths  of  the  earth.  They  believed  that  Oregon  would  become 
the  head  of  business,  and  that  her  citizens  would  not  only  send 
supplies  to  California,  but  also  control,  to  a  ver>'  large  extent,  the 
trade  and  shipping  between  the  two  States.  But  while  this  reasoning 
had  much  foundation  in  the  natural  relation  between  the  two  regions, 
the  time  was  not,  however,  ripe  for  its  full  justification.  The  out-put 
of  gold  in  California  was  so  enormous,  so  much  of  it  was  carried  off 
at  once  by  the  miners,  the  California  business  men  showed  such 
preternatural  activity,  and  the  agricultural  capacities  of  the  Golden 
State  proved  to  be  so  great  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  capital 
developed  from  the  mines  was  held  in  California  and  used  in  building 
up  the  great  city  at  the  Golden  Gate.  Oregon  products,  although 
always  in  good  demand  in  California,  did  not  figure  by  any  means  as 
the  exclusive  supply.  The  proprietors  of  Portland,  in  the  loss  of 
the  Gold  Hunter,  found  themselves  unable  to  hold  the  carr\^ing  trade, 
or  to  control  commerce  between  Portland  and  California.  The 
Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  soon  controlling  this  line,  found  it 
to  their  advantage  to  court  the  favor  of  the  California  money  kings 

[15] 


224  History  of  Portland. 


rather  than  that  of  the  Oregon  pioneers.  In  the  course  of  time  the 
steamship  lines  passed  into  the  hands  of  Califomians  exclusively,  and 
the  northern  trade  was  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  perquisite  of  San 
Francisco. 

During  all  these  years,  and  even  up  to  the  present  time,  the 
merchants  and  people  of  California,  partly  on  account  of  the  money 
value  of  this  policy  and  partly  out  of  egotism  and  profound  belief  in 
the  superiority  of  their  own  section,  continually  disparaged  Oregon 
and  Oregonians.  The  **  Web-Footers"  became  the  butt  of  all  the 
little  jokes  that  were  going  upon  the  streets  and  in  social  circles,  much 
as  Portlanders,  at  present,  refer  to  the  inhabitants  of  Tillamook  as 
embodying  all  that  is  outlandish  and  slow  in  back-woods  life.  The 
rivers  of  Oregon  were  constantly  represented  as  too  shallow  and  rocky 
to  be  fit  for  navigation,  while  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river  was 
invested  with  all  of  the  horrors  which  had  lived  over  in  romance  and 
poetry  from  the  writings  of  Irving.  Merchants  and  insurance 
companies  either  refused  to  send  ships  to  a  place  which  was  scarcely 
a  recognized  port,  and  of  which  nothing  but  evil  appeared  in  the 
commercial  papers.  Our  climate  was  spoken  of  as  detestable  and 
intolerable  to  civilized  man — as  being  perpetually  gloomy  and  wet, 
and,  for  at  least  nine  months  of  the  year,  unfit  for  out-door  occupa- 
tion. This  spirit  of  humorous  jealousy  was  indeed  carried  to  a 
most  absurd  extreme,  and,  by  means  of  all  the  exaggeration  of  wild 
western  fancy,  made  Oregon,  and  more  particularly  the  region  of 
Portland  and  vicinity,  to  appear  as  the  fag-end  of  the  American 
continent,  suitable  only  for  the  abode  of  those  whose  natural  inertia 
and  lack  of  ambition  led  them  to  avoid  the  close  competition  and 
high  energy  of  more  favored  countries — of  which  California  clearly 
stood  at  the  head.  While  much  of  this  may  be  excused  as  simply 
humor  and  vanity  on  the  part  of  our  neighbors,  it,  nevertheless, 
worked  a  real  injury  to  our  commerce  and  to  the  development  of  our 
State. 

About  the  time  that  railroad  communication  with  the  outside 
world  was  seriously  agitated  it  began  to  be  seen  clearly  by  the 
people  of  Portland  that,  in  order  to  build  up  anything  like  commerce, 
they  must  get  themselves  upon  an  independent  basis  before  the  world. 


Commerce.  225 

If  they  were  to  bring  down  to  Portland  their  crops  of  wheat,  aggre- 
gating many  millions  of  bushels,  and  worth  many  millions  of  dollars, 
they  must  not  follow  the  policy  of  shipping  all  this  produce  to  Cali- 
fornia, there  to  be  reshipped  as  the  product  of  that  State.     Their 
pride  in  Oregon  was  suffering  many  hard  blows  from  being  ignored  in 
commercial  circles.     They  saw  by  shipping  reports  that  their  flour 
and  wheat,  which,  they  fondly  believed   was  the  best  in  the  world, 
all   appeared  in  the  markets  of  the  world  as  from   their   neighbor 
State,  and  went  to  swell  her  fame  among  the  nations.      Portland  was 
not  known  in  the  newspapers  of  the  east,  except  perhaps  as  an  insig- 
nificent  point  somewhere  on  the  northern  coast.     The  name  Oregon 
was  also  carefully  suppressed,  and  ships  bound  for  Astoria  or  Portland 
were  simply  reported  as  having  cleared  for  the  Columbia  river,  leaving 
it  uncertain  to   one  whose  geographical  knowledge  was    imperfect 
whether  this  river  was  in  some  northern  county  of  California  or  in 
British  Columbia.      Preparations  were  made  for  purchasing  goods  at 
New  York  and  importing  them  to  Portland  direct,  thus  saving  the 
expense   of    port   duties   at   San    Francisco,    the   toll  paid    to   her 
merchants,  and  the  tariffs  of  reshipping  on  the  California  steamers. 
The  name  of  the  first  vessel  thus  chartered  was  the  Sally  Brown,  and 
her  captain,  Matthews.     She  was  soon  followed  by  the  Hattie  C. 
Besse,     There   was  a  sort  of  ** great  awakening*'   on   the   part  of 
everyone,  and  the   newspapers  exhibited   fully  the  disadvantages  of 
shipping  to  California.     Said  The  Oregonian:   **  Now  we  believe  that 
it  can  and  will  be  demonstrated  to  the  commercial  world  that  vessels 
of  sufficient  capacity  to  make  profitable  voyages  can  load  on  this 
river.      But  our  interests  in  this  regard  have  been  strangely  negledled 
by  our  people.     We  have  preferred  to  let  San   F'rancisco  manage 
matters  to  suit  her  own  convenience,  instead  of  trying  to  do  anything 
for  ourselves.     There  is  no  longer  any  question  about  vessels  of  a 
larger  class  being  able   to  cross  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  river; 
and,  for  a  long  time,  as  is  well  known  here,  vessels  large  enough  for 
direct  trade  have  no  difficulty  in  reaching  Portland.      But  the  impres- 
sions which  were  formed  abroad  in  regard  to  the  Columbia  river  still 
remain,  which  is  not  strange  when  we  consider  the  manner  in  which 
our  trade  has  been  carried  on.'* 


226  History  of  Portland. 


The  Herald  discusses  the  subject  and  shows  in  the  same  manner 
how  dependence  upon  San  Francisco  worked  ill  to  all  Oregonians. 
It  said: 

**\Ve  have  frequently  urj^   upon   our  citizens  the  importance  of  establishing  a 
foreign  commerce  and  an  independent  trade  for  Oregon.     Every  intelligent  man,  on 
first  becoming  acquainted  with  the  vast  natural  resources  and  commercial  facilities  of 
Oregon,  is  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  apparent  want  of  enterprise  exhibited  by 
the  business  men  of  this  section  in  the  matter  of  foreign  commerce.     A  few  days  ago 
we  noticed  a  sale  of  flour  from   the  Salem  mills  at  the  highest  market  price;  it  was 
quoted  in  the  printed  reports  as  'California  flour.  *     A  gentleman  of  this  city  has  just 
shown  us  a  letter  from  his  agent  in  New  York,  advising  him  of  a  sale  of  flour  from 
the  mill  situated  at  Jefferson,  in  Marion  county,  Oregon,  at  the  highest  market  rates. 
That  is  put  down  in  the  commercial  report  as  'California  flour.'     Neither  the  name  of 
Portland  nor  Oregon  is  noticed   in   commercial  intelligence.     Steamers  and  sailing 
vessels  loaded  for  Portland  appear  in  the  shipping  report  as  'cleared  for  the  Columbia.* 
The  imports  of  foreign  goods  to   San   Francisco  upon  which  duties  were  paid  at  that 
port,  amounted  to  Jl  7,987,535.00,  for  tlie  year  1867.     The  imports  from  the  eastern 
States  during  the  same  year  were  not  less  than  as  much  more;  which  would  make  an 
aggregate  of  imports  of  ^5,975.070.     Not  less  than  one-third  of  that  entire  amount 
was  re-shipped  to  the  Columbia,  passing  through  Portland  for  a  market — say.  eleven 
million  one  hundred  and  ninetv-nine  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventv-two  dollars. 
The  San  Francisco  commission  upon  this  amount  was  at  least  ten  per  cent. — $1,199,- 
927.     The  freight   from  San  Francisco  to  Portland  upon  these  goods  was  not  less  than 
f400,000.     AllD^**ing  the  same  amount  for  commission  and  return  freights,  and  it  will 
be    found    that    our    trade    with   San    Francisco   in   commission   and  freights  costs 
f3, 198,344-.     Goods  can  be  shipped  directly  from  New  York  and  Boston,  or  from  any 
foreign  port  to  Portland  for  one  dollar  a  ton  more  than  for  San  Francisco.     By  direct 
trade  with  the  east  and  foreign  ports,  we  have  a  sa\*ing  of  $700,000  in  freights,  and 
$2,398,344'  in   commissions  and   charges  incident  to  breaking  bulk,  re-selling  and 
re-shipping,  at  San  Francisco.     During  the  past  two  years  Portland  has  paid  tribute  to 
San  Francisco  to  an  amount  more  than  equal  to  the  value  of  all  assessable  property. 
San   Francisco  has  now  a  population  of  a  hundred  and  twentv-five  thousand.     Port- 
land,  with  a  foreign  and  independent  commerce,  with  the  same  spirit  of  enterprise, 
which   has   characterized   the   former  city,   would   now   number   not  less  than  fifty 
thousand.     This   proposition  is   now    mathematically    demonstratable.     The    mines 
naturally  tributary-  to  Portland   are  greater  in  extent  and  product  than  those  to  San 
Francisco;  the  agricultural  products  of  Oregon  are  more  certain,  and  as  available  as 
those  of  California.     Our  lumber,  iron  and  coal — the  three  great  staples  of  commerce 
—together    with    our    manufacturing    facilities,   are    infinitely    superior  to  those  of 
California:  we  are  nearer  to  the  rich  commerce  of  the  Indies,  and  in  the  direct  line 
of  the   shortest  practicable  belt  of  commerce  around  the  world,  when  the  contem- 
plateil  railroad  s\-stems  are  completed.     With  all  these  superior  natural  advantages, 
why  do  we  consent  to  be  a  mere  dependency?     Paying  tribute  to  the  amount  of  one- 
ihird  of  our  earnings  to  a  city  which  i-onstantly  strives  to  humble  and  dc:grade  ns  ?** 


Commerce.  227 


The  estimates  of  the  amount  Portland  was  then  paying  to  San 
Francisco,  as  given  by  the  Herald^  were  probably  excessive,  but  the 
reasoning  presented  was  sound  and  weighty,  and  had  a  good  effect 
among  its  constituents,  as  the  like  presentations  of  the  Oregonian 
and  other  journals  upon  their  readers. 

About  this  time  there  were  others  also  striving  valiantly  for 
release  from  these  restrictions.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Robert 
Kinney,  who,  although  not  a  citizen  of  Portland,  had  interests 
here;  and,  as  the  proprietor  of  large  grist  mills,  was  seeking  a 
market  for  the  products  of  his  manufacture.  His  son,  Marshall  J. 
Kinney,  at  that  time  his  agent  in  California,  found  it  extremely 
difficult  to  charter  a  ship  for  crossing  the  bar  independently  of  the 
California  companies.  He  was  met  with  all  manner  of  preposterous 
objections,  and  he  found  the  prevailing  opinions  in  regard  to  the 
Columbia  river  prejudiced  by  self-interest,  and  even  dense  ignorance. 
Nevertheless,  he  succeeded  in  chartering  a  bark — the  Cutwater — and 
the  cargo  shipped  on  her  was  among  the  first,  if  not  the  ver\'  first,  to 
sail  away  independently  of  California. 

As  the  people  of  Portland  became  thus  moved,  measures  were 
introduced  in  the  State  Legislature,  which  convened  in  the  latter 
part  of  1868,  to  provide  relief.  Col.  W.  W.  Chapman,  still  at  the 
front  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  prosperity  of  Portland,  undertook 
the  passage  of  a  bill  for  a  tug  off  the  Columbia  bar.  His  first  step 
was  to  remove  the  prejudices  of  the  agricultural  members,  who  were 
naturally  quite  loth  to  vote  money  out  of  the  State  treasuty  for  the 
benefit  of  Portland ;  but  the  Colonel  was  able  to  show  them  that,  as 
their  groceries,  fann  machinery',  clothing  and  other  necessaries  were 
taxed  heavily  by  coming  through  San  Francisco,  anything  to  open 
up  direct  communication  with  New  York  would  result  in  their 
advantage.  In  order  to  prove  that  there  must  be  some  assistance 
given  to  shipping,  he  showed  that  although  there  was  a  depth  of 
twenty-four  feet  on  the  Columbia  bar  at  dead  low  water — which,  at 
the  time,  was  the  case — the  dangers  resulted  from  lack  of  uncertainty 
of  winds;  and  every  disaster  has  been  due  to  such  failure.  He 
showed  that  shippers  and  ship  owners  would  refuse  to  dispatch  vessels 
to  this  port  while  this  embarrassment  remained.     He  recommended 


228  History  of  Portland. 

that  the  State  give  a  subsidy  for  the  maintainence  of  a  proper 
steam  tug  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  To  show  that  such  subsidy 
was  necessar>-,  he  cited  the  experience  of  Captain  Paul  Como,  who 
had  some  years  before  attempted  to  maintain  a  tug,  but  found  that 
the  business  was  not  large  enough  to  justify  his  endeavor.  Chapman's 
recommendations  were  adopted,  a  subsidy  of  thirty  thousand  dollars 
was  proxnded — ^to  be  furnished  under  proper  restriction  and  in  certain 
yearly  installments — and  the  rates  of  pilotage  were  reduced  twent>-- 
fix-e  per  cent  The  tug  boat  was  allowed,  when  not  needed  at  the 
bar,  to  tow  vessels  to  Portland. 

Steps  were  also  taken  by  the  merchants  of  Portland,  and  by  the 
cit>-  as  a  corporation,  to  maintain  a  dredger  on  the  lower  Willamette 
river,  and  a  channel  three  thousand  two  hundred  feet  in  length  was 
cut  to  a  depth  of  fifteen  feet  at  low  water,  across  Swan  Island  bar, 
at  an  expenditure  of  some  twent>-five  thousand  dollars. 

As  a  result  of  all  these  endeavors,  a  new  and  steady  commerce 
began  to  spring  up.  The  Packet  line  from  New  York  continued 
regular  trips,  although,  as  the  transcontinental  railwaN-s  were 
constructed,  the  need  of  them  has  ver>'  largely  ceased.  The  commerce 
with  foreign  ports,  and  particularly  with  the  United  Kingdom,  has, 
howe\-er,  grown  steadily  from  that  day  to  this. 

The  following  table  of  the  exports  to  San  Francisco  for  1869 
shows  the  progress  of  our  commerce.  It  is  ver>-  incomplete,  being 
much  like  the  others  in  this  regard,  as  given  heretofore: 

Trrasnre |2. 358. 000  00  Salmon,  barrels 1.937 

Bullion  419.657  00  Salmon,  packages. 19,729 

Butter,  packages 1.313 

Flour,  quarter  sacks                                543  Hides 5.650 

Wheat,  sacksw         49.422  Wool,  bales..             3.191 

Oats,  sacks .58.403  Barley,  sacks. 240 

Bacon,  gunnies 4.723  Pork,  barrels. 1.712 

Lard,  half  barrels..   .             ...      2.960  Cheese,  packages.         12 

Apples,  boxes.                      31.520  Hams,  packages 435 

Dried  apples,  packages               .  .      4.912  Pig  iron,  tons 825 

Of  the  items  above  mentioned,  it  will  be  noticed  that  treasure  is 
rapidly  decreasing,  while  flour,  wheat  and  salmon  are  increasing. 
Iron  appears  for  the  first  time  in  any  noticeable  quantity*,  and  gives 
proof  of  the  industrv*  established  at  Oswego.     Salmon,  as  shipped  in 


Commerce.  229 

cases  or  packages,  witnesses  the  beginning  of  the  great  industry 
about  springing  up  in  canning  this  noble  fish.  Although  salmon 
were  not  shipped  from  Portland  exclusively,  nor  perhaps  to  a  vejy 
large  extent,  and  although  the  business  of  canning  was  not  operated 
with  Portland  capital,  nevertheless  the  income  from  this  resource  had 
a  decided  eflFect  in  stimulating  business  at  this  point. 

The  aggregate  of  sales  in  the  city  is  estimated  at  $3,400,000  for 
this  year,  and  the  internal  revenue  collections  were  $204,532. 

In  1870  the  commerce  to  the  United  Kingdom  begins  to  rise.  In 
that  year,  in  the  months  from  July  1st,  1869,  to  November,  1870, 
the  exports  thither  amounted  to  a  value  of  about  $61,000. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  export  to  San  Francisco: 

Apples,  boxes 25,600      Salmon,  bbls 3,792 


Flour,  quarter  sacks 144,071 

Lumber,  feet 6,818,547 

Oats,  sacks 63,235 


Salmon,  half  bbls 4,746 

Salmon,  cases 22,130 


It  appears  that  in  the  year  1870  no  statistics  were  kept  at  Portland 
of  exports,  and  of  the  above  meagre  table  the  Oregonian  speaks  as 
follows:  **It  is  but  just  to  this  State  to  say,  however,  that  the  above 
figures  do  not  for  either  year  (1869-70)  express  the  full  amount  of 
our  shipment  to  San  Francisco,  but  only  such  amounts  of  the  various 
articles  as  were  shipped  into  the  San  Francisco  market  for  sale.  It 
is  well  known  that  during  each  year  we  sent  considerable  quantities 
of  wheat,  flour,  salmon,  etc.,  to  San  Francisco  for  shipment  to 
Eastern  or  foreign  ports;  these  were  not  included  in  the  above  table. 
The  very  small  increase  of  wheat  exports  of  1870  above  1869  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  in  1869  we  shipped  but  little  to  foreign 
countries  direct,  while  in  1870  we  exported  to  foreign  countries  as 
much  as,  or  more  than,  appears  in  this  table.  The  latest  shipment 
to  all  destinations  would  show  that  our  grain  and  breadstuffs  export 
have  increased  greatly  more  in  proportion  than  any  other  products.  It 
will  be  seen  that  exports  of  salmon  have  also  increased.''  . 

The  exports  to  foreign  countries  —  including  China,  British 
Columbia,  Sandwich  Islands,  England,  Ireland,  Uruguay  and  Peru 
aggregated  a  value  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars — mostly  lumber,  flour  and  fish. 


230  History  of  Portland. 

The  statistics  of  1870  appear  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory — 
showing  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  Portland  shippers  of  that  time. 
The  foreign  commerce  during  that  period  does  not  seem  to  have 
advanced  quite  so  rapidly  as  was  hoped,  and  the  Portland  merchants 
appear  to  have  been  somewhat  slow  to  make  use  of  the  great  advan- 
tages open  to  them  by  the  new  order  of  things.  Nevertheless,  this 
was  but  natural,  as  the  capital  was  not  then  in  the  city  to  inaugurate 
a  great  enterprise,  and  must  be  brought  in  from  abroad.  The  Customs 
District  of  Willamette  was  created  and  a  Custom  House  established 
at  Portland  this  year. 

This  was,  moreover,  a  period  of  railroad  building  and  excitement, 
and,  consequently,  foreign  commerce  by  water  was  not  so  rapidly 
pushed.  Still  further,  the  producers  of  the  countrj',  the  farmers, 
lumbermen  and  stock-raisers,  must  adapt  their  industries  more 
directly  to  commerce,  and  not  consider  it  a  simple  addendum  to 
conveniently  provide  to  take  care  of  what  they  happened  to  have  left 
over  of  their  domestic  industries. 

In  1871  foreign  exports  rise  to  a  value  of  $692,297.  Clearing  to 
foreign  ports  are  found  five  foreign  ships,  aggregating  three  thousand, 
seven  hundred  tons,  and  six  foreign  barks,  two  thousand,  six  hundred 
tons.  Of  American  steamer  clearances  to  foreign  ports,  there  were 
twent}'-nine,  and  six  barks  and  one  schooner,  aggregating  sixteen 
thousand  tons.     Imports  from  foreign  countries  reached  $517,633. 

The  coastwise  arrivals,  from  San  Francisco  and  other  American 
cities,  aggregated  eighty-six  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixteen 
tons. 

In  1872  we  find  commerce  rising  to  something  like  its  contem- 
plated proportions.  For  its  purposes,  eighteen  American  steamers 
and  eight  barks  were  employed,  with  a  tonnage  of  eleven  thousand, 
nine  hundred  and  forty-six ;  and  of  foreign  vessels,  twelve  barks  and 
two  schooners,  aggregating  nine  thousand,  one  hundred  and  forty 
tons. 

Imports  from  England  reached  a  value  of  $350,980;  from  British 
Columbia,  $31,294;  from  Sandwich  Islands,  $171,332;  from  Hong- 
kong, $115,338;  from  other  points,  $59,831,  making  a  total  of 
$728,825.     The  large  imports  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  show  the 


Commerce.  231 


value  of  their  trade  to  Portland,  if  their  products  of  sugar  might  be 
somehow  taken  away,  at  least  in  part,  from  the  San  Francisco 
monopoly. 

The  exports  for  this  year  were  as  follows:  To  England,  a  value 
of  $3,041,744;  British  Columbia,  $107,508;  Ireland,  $187,549; 
Sandwich  Islands,  $8,824;  Hongkong,  $33,925,  making  a  total  of 
$642, 620. 

The  wheat  shipped  to  the  United  Kingdom  from  August  1st  to 
December  13th  reached  209,337  centals,  worth  $311,166,  as  against 
99,463  centals,  worth  $257,276  in  1871.  There  were  five  vessels 
engaged  in  this  trade,  while  in  1872  there  were  ten.  The  value  of 
the  grain  thus  exported  did  not  keep  pace  with  that  of  the  year 
before,  on  account  of  the  low  price  realized.  The  export  to  California 
of  flour  was  192,500  sacks. 

As  for  coast-wise  traffic,  there  were  eighty-two  steamers,  twenty 
barks,  three  brigs,  four  ships  and  various  schooners,  aggregating  a 
hundred  and  nine  thousand,  nine  hundred  and  forty-seven  tons. 

The  purely  domestic  commerce  in  the  Willamette  Valley  was 
conducted  with  the  old-time  energy,  employing  forty  steamers,  with 
an  aggregate  tonnage  of  thirteen  thousand,  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
one,  and  twenty-one  sailing  vessels  of  various  descriptions  aggre- 
gating two  thousand  and  thirteen  tons.  The  Oregon  and  California 
Railway  was  now  in  active  operation  and  the  Oregon  Central  had 
tapped  the  agricultural  portion  of  Washington  county. 

In  1873  there  appears  a  great  rise  in  exports.  For  the  fiscal  year 
ending  in  September  the  following  showing  is  made:  To  foreign 
ports  there  were  employed  three  steamers,  the  California^  George  S. 
Wright  and  Gussie  Telfair^  and  thirty-five  sailing  vessels,  for  the 
most  part  ships  or  barks  of  large  capacity  from  England.  The 
exports  of  wheat  to  foreign  ports  was  640,262  centals,  valued  at 
$1,055,264;  flour,  37,284  barrels,  at  $158,895,  making  a  total  of 
$1,284,149. 

Foreign  entrances  aggregated  a  tonnage  of  nineteen  thousand,  one 
hundred  and  forty-three,  and  of  clearances  twenty-three  thousand, 
four  hundred  and  sixty-seven.  Of  American  vessels  in  foreign  trade 
the  entrances  were  ten  thousand,  three  hundred  and  two  tons,  and 


232  History  of  Portland. 


clearances  nineteen  thousand,  four  hundred  and  forty-four.  The 
imports  reached  a  value  of  $514,343,  and  exports  about  $1,600,000. 
This  was  all  trade  with  foreign  countries. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  trade  with  California  for  that 
year: 


Flour,  quarter  sacks 405,672 

Oats,  centals 117,012 

WTieat,  centals 337,391 

Salmon,  barrels 4,361 

Salmon,  half  barrels 3,459 


Apples,  dried,  packages 2,533 

Butter,  packages 1,640 

Beef,  barrels 112 

Bacon,   packages 409 

Lard,  packages 6 


Salmon,  packages 1 10,563    |  Hams,  packages 18 

Apples,  ripe,  boxes 14,644 

These  all  aggregated  a  value  of  $2,500,000. 

The  aggregate  of  vessels  entering  on  account  of  coast  wise  traffic 
was  112,100  tons;  of  clearances,  79,694  tons.  The  diflFerence  notice- 
able in  the  entries  and  clearances  is  explained  for  the  most  part  by 
the  fact  that  ships  loading  at  Portland  frequently  dropped  below  at 
Astoria  to  complete  their  cargo. 

Fro:n  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  total  exports  both  to 
foreign  ports  and  domestic  was  about  $4,100,000  in  value.  It  will 
also  be  noticed  that  this  includes  nothing  of  treasure  which  figured 
so  largely  in  early  shipments;  as  by  this  period  the  business  of  the 
countr\'  had  so  far  advanced  as  to  be  conducted,  so  far  as  concerned 
money,  by  means  of  money  orders,  checks  and  bills  of  exchange,  so 
as  to  obxnate  the  necessitv  of  the  transfer  of  monev  in  a  bodv. 

ENLARGEMENT. 

The  commerce  from  this  time  down  to  the  present  has  flowed  on 
with  steadily  increasing  volume,  and  the  details  need  not  be  so 
extensively  given  here  as  in  the  preceding  pages.  It  may  be  noticed 
that  x^-ith  the  coming  of  Ben  Holladay  in  Oregon,  as  a  railroad  princd 
and  capitalist,  there  was  a  general  increase  of  energy,  and  much 
greater  rapidity-  in  despatch  and  shipments  than  before.  Things  took 
on  a  livelier  air,  and  assumed  more  the  tone  and  stvle  of  California 
business.  Dash,  xnm  and  even  recklessness  was  affected  to  a  greater 
degree  in  all  business  circles,  and  especially  in  commercial  ventures. 
The  transference  of  the  headquarters  of  Holladay's  ocean 'steamers 


Commerce. 


233 


from  San  Francisco  to  Portland,  made  also  a  great  difference  in  the 
growth  of  the  city  and  in  swelling  the  streams  of  trade  leading 
hither. 

For  1871  the  foreign  trade  rises  to  the  value  of  $692,297. 
There  were  cleared  for  foreign  ports  of  foreign  vessels,  five  ships 
aggregating  three  thousand  seven  hundred  tons,  and  two  barks 
of  two  thousand  six  hundred  tons.  The  American  vessels  were 
twenty-nine  steamers  and  six  barks  and  one  schooner,  of  sixteen 
thousand  tons.  The  coastwise  arrivals  aggregated  eighty-six 
thousand  four  hundred  and  sixteen  tons. 

Imports  for  this  year  from  foreign  countries  reached  a  value  of 
$517,633. 

For  1872  the  entrances  from  foreign  ports,  comprised  of  American 
steamers  eighteen,  and  American  barks  eight,  with  a  tonnage  of 
eleven  thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty-six.  Of  foreign  vessels, 
twelve  barks  and  two  schooners,  nine  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty.  This  made  the  total  tonnage  for  the  year,  one  hundred 
and  thirty-one  thousand  and  thirty-five. 


The  foHowing  exhibits  the  imports: 

From  England, value  of. .  .|350,980 

"  British  Columbia,  "  .  .  31,294 
*'  Sandwich  Islands,  **  .  .  171,332 
•'      Hongkong,  "     ..   115,338 

••      AU  other.  "     .  .     59,831 


Total 728,825 


Tlie  following  exhibits  the  exports: 

To  England value  of. . .  .|304,744 

•'  British  Columbia,     "      107,508 

••  Ireland,  "       ....   187,549 

'*  Sandwich  Islands,    "       8,824 

•'  Hongkong,  •       ....     33,995 

Total 642,620 


During  these  years  one  notices  with  interest  the  steady  increase 
in  shipment  of  wheat  to  the  United  Kingdom — showing  that  Portland, 
as  the  commercial  city  of  Oregon,  was  rapidly  building  up  a  great 
foreign  trade.  In  1871  this  was  but  99,463  centals,  valued  at 
$257,276;  while  in  1872  the  shipments  rose  to  209,337  centals, 
valued  at  $511,166.  Flour  shipped  to  California  was  192,500 
quarter  sacks.  The  total  export  of  wheat  was  twenty-three  thousand 
eighty-two  tons,  and  of  flour  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  tons.  Although  these  figures  show  a  large  increase  in 
quantity  shipped,  the  prices  realized  during  this  season  were  so  low 
as  to  impair  somewhat  the  advantage  thus  derived. 


234  History  of  Portland. 


In  the  district  of  the  Willamette  there  were  registered  this  year 
forty  steamers,  with  an  aggregate  tonnage  of  thirteen  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  ninety-one  tons,  and  twenty-one  sailing  vessels  of 
various  kinds,  two  thousand  and  thirteen  tons.  This  large  number 
of  craft  on  the  rivers  shows  a  well  sustained  inland  trade,  and  that 
the  transportation  lines  were  active  in  bringing  to  the  sea-board  the 
interior  products. 

In  1873  Portland  experienced  the  great  fire  by  which  about  a 
million  and  a  half  dollars  worth  or  property  were  destroyed.  This 
great  loss,  calling  for  its  repair,  all  the  money  that  might  be  raised 
upon  real  securities,  necessarily  withdrew  from  trade  and  commerce 
large  sums  which  would  otherwise  have  been  applied  to  their 
enlargement.  Confidence  was  for  a  time  somewhat  shaken,  and  the 
year  was  less  productive  than  was  expected  at  the  beginning;  never- 
theless, the  volume  of  foreign  trade  continued  to  steadily  increase  as 
before.  For  the  fiscal  year  ending  in  September  we  find  three 
steamers  plying  to  foreign  ports,  in  British  Columbia.  These  were 
the  California,  the  George  S.  Wright  and  the  Gussie  TeUfair.  The 
latter  of  these  was  looked  upon  with  some  interest  as  the  first  iron 
steamship  in  our  waters;  and  even  more  as  having  in  her  younger 
and  wilder  davs  been  a  Rebel  blockade  runner.  Besides  the  steamers 
there  were  thirty-five  sailing  vessels,  mostly  owned  in  Great  Britain. 
The  total  export  of  wheat  amounted  to  640,262  centals,  valued  at 
$1,055,264;  flour,  37,284  barrels,  at  $158,895;  making  a  total 
value  of  wheat  and  flour  export  to  the  United  Kingdom,  $1,284,149. 

To  Califoniia,  wheat  reached  116,076  centals;  flour,  209,304 
quarter  sacks. 

The  total  shipments  to  California  for  this  year  are  shown  by  the 
following  table: 

Flour,  quarter  sacks 4^5,672       Apples  (ripe),  boxes   14,644 

Oats,  centals 117,012      Apples  (dried),  packages 2,533 

Wheat,  centals 337.391       Butter,  packages 1.640 


Salmon,    bbls 4,361 

Salmon,  half  bbls 3.459 

Salmon,  packages 110.563 


Beef,   bbls 112 

Bacon,  packages 409 

Lard,   packages 6 


The  total  valuation  of  the  above  is  set  down  as  $2,500,000. 


Commerce.  235 

Coastwise  entrances  aggregated  112,100  tons;  clearances,  79,694 
tons.  Foreign  entrances,  19,143  tons ;  clearances,  23,467  tons. 
The  tonnage  of  American  vessels  in  foreign  trade  was — entered, 
10,302;  cleared,  19,444.  The  imports  reached  $514,343,  and  the 
exports  about  $1,600,000  to  foreign  countries. 

.  Following  this  year  a  new  impetus  to  the  production  of  grain 
was  given  in  the  upper  Willamette  Valley  by  the  opening  of  the 
Willamette  river  to  the  head  of  navigation  by  means  of  a  canal  and 
locks  at  Oregon  City.  Steamers  were  thereby  enabled  to  carry  grain 
from  points  even  as  far  as  Eugene  City  to  Portland  without  breaking 
bulk.  So  soon  as  the  autumn  rains — usually  in  October — ^swelled 
the  volume  of  the  river,  these  light  crafts  began  to  remove  the  crops 
that  the  farmers  hauled  from  considerable  distances  to  shipping 
points  on  the  river,  and  continued  the  traffic  until  late  in  the  summer 
succeeding.  The  actual  proportion  of  grain  thus  moved  was  not  so 
large,  but,  on  account  of  the  competition  thus  afforded,  rates  of 
rail  transportation  were  materially  reduced. 

The  Portland  merchants  also,  both  in  order  to  enable  vessels  of 
large  draft  to  conveniently  load  at  their  wharves,  and  also  to  finish 
their  lading  beyond  a  degree  of  safety  for  passage  down  the  Willamette 
river,  constructed  a  number  of  immense  barges  to  accompany  the 
ships  to  Astoria,  with  the  residue  of  their  cargoes,  or  to  leave  it  in 
store  at  that  port  as  might  be  needed.  This  proved,  however,  to  be 
only  necessary  as  a  temporary  expedient,  since  the  deepening  of  the 
channel  between  Portland  and  the  ocean  renders  unnecessary  all  such 
expedients.  New  attention  was  directed  to  the  safety  and  facility  of 
passing  in  and  out  the  Columbia  river,  and  attention  was  called  to 
the  fact  that  out  of  more  than  one  thousand  arrivals  and  departures  at 
the  bar  during  the  four  years  preceding  but  one  loss  was  experienced, 
and  this  was  due  to  the  fright  of  the  captain,  chiefly,  who  aban- 
doned his  ship,  to  be  rescued  afterward  by  a  party  of  salvors. 
Much  railroad  agitation  was  carried  on  in  these  years,  and  all  were 
eager  for  direct  communication  with  the  East. 

A  good  authority  at  the  time  thus  speaks  of  the  commercial 
condition:  *'  In  summing  up  our  year's  condition,  we  can  say  that  if 
it  has  not  been  all  that  the  most  sanguine  expected,  it  has,  never- 


236  History  of  Portland. 

theless,  proved  the  incorrectness  of  what  grumblers  predicted  for  it 
The  sweeping  disaster  of  the  great  fires  of  the  two  preceding  years 
seriously  effected  manv  of  the  sufferers,  and  the  effects  of  the  hea\'^• 
losses  have  not  yet  in  some  instances  been  overcome;  but,  notwith- 
standing these  calamities,  and  a  few  reverses  in  trade  circles,  there 
have  been  no  failures  of  large  firms  or  of  business  suspensions  of 
consequence.  The  sound  commercial  basis  which  underlies  our 
leading  houses,  their  wholesome  s\-stem  of  trade,  and  their  positive 
cautiousness  against  speculation  all  combine  to  pro\4de  against 
disaster  and  to  inspire  confidence." 

''From  a  table  compiled  this  year  to  show  the  exports  of 
wheat  from  1868  to  the  middle  of  1874,  we  find  a  total  value  of 
Sll, 105,850.'' 

''The  bulk  of  the  wheat  was  exported  to  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  also  a  round  aggregate  of  flour — ^but  the  largest  proportion  of 
the  latter  was  sent  to  San  Franciso,  to  New  York,  to  ports  in  the 
Pacific,  and  to  China  and  Japan." 

It  is  reported  for  this  year  that  nearly  two  hundred  ships  were 
employed  in  the  export  trade;  but  this  evidently  includes  all  coast 
wise  craft  of  every  description. 

For  the  year  1875  we  find  a  somewhat  low  condition — or  at  least 
not  so  flattering  as  might  be  expected.  From  Walling's  director)' 
we  clip  the  following:  ''During  the  past  year,  Portland,  in  common 
with  ever}'  other  section  of  the  Union,  has  felt  the  effect  of  the 
stagnation  which  has  had  such  disastrous  effecfls  upon  the  commercial 
prosperity  of  the  entire  coimtry;  but  remote  as  we  are  from  the  great 
centers  of  commerce,  we  have  been  comparatively  free  from  the 
disastrous  consequences  which  have  left  their  impress  upon  the 
business  marts  of  the  eastern  slope." 

As  is  usually  the  case  in  periods  of  business  depression,  merchants 
and  others  began  industriously  to  invent  means  of  expanding  their 
trade;  and  soon  a  hopeful  condition  of  affairs  was  attained.  Work 
on  the  West  vSide  railroad,  which  had  been  stopped  at  St.  Joe,  on  the 
Yamhill  river,  was  resumed,  and  the  region  thus  tapped,  was  brought 
into  more  intimate  relations  with  Portland. 


Commerce.  237 


The  number   of  American  vessels  entering  this  year  aggregated 
100,602  tons;  the  foreign,  16,304  tons. 

The  value  of  exports  is  shown  by  the  following  table: 

To  England 8  799,818  00 

British  Columbia 136,600  00 

Hongkong 4-1,448  00 

Sandwich  Islands 549,480  00 

Australia 9,720  00 

Uruguay 58,743  00 


it 
(i 
ti 
<( 


Total 1.623.313  00 

Imports  from  these  countries  in  foreign  vessels  were  valued  at 
$283,499;  in  American  vessels,  $163,359;  total,  $446,858. 

The  wheat  sent  to  England  during  this  year  was  513,481  bushels; 
to  Ireland,  548,986  bushels;  flour,  48,110  barrels. 

Noticing  some  of  the  imports  we  find  ten  thousand  bricks  from 
England — evidently  brought  by  way  of  ballast.  Bags,  also,  were 
brought  from  England  to  the  value  of  $79,086.  The  trade  from 
China  was  very  largely  in  rice,  a  considerable  portion  of  which  was 
for  the  Chinese  consumers  in  our  midst;  731,926  pounds. 

From  the  Sandwich  Islands  there  were  imported  160,839  pounds 
of  rice;  of  sugar,  3,353,552  pounds;  of  molasses,  1088  gallons. 
This  is  evidently  before  the  monopoly  of  Spreckles  in  California. 

During  1876  business  rapidly  revived  and  the  general  enthusiasm 
prevailing  throughout  the  entire  United  States  did  much  to 
inspire  our  merchants  with  new  energ\'  and  confidence.  More 
interest  was  taken  in  collecting  reliable  statistics  and  in  showing  the 
world  what  we  were  capable  of  It  was  found  that  the  exports  of 
Oregon  averaged  three  hundred  and  eighteen  dollars  to  each  man  in 
the  State.  **With  a  population  of  forty  thousand  men,  Oregon's 
export  of  wheat  equals  one-seventh  of  the  total  export  of  the  United 
States.'' 

Eastern  Oregon  and  Washington  had  now  begun  to  raise  wheat 
in  large  quantities.  Wool  figures  as  a  very  valuable  product — the 
export  being  for  that  year  3,125,000  pounds,  worth  $600,000.  The 
salmon  catch  was  also  rising  and  exports  from  this  source  were 
assuming  large  proportions.     In   1875,  372,000  cases  were  put  up, 


238  History  ok  Portland. 

and  in  1876  this  was  swelled  to  480,000  cases.  Seventy-two  vessels 
cleared  with  cargoes  mostly  wheat,  for  European  ports.  The 
export  of  wheat  to  Europe  was  1,824,371  centals,  valued  at  $3,138,- 
294.  The  total  export  was  1,937,787  centals.  The  export  of  flour 
aggregated  215,714  barrels.  The  excess  of  wheat  and  flour  exports 
for  1876,  over  1875,  reached  a  value  of  $794,857. 

In  the  record  of  shipments  to  San  Francisco,  it  is  noticeable  that 
apples  are  coming  up  to  their  former  figure,  being  41,523  boxes  of 
the  fresh  fruit,  and  6,363  packages  of  the  dry;  22,671  sacks  of 
potatoes  and  1 76,939  bushels  of  oats  were  also  shipped,  but  the  bulk  of 
our  shipments  thither  for  that  year  consisted  of  290,076  cases  of  canned 
salmon,  showing  that  almost  from  the  first  our  canner>'men  looked 
for  sale  of  their  goods  in  Califoniia.  If  it  had  been  possible  to  cany- 
on the  salmon  business  on  a  purely  independent  basis  before  the 
world,  and  make  Portland,  the  city  nearest  the  greatest  production  of 
this  article,  the  emporium,  it  is  believed  that  many  disasters  and 
difficulties  which  overtook  this  business  might  have  been  avoided. 

The  shipment  of  treasure,  or  the  actual  transportation  of  money 
for  this  year  was  $2,651,431.78. 

As  another  sign  of  increase  and  advance  toward  commercial 
supremacy  was  the  change  noticeable  at  this  time,  by  which  the 
countr\'  merchants  and  the  jobbers  and  dealers  in  small  towns  began 
to  look  to  Portland  as  the  base  of  their  supplies. 

During  1877  loud  calls  were  heard  from  the  people  of  Portland  for 
direct  railroad  communication  with  the  East,  and  strenuous  exertions 
were  made  for  the  building  of  a  road  from  Portland  vir  The  Dalles 
to  Salt  Lake.  Much  of  this  eagerness  for  independent  rail  lines  was 
developed  by  the  fact  that  in  California  many  emigrants  starting 
overland  for  Oregon  were  turned  back  by  the  representations  of 
agents  of  the  California  Emigration  Boards,  and  the  Oregonians 
found  their  growth  in  population  much  retarded  thereby. 

The  total  value  of  exports  from  the  Columbia  river  in  1876  was 
estimated  at  $11,825,087;  in  1877  at  $16,086,897.  Seventy-eight 
ships  and  barks  were  engaged  in  carrying  to  foreign  ports  2,341,210 
centals  of  wheat,  worth  54,954,475.  Upon  five  vessels  there  were 
shipped  59,389  barrels  of  flour,  worth  $355,690. 


Commerce.  239 


We  venture  to  insert  here  one  more  table  of  exports  to  San 
Francisco,  which  the  indulgent  reader  may  omit  in  reading  unless 
for  purposes  of  reference  and  comparison: 

Wheat,  centals 504,836    j^Flax  seed,  sacks 12,792 

Flour,  barrels  113,732      Hides 37,090 

Oats,  centals 146,050      Beef  (canned),  cases 15,612 

Barley,  centals 5,608      Butter,  packages 2,064 

Middlings,  sacks 2,834      Bacon,  packages 1,030 

Bran,  sacks 19,418       Lard,  cases 307 

Shorts,  sacks 2,569       Hams,  packages 263 

Apples,  boxes 73,282       Pork,  barrels 372 

Dried  fruit,  packages 3,206       Hops,  bales  2,006 

Potatoes,  sacks 37,081       Cheese,  packages 729 

Hay,  bales 863       Salmon,  cases 246,892 

Salmon,  half  barrels 723       Salmon,  barrels 173 

Wool,  bales 15,759 

The  following  table  is  also  attended  as  giving  the  comparative 
shipments  and  values  of  wheat,  including  flour  reduced  to  wheat, 
for  the  years  1874-75-76-77: 

1874--Centals 2,312,581 worth |4,549,992 

1875— CenUls 2,095,532 worth 3,610.172 

1876— Centals 2,894,722 worth 4,405,029 

1877— Centals 3,383,473 worth 7,310,529 

In  1878  there  appears  to  be  a  falling  off  in  export  of  wheat,  which 
reached  but  1,449,608  centals,  valued  at  $2,540,112;  flour  valued 
at  $329,000. 

During  the  year  1878,  however,  there  were  exceedingly  lively 
times  between  Portland  and  San  Francisco  on  account  of  the  compe- 
tition between  several  steamship  companies  for  the  trade.  In 
opposition  to  the  Oregon  Steamship  Company,  the  old  Pacific  Mail 
steamers  of  large  size,  the  Orizaba  and  the  John  L.  Stephens  were 
run.  Also  the  Great  Republic^  the  largest  vessel  ever  afloat  in  our 
waters,  carried  things  with  a  high  hand,  sometimes  transporting  as 
many  as  a  thousand  passengers  at  a  single  trip. 

In  1879  the  total  number  of  steam  craft  of  the  Willamette 
District  (Portland)  was  sixty,  with  a  tonnage  of  27,597.  Of  these 
the  G.  W.  Elder  aud  the  Oregon,  belonging  to  the  Oregon  Steamship 
Company,  iron  ships,  built  at  Chester,  were  the  finest  and  most 
conspicuous. 

[lel 


240  History  of  Portland. 


The  wheat  export  required  the  services  of  seventy  vessels,  and 
nineteen  vessels  were  also  engaged,  either  wholly  or  in  part,  for  flour. 
The  wheat  reached  1,932,080  centals,  worth  $3,611,240;  flour, 
209,098  barrels,  valued  at  $1,143,530.  The  total  value  of  wheat 
and  flour  shipped  both  to  domestic  and  foreign  ports  was  $5,345,- 
400. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  rise  and  growth  of  the  wool 
export: 

1873 2,000,000  pounds 

1874 2,250,000  pounds 

1875 2,500,000  pounds 

1876 3,150,000  pounds 

1877 5,000,000  pounds 

1878 6,500,000  pounds 

1879 7,000,000  pounds 

The  following  figures  furnish  the  statistics  of  the  salmon  canning 
business  on  the  Columbia  river.  There  were  canned  the  following 
number  of  cases,  in  1875,  231,500;  1876,  428,730;  1877,  392,000; 
1878,  278,488;  1879,  325,000. 

For  1880  the  shipment  of  wheat  was  1,762,515  bushels,  valued 
at  $1,845,537;  flour,  180,663  barrels,  valued  at  $891,872.  The 
value  of  shipments  to  San  Francisco  aggregated  $4,500,000.  The 
wool  shipment  was  7,325, OOi)  pounds;  salmon,  472,000  cases. 

For  1881  .the  value  of  wheat  was  $1,845,537,  or,  1,766,515 
bushels.  For  1881  the  shipments  of  lumber  from  Portland  were 
considerable,  although  until  this  time  the  Portland  mills  were  for  the 
most  part  occupied  in  cutting  for  local  trade,  and  to  supply  surround- 
ing and  interior  points.  The  three  principal  mills  at  Portland 
cutting  for  this  year  were  the  Portland  Lumbering  and  Manufacturing 
Co.,  6,200,000  feet;  wSmith^s  mill,  5,000,000;  Wiedler's,  about 
50,000,000. 

During  this  year  greater  interest  than  heretofore  had  been  taken 
by  Portland  capitalists  in  exploring  and  opening  coal  and  other 
mines  that  were  naturally  tributar}*  to  her;  and  a  number  of  enegetic 
men  in  this  city  fonned  an  organization  to  encourage  the  growth  of 
fruit  in  the  contiguous  sections  and  open  a  market  to  the  east  and  up 
and  down  the  coast.  The  salmon  catch  on  the  Columbia  reached 
550,000  cases. 


Commerce.  241 


The  years  of  1880-1  were  marked  by  the  great  business  activity 
resulting  from  the  construction  of  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Naviga- 
tion Company's  lines,  the  sedlion  from  The  Dalles  to  Walla  Walla, 
to  the  Blue  Mountains  and  to  Texas  Ferry,  then  building.  The 
Northern  Pacific  railroad  was  running  trains  from  Kalama  to  Tacoma 
and  constructing  the  sedlion  of  their  road  northeast  of  Ainsworth 
fifty-seven  miles.  The  value  of  imports  for  this  year  are  given  as 
$486,208. 

The  following  statement  will  show  the  state  of  business  during 
1882:  **Prosperity  of  business  has  been  unparalleled.  The 
commerce  of  the  city  has  been  constantly  increasing  during  the  past 
year.  The  tonnage  of  ocean  steamers  arriving  at  this  port  shows  an 
increase  of  more  than  double  the  records  of  any  previous  year,  many 
first-class  steamships  from  foreign  countries  having  made  exception- 
ally prosperous  voyages  to  and  from  Portland.  Our  regular  ships 
plying  hence  to  San  Francisco  have  been  constantly  improving  in 
character  and  increasing  in  number  until  the  Portland  line  has 
become  the  busiest,  most  reliable  and  most  profitable  marine  traffic 
from  the  city  of  San  Francisco.  The  number  of  passengers  carried 
on  this  line  amounts  to  5000  or  more  every  month,  and  freights 
average  40,000  tons.  The  *deep  sea  crafts'  which  visit  our  river 
prove  the  ignorance  or  malice  of  those  who  would  represent  entrance 
and  navigation  of  the  Columbia  and  the  Willamette  as  perilous  or 
impossible.  There  are  now  lying  at  our  docks  vessels  which  will 
load  to  twenty-two  feet  drafts  before  slipping  their  hawsers,  and  make 
the  open  sea  without  danger  or  delay." 

The  Willamette  river  was  much  improved,  and  agitation  for  the 
improvement  of  the  Columbia  bar  was  begun.  The  following  excerpt 
shows  the  general  spirit  prevailing  at  the  time:  '*Every  unprejudiced 
observer  of  this  vigor  and  of  Portland's  relation  to  the  surrounding 
country  says  'Portland  ought  to  do  the  business  of  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington and  Northern  Idaho.'  The  completion  of  an  unbroken  line 
having  five  hundred  miles  of  railroad  eastward,  with  Portland  as  its 
great  terminal  point,  marks  an  era  in  our  history  which  will  only  be 
eclipsed  by  the  present  year." 


242  History  of  Portland. 


The  year  1883  fully  realized  all  the  hopes  that  were  raised  by  the 
constniclion  of  the  O.  R.  &:  N.  Company's  lines.  Portland  took 
long  strides  towards  the  pre-eminence  naturally  assured  her  by  right 
of  position.  '*It  used  to  be  said  that  three- fourths  of  our  interior 
trade  passed  Portland,  and  was  supplied  by  San  Francisco.  The  past 
year  has  changed  this  condition  of  things  so  materially  that  possibly 
the  conditions  are  reversed.'' 

**  During  the  year  the  ocean  commerce  of  Portland  seems  to  have 
somewhat  diminished,  but  this  is  most  natural,  considering  the  vast 
amoimt  of  tonnage  which  the  railroads  have  displaced  by  more  rapid 
transportation.  The  city  has  during  the  year  maintained  its  own 
jx)werful  dredgers  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  depth  of 
channel  in  the  Willamette,  and  less  trouble  than  heretofore  has  been 
experienced  in  bringing  ships  to  Portland.  The  latter  months  of 
1883  found  a  greater  number  of  ships  in  her  harbor  than  one  ever 
saw  here  at  once,  forty  such  vessels  being  at  dock  at  one  time  in 
November.'' 

It  was  in  1883  that  the  O.  R.  &  X.  Company's  lines  were  finished 
and  the  main  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  was  pushed  to  a  junction 
with  its  eastern  section. 

In  1884,  however,  a  great  business  collapse  resulted  from  the 
unusual  expansion  of  the  preceding  months,  and  the  year  was  rather 
disastrous.  The  Oregon  and  Transcontinental  stocks  dropped  to  a 
minimum.  V'illard  failed,  and  many  Portland  stockholders  were 
greatly  crippled.  F'ictitious  values  had  to  be  brought  down  to  a 
substantial  basis.  Cessation  of  railroad  construction,  discontinuance 
f)f  disbursements,  and  the  fact  that  the  railroad  now  coming  into 
operation  began  to  absorb  the  flowing  money  in  the  country-,  all 
tended  to  create  a  stringency.  Prices  of  wheat  fell  low,  and 
l)roduolions  therefore  realized  but  poorly;  and  during  the  holidays  in 
Portland  the  whole  city  was  blockaded  by  an  unprecedented  storm  of 
snow  and  ice,  so  that  the  somewhat  unusual  preparations  of  Portland 
merchants  failed  to  realize  their  object.  The  time  of  this  storm  was, 
however,  reckoned  as  about  the  lowest  ebb  of  business,  and  with  the 
advance  of  winter  and  the  opening  of  the  following  season  began  a 
general  rise.     The  main  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  having 


Commerce. 


243 


been  completed,  brought  in  immigration  from  the  East.  The  O.  R. 
&  N.  Company  pushed  their  line  to  a  junction  with  the  Union 
Pacific,  and  formed  a  net-work  of  lines  in  the  valley  of  the  Columbia. 
The  Oregon  and  California  road  was  continued  to  Ashland,  and  the 
Oregon  Pacific  was  finished  from  Conallis  to  Yaquina  bay.  The 
section  of  the  Northern  Pacific  from  Portland  to  a  point  on  the 
Columbia  river  opposite  Kalama  was  also  built. 

The  imports  of  this  year  are  stated  to  be,  domestic,  $18,868,129; 
foreign,  $1,013,866. 

The  exports  aggregated,  domestic,  $6,284,735;  foreign,  $5,648,- 
116,  making  a  total  of  about  $12,000,000. 

The  wholesale  trade  diminished,  owing  to  the  cessation  of  railroad 
constniction,  but,  as  an  offset,  country  merchants  found  that  they 
could  do  better  at  Portland  than  at  the  East. 

In  1885  there  were  shipped  4,546,540  centals  of  wheat,  valued 
at  $45,643,650,  and  459,159  barrels  of  flour,  valued  at  $1,751,589, 
making  a  total  value  of  $7,394,239. 

The  shipment  of  wool  aggregated  11,558,427  pounds,  worth 
$1,637,936.  The  value  of  all  exports  reached  $14,280,670,  being 
$2,347,819  over  the  exports  of  the  preceding  year.  The  greatest 
crop  of  grain  hitherto  raised  in  the  Northwest  was  harvested  this 
vear. 

For  1886,  the  following  table  of  exports  still  further  illustrates  the 
growth. 


Wheat,  centals. 

Flour,  barrels 

Salmon,  cases 

Wool,  pounds 1 

Woolens,  cases 

Mill  stuffs,  sacks 

Barley,  centals 

Leatlier,  packages 

Tallow,  packages . 

Butter,  packages 

Eggs,  packages 

Provisions,  packages 

Pig  iron,  tons 

Lumber,  M 


4-,in9.34r6 

r>or>.694 

5-1.S.366 

9,227.105 

819 

227.719 

4.0,685 

590 

1.705 

286 

3,4-88 

6.570 

1,567 

28.771 


i'lax  seetl,  sacks 68,431 

Furs,  hides,  skins,  etc..  lbs. .    2,383,710 
Hops,  pounds 6,520,036 


Barrel  stock,  packages. 

Potatoes,  sacks 

( )ats,  sacks 

Laths,  M 

(ireen  fruit.   lK)xes.  . . . 
Dried  fruit,  packages.  . 

Ore.  sacks 

Onions,  sacks 

Teasels,  ca.ses 

Stoves 


11,594 
111,062 
209,126 
6,658 
91,166 
7,236 
18.592 
..    .  5,161 

29 
1,615 
Total  value  of  exports.  ..^^16,960.147  00 


244  History  of  Portland. 


For  1887  the  shipment  of  wheat  was  173,915  tons,  and  flour, 
45,766  tons,  making  a  total — ^all  reduced  to  wheat— of  237,989  tons- 
The  total  export  of  1887  was  $13,985,681. 

The  statistics  of  wheat  for  1888  are  given  as  follows: 

To  Europe— Centals 3,149,764 valued  at ... .  |3,716,598 

To  San  Francisco— Centals.  .1,099,109 valued  at  . . .  1,288,819 

Coastwise— Centals 160,154 valued  at 196,370 

Peru— Centals 53,344 valued  at 60,610 

The  shipment  of  flour  for  the  same  period  is  shown  by  the 
following  table: 

Europe— Barrels 402,734 valued  at $1,399,773 

San  Francisco— Barrels. .    . .      107,834 ....  valued  at 397,346 

Coastwise— Barrels 62,967 valued  at 245,775 

China— Barrels 71,036 valued  at 259,412 

The  total  shipment  of  wheat  reached  4,462,371  centals,  of  a 
value  of  $5,716,598;  flour,  644,471  barrels,  of  a  value  of  $2,302,606. 

The  total  export  of  1888  reached  $16,385,658.  The  shipment 
of  salmon  was  428,437  cases;  the  production  of  wool  about 
18,000,000  pounds. 

It  may  be  noticed  in  relation  to  the  foregoing  statistics  that  they 
are  to  a  large  extent  incomplete,  nor  always  correct  so  far  as  given; 
but  they  are  the  best  to  be  obtained,  and  it  is  believed  that  the 
natural  tendency  to  exaggeration  is  largely  offset  by  the  diflSculty,  or 
even  impossibility,  of  finding  a  record  of  all  products  and  exports. 
Indeed,  for  the  purposes  of  this  work  it  is  not  necessary  that  they 
should  absolutely  be  impregnable,  yet  they  are  probably  fully  as 
reliable  as  those  tabulated  for  other  cities  or  other  lines  of 
industr>'.  In  some  departments,  such  as  salmon,  wool,  and  to  some 
extent  in  wheat  and  flour,  the  product  of  near  or  surrounding  points 
has  been  undoubtedly  tabulated  with  that  of  Portland;  and  in  the 
case  of  wheat  and  flour  considerable  shipments  have  been  made  by 
rail  to  Tacoma  for  lading  on  foreign  vessels.  But  this  feature  has 
now  been  obviated  by  the  new  pilotage  laws  so  that  port  charges  and 
towage  on  the  rivers  do  not  increase  expenses  of  loading  at  Portland 
to  a  point  above  that  at  ports  on  Puget  Sound.  The  facts  given 
above  show  substantially  the  volume  of  business  done  by  Portland,  or 
by  Portland  capitalists.  * 


Commerce.  245 


PRESENT   CHARACTER   AND   CONDITIONS. 

From  the  preceding  pages  it  will  be  noticed  how  Portland  has  n 
weathered  all  the  storms  of  opposition  from  the  earliest  days,  and  has  ' 
advanced  to  and  continued  to  hold  the  position  as  emporium  of  the 
Pacific  Northwest.  In  the  primitive  times  she  proved  the  superiority 
of  her  position  over  points  on  the  lower  Willamette  for  lading  and 
unlading.  Having  securely  gained  this  pre-eminence  she  proceeded 
during  the  second  era  to  emancipate  herself  from  the  commercial 
tyranny  of  San  Francisco,  and  during  the  third  to  build  up  an 
independent  commerce  with  the  world.  Since  1868  she  has  stood  . 
before  the  nations  as  an  autonomous  power  in  commercial  affairs, 
acting  without  fear  or  favor,  and  pressing  her  activities  on  the  simple 
basis  of  the  advantages  that  she  possessed  and  the  facilities  which 
she  could  give.  She  boldly  entered  upon  the  construction  of  railroad 
lines,  calling  in  capital  from  California,  from  the  East  and  from 
Europe,  and  thereby  made  a  practical  test  of  what  she  was  able  to 
do.  If,  by  virtue  of  position  and  business  activity,  she  should  prove 
inferior  to  other  points,  these  railroads  would  necessarily  withdraw 
from  her,  her  capital  and  population  leaving  her  stranded  upon  the 
shoals  of  bankruptcy.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  her  position  and 
business  enterprise  enabled  her  to  serve  the  entire  surrounding  region, 
these  lines  of  transportation  would  give  her  still  greater  advantages. 
Amid  all  vicissitudes — ^social,  commercial  and  political — incident 
upon  construction  of  railroads,  Portland  steadily  held  her  own;  and, 
now  that  these  lines  are  completed  and  in  operation,  finds  her  wealth 
and  population  increased  four  or  five  fold.  She  finds  herself  more 
secure  than  ever  as  the  emporium  and  business  center  of  the  Pacific 
Northwest.  Her  present  position  is  that  accorded  to  her  by  nature, 
as  the  point  of  exchange  between  domestic  productions  and  foreign 
imports,  the  point  of  supply  for  interior  towns  and  country  places, 
and  the  general  depot  for  the  stores  that  must  somewhere  be  held  in 
readiness  for  the  use  of  the  people. 

The  character  of  her  business  at  present  is  determined  by  that  of 
the  surrounding  sections.     While  they  raise  wheat  she  must  handle 


246  History  of  Portland. 

and  sell  wheat;  their  wool,  fruit,  ores,  lumber,  fish,  coal,  iron,  cattle 
and  other  domestic  productions  all  figure  in  her  lists  as  passing 
through  her  for  market. 

This  work  being  chiefly  historical  need  not  here  be  burdened  with 
further  details  of  commerce.  It  is  confidently  believed,  however, 
that  the  exports  of  1889  will  reach  a  greater  value  than  for  any 
preceding  year.  These  will,  of  course,  be  of  the  same  character  so 
far  as  quality  or  kind  is  concerned,  as  of  years  before.  They  will  be 
drawn  from  the  entire  circle  of  valleys  and  mountains  from  the 
California  and  Montana  borders. 

It  will  not  be  necessary'  to  insert  here  a  disquisition  upon  the 
commercial  needs  of  Portland,  nevertheless  the  reader  will  naturally 
think  of  the  steps  that  must  be  taken  to  make  Portland  complete  as 
an  emporium.  First  of  all,  it  remains  to  perfect  that  confidence 
between  Portland  and  the  agricultural  communities  which  will  induce 
them  to  rely  upon  her  merchants.  Portland  must  reach  such  friendly 
tenns  with  the  fanners  and  graziers  that  her  business  men  may  never 
with  any  semblance  of  propriety  be  called  '  *Shylocks. ' '  Our  merchants 
must  seek  rather  the  enlargement  of  their  sales  than  a  large  per  cent 
upon  each  one,  knowing  that  a  profit  of  even  one  per  cent,  on  a 
hundred  dollars,  or  orders  worth  a  hundred  dollars,  is  better  than  that 
of  three  per  cent,  on  but  twenty  dollars;  and  the  small  merchants 
and  dealers  of  the  country  must  be  encouraged  to  feel  that  they  are 
made  to  share  with  Portland  the  advantages  which  result  from  her 
superior  natural  position. 

For  another  thing  the  people  of  Portland  must  learn  to  regard  the 
whole  Northwest  as  in  a  measure  their  '*fann.'*  That  is,  they  must 
feel  the  same  interest  in  improving  and  developing  the  fields,  forests 
and  mines  of  all  this  region  that  the  energetic  fanner  feels  in  making 
his  own  acres  productive.  Ever>'  effort  must  be  put  forth  to  bring 
wild  lands  in  cultivation,  to  increase  the  area  of  orchards  and  the 
number  of  flocks  and  herds,  and,  if  possible,  to  render  substantial 
assistance  to  settlers  who  find  the  difficulties  of  pioneer  life  too  great 
to  be  overcome.  In  some  sections  capitalists  have  greatly  increased 
the  productions  of  the  soil,  and  enhanced  values  by  selling  land  for 
an  interest  in  the  crop  for  a  tenn  of  years  until  the  purchase  price 


Commerce.  247 

was  liquidated.  It  is  possible  that  extensive  orchards  and  the 
cultivation  of  wild  lands  might  be  profitably  encouraged  in  the  same 
way. 

For  the  most  part  the  business  men  of  Portland  will  find  it  to  N 
their  greatest  advantage  to  encourage  those  kinds  of  industry-  and 
occupation  as  lead  to  the  settlement  of  the  country  and  to  the 
introduction  of  families.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  great  as  has  been  / 
the  volume  of  money  turned  over  by  the  salmon  canning  business  of 
the  country,  but  comparatively  little  real  advantage  has  accrued  to 
the  State.  The  business  itself  has  been  grossly  overdone,  the  supply 
of  fish  well  nigh  exhausted,  and  for  a  large  part  at  least,  but  an  idle, 
transitory  and  turbulent  element  of  laborers  attracted  hither.  In 
like  manner  the  immense  lumbering  business  of  Puget  Sound  and  the 
lower  Columbia  has  brought  no  benefit  proportionate  to  the  amount 
of  capital  employed  and  the  money  made.  Exhausted  forests  and 
too  frequently  dissatisfied  and  demoralized  communities  have  followed 
in  the  path  of  the  ax  and  saw.  A  lesson  also  may  be  gathered  from 
the  great  plains  of  Texas  and  Dakota,  where  the  cattle  and  wheat 
business  are  cultivated  by  a  class  of  capitalists  who  are  themselves  • 
in  New  York  or  in  London,  and  delegate  to  agents  the  management 
of  their  immense  herds  and  fields.  A  band  of  cow-boys,  or  a  camp 
of  plow-men  and  harvesters,  for  a  few  months  in  the  year  are  the 
only  inhabitants  of  plains  and  meadows  that  might  \yell  support 
thousands  of  families.  By  such  management  the  utmost  extravagance 
of  methods  is  engendered.  Pastures  are  eaten  out,  soils  exhausted, 
and  the  country  left  in  a  condition  inviting  the  English  or  Irish 
system  of  landlordism.  Portland  wants  nothing  of  this.  She  should 
consider  that  it  is  a  State  filled  with  families,  with  a  multitude  of 
rural  towns,  and  with  productive  manufactories,  that  makes  demand 
for  the  immense  imports  which  she  is  to  store  and  to  distribute,  and 
which  provides  the  immense  exports  to  be  exchanged  for  the  imports. 
For  this  reason  she  will  principally  encourage  such  industries  as 
fruit  raising,  dairying,  sheep  and  stock  raising  by  small  farmers  on 
small  farms;  the  raising  of  poultry  and  the  labor  of  small  manufac- 
tories, and  of  persons  in  rural  communities. 


248  History  of  Portland. 


It  remains  also  to  open  up  the  water  ways,  to  complete  the  natural 
entrance  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river,  and  to  unlock  the 
gates  of  the  Columbia  to  the  whole  interior. 

By  such  liberal  policy,  by  breadth  of  plan  and  outlook,  by 
exercise  of  a  spirit  of  fraternity  and  accommodation,  Portland  will 
maintain  her  ascendancy,  ^he  conditions  out  of  which  monopolies 
and  oppressive  combinations  arise  will  be  prevented.  Although 
expecting  to  run  a  hard  race  with  San  Francisco  and  even  some 
Eastern  city  as  Chicago,  and  with  some  local  rivals  for  control  of  the 
business  in  certain  portions  of  her  field,  she  need  have  no  fear  of  the 
result. 

Locally,  there  is  room  here  for  great  lumber  yards,  cattle  yards, 
fruit  canning  establishments,  cold  storage  houses  and  depots  of  supply 
for  the  merchant  marine,  for  the  fishing  stations  of  Alaska,  and  for 
the  mines  of  the  upper  Columbia.     These  will  come  in  time. 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

RIVER    NAVIGATION. 

Oregon  Pioneer  Ship  builders  and  River  Navigators — CoL  Nesmith's  Account  of 
Early  Navigation  on  the  Columbia  and  Willamette— Judge  Strong's  Review  of  the 
Growth  and  Development  of  Oregon  Steamship  Companies — Names  and  Character  of 
Early  Steamships  and  the  Men  who  ran  them — List  of  the  Steamers  Built  by  the  Peo- 
ples' Transportation,  Oregon  Steamship  Navigation  and  Oregon  Railway  and  Naviga- 
tion Companies — Independent  Vessels  and  Their  Owners. 

IN  approaching  this  subject  one  finds  that,  as  in  all  other  lines, 
Portland  has  gradually  become  the  center  of  all  the  navigation 
companies  of  Oregon.  To  indicate  the  sources  of  her  present  facili- 
ties it  will  therefore  be  proper  to  mention  the  efforts  made  in  other 
places  in  our  State  which  ultimated  upon  Portland.  This  can  be 
done  in  no  manner  so  satisfactorily  as  by  inserting  here  two  extracts; 
one  of  them  being  from  a  speech  of  Senator  J.  W.  Nesmith,  and  the 
other  from  Hon.  Wm.  Strong,  before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Association. 


River  Navigation.  249 


The  former  is  a  racy  narrative  of  the  very  earliest  eflForts  at  naviga- 
tion; and  the  latter  shows  the  origin  of  our  steamboat  companies. 
Both  the  men  named  were  personally  cognizant  of  the  facts  in  the 
case.     Says  Nesmith: 

It  is  my  purpose  to  speak  briefly  of  the  inception  of  our  external  and  internal 
commerce,  as  inaugurated  by  the  efforts  of  the  early  pioneers. 

Forty  years  ago  the  few  American  citizens  in  Oregon  were  isolated  from  the  out- 
side world.  Some  adventurous  and  enterprising  persons  conceived  the  idea  of  a  vessel 
of  a  capacity  to  cross  the  Columbia  river  bar  and  navigate  the  ocean.  Those  persons 
were  mostly  old  Rocky  Mountain  beaver  trappers,  and  sailors  who  had  drifted  like 
waifs  to  the  Willamette  Valley.  Their  names  were  Joseph  Gale,  John  Canan,  Ralph 
Kilbourn,  Pleasant  Armstrong,  Henry  Woods,  George  Davis  and  Jacob  Green.  Felix 
Hathaway  was  employed  as  master  ship  carpenter,  and  Thomas  Hubbard  and  J.  L. 
Parrish  did  the  blacksmith  work.  In  the  latter  part  of  1840,  there  was  laid  the  keel 
of  the  schooner  Star  of  Oregon^  upon  the  east  side  of  Swan  Island,  near  the  junction 
of  the  Willamette  and  Columbia  rivers.  The  representatives  of  the  Hudson*s  Bay  Co. 
either  dreading  commercial  competition,  or  doubtful  about  their  pay,  at  first  refused 
to  furnish  any  supplies.  But  through  the  earnest  representation  of  Commodore 
Wilkes — then  here  in  command  of  the  American  exploring  squadron,  who  offered  to 
become  responsible  for  the  payment — Dr.  M'Loughlin  furnished  all  such  necessary 
articles  as  were  in  store  at  Vancouver.  (According  to  another  account  current  among 
old  pioneers,  the  boat  builders  feigned  to  be  persuaded  by  M'Loughlin  to  give  up 
their  plan,  and  go  to  raising  wheat  for  him.  He  supplied  them  with  ropes,  nails,  bag- 
ging, etc.,  etc.,  such  as  was  necessary  for  agriculture,  and  was  greatly  astonished 
when  in  passing  the  island  he  saw  his  farmers  industriously  building  the  craft  which 
he  had  attempted  to  inhibit,  expressing  his  vexation  in  the  words,  "Curse  these 
Americans;  they  always  do  get  ahead  of  us.")  On  the  19th  day  of  May,  1841,  the 
schooner  was  launched.  She  had  only  been  planked  up  to  the  water  ways,  and  in  that 
condition  was  worked  up  to  the  falls  of  the  Willamette.  Owing  to  the  destitution  of 
means  and  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  the  enterprising  ship  builders  were  compelled 
to  suspend  work  upon  their  vessel  until  May,  1842.  On  the  25th  of  August  the  ves- 
sel was  completed,  and  the  crew  went  on  board  at  the  falls.  They  consisted  of  the 
following  named  persons:  Joseph  Gale,  captain;  John  Canan,  Pleasant  Armstrong, 
Ralph  Kilbourn,  Jacob  Green  and  one  Indian  boy  ten  years  old.  There  was  but  one 
passenger,  a  Mr.  Piffenhauser.  Capt.  Wilkes  furnished  them  with  an  anchor,  hawser, 
nautical  instruments,  a  flag  and  a  clearance.  On  the  12th  of  September,  1842,  she 
crossed  the  bar  of  the  Columbia,  coming  very  near  being  wrecked  in  the  breakers, 
and  took  latitude  and  departure  from  Cape  Disappointment  just  as  the  sun  touched 
the  western  horizon. 

That  night  there  arose  a  terrific  storm,  which  lasted  thirty-six  hours,  during  which 
Captain  Gale,  who  was  the  only  experienced  seaman  on  board,  never  left  the  helm. 
The  little  Star  behaved  beautifully  in  the  storm,  and  after  a  voyage  of  five  days 
anchored  in  the  foreign  port  of  Verba  Buena,  as  San  Francisco  was  then  called. 

The  Star  was  48  feet  eight  inches  on  the  keel,  53  feet  eight  inches  over  all,  with 
ten   feet  and   nine  inches  in  the  widest  part,  and  drew  in  good  ballast  trim  four  feet 


250  History  of  Portland. 


and  six  inches  of  water.  Her  frame  was  of  :>wamp  white  oak,  her  knees  of  seasoned 
red  fir  roots;  her  beam  and  castings  of  red  fir.  She  was  clinker  btiilt,  and  of  the 
Baltimore  clipper  model.  She  was  planked  with  clear  cedar,  dressed  to  1 V  inches, 
which  was  spiked  to  ever>'  rib  with  a  wrought  iron  spike  half  an  inch  square,  and 
clinched  on  the  inside.  The  deck  was  double;  and  she  was  what  is  known  as  a  fore 
and  aft  schooner,  having  no  top  sails,  but  simply  fore  and  main  sails,  jib  and  flying 
jib.  She  was  painted  black,  with  a  small  white  ribbon  running  from  stem  to  stem, 
and  was  one  of  the  handsomest  little  crafts  that  ever  sat  npon  the  water.  Capt.  Gale 
and  the  crew,  who  were  the  owners  of  the  Star,  sold  her  at  the  bav  of  San  Francisco 
in  the  fall  of  1842  to  a  French  captain  named  Josa  Lamonton.  who  had  recently 
wrecked  his  vesseL     The  price  was  350  cows. 

Shortly  after  Captain  Gale  arrived  in  San  Francisco,  the  captains  of  several 
vessels  then  in  the  harbor  came  on  board  his  schooner,  and  when  passing  around  the 
stem  read  Star  of  Oregon,  he  heard  them  swear  that  there  was  no  such  port  in  the 
world. 

Gale  and  his  crew  remained  in  California  all  winter,  and  in  the  spring  of  1843 
started  to  Oregon  with  a  party  of  forty -two  men.  who  brought  with  them  an  aggf^ate 
of  1250  head  of  cattle,  600  head  of  mares,  colts,  horses  and  mules,  and  3000  sheep. 
They  were  seventy-five  days  in  reaching  the  Willamette  Valley.  On  their  arrival 
with  their  herd«  the  monopoly  in  .stock  cattle  came  to  an  end  in  Oregon. 

Captain  Joseph  Gale,  the  master  spirit  of  the  enterprise,  was  bom,  I  believe,  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  in  his  youuy^r  days  followe<l  the  sea,  where  he  obtained  a 
good  knowledge  of  iiax-igation  and  seamanship.  Captain  Wilkes,  before  he  would 
give  him  his  papers,  examinetl  him  satisfactorily  upon  these  subjects.  Abandoning 
the  sea  he  found  his  way  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  was  for  several  years  a 
trapper.  I  knew  him  well  ancl  live<l  with  him  in  the  winter  of  1843-4,  and  often 
listened  to  his  thrilling  adventures  of  the  sea  and  land.  He  then  had  the  American 
flag  that  Wilkes  ga\'e  him.  and  made  a  sort  of  canopy  of  it.  under  which  he  slept. 
No  saint  was  ever  more  devote*!  to  his  shrine  than  was  (^ale  to  that  dear  old  flag. 

In  the  summer  of  1844.  .\aron  Cook,  a  bluff  old  Englishman,  strongly  imbued 
mth  American  sentiments,  conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  schooner  to  supercede 
the  Indian  canoes  then  doing  the  carrying  trade  on  the  Columbia  and  Willamette 
rivers.  Cook  employed  H4lwin  W.  and  M.  B.  Otie  and  myself  as  the  carpenters  to 
construct  the  craft.  We  built  her  in  a  cove  or  recess  of  the  rocks  just  in  front  of 
Frank  Ermotinger's  house,  near  the  upper  end  of  Oregon  City. 

None  of  us  had  any  knowlcdj^e  of  ship-building,  but  by  dint  of  perseverance  we 
constructed  a  schooner  of  alnrnt  Ihirtv-five  tons  burthen.  She  was  called  the  Cali- 
pooiab.  Jack  Warner  did  the  caulking,  paying  an<l  rigging.  Warner  was  a  yonng 
Scotchman  with  a  good  e<hicalion.  which  he  never  turned  to  any  practical  account. 
He  ran  away  from  school  in  the  "J^and  o'  Cakes"  and  took  to  the  sea,  where  he 
picked  up  a  good  deal  of  kncmledge  pertaining  to  the  sailors*  craft.  I  recollect  one 
day  when  Jack,  with  a  kettle  of  hot  pitch  and  a  long-handled  swab,  was  pitching  the 
hull  of  the  Calipooiah.  he  \\a*»  accor»te<l  by  an  "uncouth  Missourian,*'  who  had 
e\Tdently  never  seen  anything  of  the  kin<l  before,  with  an  inquiry*  as  to  his  occu- 
pation. Jack  responded  in  broad  Scotch:  "I  am  a  landscape  painter  by  profession, 
and  am  doing  a  wee  bit  of  adornment  for  Capt.  Cook's  schooner.** 


River  Navigation.  251 


In  the  month  of  August,  1844,  we  had  launched  and  finished  the  Calipooiah  and 
went  on  a  pleasure  excursion  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  The  crew  and  passen- 
gers consisted  of  Captain  Aaron  Cook,  Jack  Warner,  Jack  Campbell,  Rev.  A.  F. 
Waller  and  family,  W.  H.  Gray  and  wife,  A.  K.  Wilson,  Robert  Shortess,  W.  W. 
Raymond,  E.  W.  Otie,  M.  B.  Otie  and  J.  W.  Nesniith.  There  might  have  been  others 
on  board;  if  so,  their  names  have  escaped  me.  The  after  portion  had  a  small  cabin, 
which  was  given  up  for  the  accommodation  of  the  ladies  and  children-  Forward  was 
a  box  filled  with  earth,  upon  which  a  fire  was  made  for  cooking  purposes.  We  had 
our  own  blankets  and  slept  upon  the  deck.  The  weather  was  delightful,  and  we 
listlessly  drifted  down  the  Willamette  and  Columbia  rivers,  sometimes  aided  by  the 
wind.  Portland  was  then  a  solitude  like  any  other  part  of  the  forest-clad  bank. 
There  were  then  no  revenue  oflficers  here  under  pretense  of  "protecting"  American 
in  lustries,  and  no  custom  house  boat  boarded  us. 

In  four  days  we  reavrhed  Astoria,  or  Fort  George,  as  the  single  old  shanty  on  the 
place,  in  charge  of  an  old  Scotchman,  was  called.  The  river  was  full  of  fish,  and  the 
shores  abounded  in  game.  We  had  our  rifles  along,  and  subsisted  upon  wild  delicacies. 
There  were  then  numerous  large  Indian  villages  along  the  margin  of  the  river,  and 
the  canoes  of  the  natives  were  rarely  out  of  sight.  The  Indians  often  came  on  board 
to  dispose  of  salmon  ;  their  price  was  a  bullet  and  a  charge  of  powder  for  a  fish. 

The  grand  old  river  existed  then  in  its  natural  state,  as  I^wis  and  Clark  foimd  it 
forty  years  before.  I  believe  that  there  was  but  one  American  settler's  cabin  on  the 
banks  of  the  Columbia  from  its  source  to  the  ocean.  That  was  on  the  south  side  of 
the  river,  and  belonged  to  Henry  Hunt  and  Ben  Wood,  who  were  building  a  saw-mill 
at  that  point. 

On  an  Island  near  Cathlaniet  some  of  us  went  ashore  to  visit  a  l^rge  Indian  ^^llage, 
where  the  natives  lived  in  large  and  comparatively  comfortable  houses.  They  showed 
us  some  articles  which  they  said  were  presente<l  to  them  by  Lewis  and  Clarke,  among 
which  were  a  faded  cotton  handkerchief  and  a  small  mirror,  about  two  inches  square, 
in  a  small  tin  case.  The  corners  of  the  case  were  worn  off  and  the  sides  worn  through 
by  much  handling.  The  Indians  seemed  to  regard  the  articles  with  great  venera- 
tion, and  would  not  dispose  of  them  to  us  for  any  price  we"  were  able  to  offer. 

The  only  vessel  we  saw  in  the  river  was  Her  Majesty's  sloop-of-war  Modeste,  of 
eighteen  guns,  under  command  of  Capt.  Thomas  Bailie.  We  passed  her  in  a  long 
nich  in  the  river,  as  she  lay  at  anchor.  We  had  a  spanking  breeze,  and,  ^Ith  all  our 
sail  set  and  the  American  flag  flying  at  our  mast-head,  we  proudly  ran  close  under  her 
broadside.  A  long  line  of  officers  and  sailors  looked  down  over  the  hammocks  and 
from  the  quarter-deck  at  our  un painted  and  primitive  craft  in  apparently  as  much 
astonishment  as  if  we  were  the  Flying  Dutchman  or  some  other  phantom  ship  from 
the  moon  to  plant  the  Stars  and  Stripes  upon  the  neutral  waters  of  the  Columbia." 


The  steamer  Eliza  Anderson,  launched  November  27,  1858,  was  entirely  built 
at  Portland,  of  Oregon  fir  timber,  and  at  this  date,  July,  1889,  is  running  on  Puget 
Sound  with  most  of  her  original  timber  as  apparently  sound  as  the  day  it  was  put  in 
her. 


252  History  of  Portland. 


Judge  Strong,  at  one  time  attorney  of  the  old  O.  S.  N.  Company, 
succinctly  begins  his  narrative  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Pioneer 
Association  in  1878  by  stating  what  he  found  upon  reaching  the 
Columbia: 

Astoria  at  that  time  was  a  small  place,  or  rather  two  places,  the  upper  and  lower 
town,  between  which  there  was  jjreat  rivalrj'.  They  were  about  a  mile  apart,  with  no 
road  connecting  them  except  by  water  and  along  the  beach.  The  upper  town  was 
known  to  the  people  of  lower  Astoria  as  '*  Adair\Mlle.*'  The  lower  town  was 
designated  by  its  rival  as  ''Old  Fort  George,"  or  **  McClure*s  Astoria.'*  A  road 
between  the  two  places  would  have  weakened  the  differences  of  both,  isolation  being 
the  protection  of  either.  In  the  upper  town  was  the  custom  house,  in  the  lower  two 
companies  of  the  First  V.  S.  Engineers,  under  command  of  Major  J.  S.  Hathaway. 
There  were  not,  excepting  the  military  and  those  attached  to  them,  and  the  custom 
house  officials,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  to  exceed  twenty- five  men  in  both 
towns. 

.\t  the  time  of  our  arrival  in  the  country  there  was  considerable  commerce  carried 
on.  principally  in  sailing  vessels,  between  the  Columbia  river  and  San  Francisco. 
The  exports  were  chiefly  lumber  ;  the  imports  generally  merchandise. 

The  Pacific  Mail  steamer  Caroline  had  made  a  trip  in  the  month  of  May  or  June, 
1850,  bringing  up  furniture  for  the  Grand  Hotel  at  Pacific  City,  and  as  passengers. 
Dr.  Rlijah  White,  Judge  Alonzo  Skinner,  J.  D.  Holman  and  others,  who  were  the 
founders  and  proprietors  of  the  city.  Some  of  the  proprietors  still  live,  but  the  city 
has  been  long  since  buried  and  the  place  where  it  stood  has  returned  to  the  primeval 
forest  from  which  it  was  taken.  The  Mail  Company's  steamers  Oregon  and  Panama 
had  each  made  one  trip  to  the  river  that  summer,  but  regular  mail  service  by  steamer 
from  San  Francisco  was  not  established  until  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  Columbia  in 
the  winter  or  spring  of  1850-51.  The  usual  length  of  time  of  receiving  letters  from 
the  States  was  from  six  weeks  to  two  months.  It  took,  however,  three  months  to 
send  and  get  an  answer  from  an  interior  State,  and  postage  on  a  single  letter  was  forty 
cents,  .\fter  the  arrival  of  the  Columbia,  they  came  with  great  regularity  once  a 
month,  and  a  year  or  two  afterwards  semi-monthly. 

In  1852  the  railroad  across  the  Isthmus  was  completed,  thus  greatly  improving 
that  route.  \  route  had  been  established  across  Nicaragua,  which  for  a  time  was 
quite  popular,  but  was  finally  abandoned  on  account  of  internal  disturbances  in  the 
country,  in  part,  and  in  part  on  account  of  competition  and  increased  facilities  upon 
the  Isthmus  route.  The  date  when  the  Nicaragua  route  commenced  to  be  used  and 
was  discontinued  I  am  not  able  at  this  time  to  give.  The  price  of  passage  by  the 
Isthmus  route,  l>cfore  their  opposition,  was  from  J200  to  j>250,  which  included  only  a 
limited  amount  of  baggage.  Freights  were  extraordinarily  high,  amounting  to  a 
prohibition  upon  all  excepting  merchandise. 

In  1857  the  Overland  Stage  Company  was  organized  and  commenced  carrying  the 
letter  mail  between  St.  Joe,  Missouri,  and  Placer\'ille.  California,  under  a  contract 
with  the  Postmaster  General,  under  an  act  of  Congress,  approved  March  3d,  1857. 
The  act  authorized  a  semi-monthly,  weekly,  or  semi-weekly  service,  at  a  cost  per 
annum  not  excee<iing  $300,000  for  sepii-monthly,  $4-50,000  for  weekly,  and  $600,000 


RrvER   Navigation.  253 


for  semi-weekly  service — ^the  mail  to  be  carried  in  good  four-horse  coaches  or  spring 
wagons,  suitable  for  passengers,  through  in  twenty-five  days.  The  original  contract 
was  for  six  years,  but  was  extended,  and  the  line  run  until  the  railroad  was  completed 
in  1869.  After  the  route  was  opened,  twenty-two  days  was  the  schedule  time.  The 
stages  run  full  both  ways,  fare  |250.  The  starting  and  arrival  of  the  stages  were 
great  events  at  both  ends  of  the  line.  A  pony  express  from  San  Francisco  to  St.  Joe 
was  started  in  1859,  and  run  about  a  year  and  a  half.     It  made  the  trip  in  ten  days. 

The  first  river  steamboat  in  Oregon  was  the  Columbia,  built  by  General  Adair, 
Captain  Dan  Frost  and  others,  at  Upper  Astoria  in  1850.  She  was  a  side -wheel  boat, 
ninety  feet  in  length,  of  about  seventy-five  tons  burthen,  capable  of  accommodating 
not  to  exceed  twenty  passengers,  though  I  have  known  of  her  carrying  on  one  trip 
over  one  hundred.  Though  small,  her  cost  exceeded  |25,000.  Mechanics  engaged 
in  her  construction  were  paid  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  dollars  per  day,  and  other  laborers 
five  to  eight  dollars,  gold.  She  made  her  first  trip  in  June,  1850,  under  the  command 
of  Capt.  Fros;  McDermott,  engineer.  It  generally  took  about  twenty-foiu-  hours  to 
make  the  trip.  She  tied  up  nights  and  in  foggy  weather.  Fare  was  twenty-five 
dollars  each  way.  She  was  an  independent  little  craft,  and  not  remarkably  accom- 
modating, utterly  ignoring  Lower  Astoria.  All  freight  and  passengers  must  come  on 
board  at  the  upper  town.  She  ran  for  a  year  or  two,  when  her  machinery  was  taken 
out  and  put  into  the  Fashion.     Her  hull  aften^'ards  floated  out  to  sea. 

The  Lot  Wbitcomb,  also  a  side-wheeler,  was  the  next.  She  was  built  at  Milwaukie, 
then  one  of  the  most  lively  and  promising  towns  in  Oregon,  by  Lot  Whitcomb,  Col. 
Jennings,  S.  S.  White  and  others  and  launched  on  Christmas  Day,  1850.  That  was  a 
great  day  in  Oregon.  Hundreds  from  all  parts  of  the  Territory  came  to  witness  the 
launch.  The  festivities  were  kept  up  for  three  days  and  nights.  There  was  music 
instrumental — at  least,  I  heard  several  fiddles — and  vocal,  dancing  and  feasting.  The 
whole  city  was  full  of  good  cheer;  every  house  was  open  and  all  was  free  of  charge — 
no  one  would  receive  pay.  Sleeping  accommodations  were  rather  scarce,  but  there 
was  plenty  to  keep  one  awake. 

The  Lot  Whitcomb  had  a  fine  model,  a  powerful  engine,  and  was  staunch  and 
fast.  Her  keel  was  12x14  inches,  160  feet  long,  a  solid  stick  of  Oregon  fir.  Her 
burden  was  600  tons,  had  a  17-inch  cylinder,  7-feet  stroke  and  cost  about  |80, 000. 
She  proved  a  safe  and  comfortable  boat.  F'are  upon  her  was  reduced  to  J15  between 
Portland  and  Astoria.  She  ran  upon  Oregon  waters  until  the  latter  part  of  1853, 
when  she  was  taken  to  San  Francisco  and  ran  for  some  years  on  the  Sacramento. 
Captain  John  C.  Ainsworth  took  command.  This  was  his  first  steam  boating  in 
Oregon.  Jacob  Kamm  was  her  engineer.  Captain  Ainsworth  was  from  Iowa,  where 
he  had  been  engaged  in  steam  boating  on  the  Mississippi  between  St.  Louis  and 
Galena  about  five  years.  He  was  a  young  man  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age  when 
he  commenced  in  Oregon,  and  had  nothing  to  begin  with  but  the  ordinary  capital  of 
an  Oregon  pioneer — a  sound  head,  a  brave  heart,  willing  hands,  energy  and  fidelity 
to  trust.  I  have  known  him  through  his  whole  career  in  Oregon.  The  fortune  and 
position  he  has  acquired  are  not  the  result  of  accident  or  chance,  but  have  been 
secured  by  industry,  integrity,  ability,  hard  labor  and  prudence.  Such  fortune  and 
such  position  come  to  all  who  work  as  hard,  as  long  and  well  as  Captain  Ainsworth. 

Jacob  Kamm,  the  engineer,  was  the  right  man  in  the  right  place  on  such  a  boat, 
under  such  a  captain.     He  proved  himself  skillful  and  prudent;  no  accident  ever 


254-  History  of  Portland. 


occurred  through  his  want  of  skill  and  care  during  the  long  period  in  which  he  ran  as 
engineer  on  Oregon  steamboats.  Tlie  fortune  he  has  acquired  has  been  built  up  by 
hard  labor,  increaseil  an<l  preservefl  by  skill  and  prudence. 

The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  a  New  York  corporation  which  had  the 
mail  contract  between  Panama  and  Oregon,  brought  out  a  large  iron  steamer  called 
the  Willamette.  She  was  built  for  the  company  at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  and 
brought  around  Cape  Horn  un<ler  sail  as  a  three  masted  schooner,  arriving  in  the  fall 
of  1S51.  She  was  soon  fitted  up  and  commenced  running,  under  Captain  Durbrow. 
I^ietween  Portland  and  Astoria  in  connection  with  the  company's  sea  steamer.  She 
was  an  elegant  boat  in  all  her  .ipp<nntmenLs.  had  fine  accommodation  for  passengers, 
and  great  freight  capacity.  In  fact,  she  was  altt^ether  too  large  for  the  trade,  and  in 
August,  18,^2.  her  c)wners  took  her  to  California  anil  ran  her  on  the  Sacramento.  One 
good  thing  >he  did.  she  put  fare  down  to  $10.  Fare  on  this  route  went  down  slowly; 
first  $2(>.  then  515.  then  $l(K  then  |8,  and  then  ^3;  it  is  now  $2.  It  is  only  witliin  a 
few  years  that  the  jKussenger  trade  on  the  lower  Columbia  has  been  of  any  considerable 
value,  or  would  support  a  single  weekly  steamboat.  It  has  now  become  of  more 
importance. 

Time  will  only  permit  me  to  touch  upon  the  important  events  which  make  eras  in 
the  commerce  of  Oregon. 

NaN-igation  uynm  tlie  Willamette  al)ove  the  falls  at  Oregon  City  by  steamboats  was 
(»])ened  by  the  Hoitsier,  built  at  Oregon  City  below  the  falls  and  taken  up  early  in 
I.Sol.     She  ran  between  Canemah  and  Dayton  on  the  Yamhill. 

Karly  in  1851  .\l)emethy  &  Co's  Ixirque.  the  Si/ccess,  from  New  York,  arriveil  at 
Oregon  City  \%-ith  a  general  cargo  of  merchandise  and  three  steamboats;  two  of  them 
were  small  iron  propellers,  and  the  thinl,  the  Multnomah,  was  a  side-wheel  l)oat 
built  of  wfKxl.  The  Ea/^Ie  was  very  little  larger  than  an  ordinan**  ship's  yawl-boat. 
She  was  owned  ancl  run  l)etween  Portland  and  Oregon  City  by  Captains  William 
Wells  and  Richanl  Williams.  When  Wells  was  capUiin.  Williams  was  mate,  fireman 
an<l  all  hands;  when  Captain  Dick  took  the  wheel.  Wells  l)ecame  the  crew.  She 
cairicil  freight  for  J15  per  ton,  passengers  $5  each.  Pretty  goo<l  pay  for  a  twelve 
mile  route.  She  made  more  money  acconling  to  her  size  than  any  boat  in  Oregon. 
Out  of  her  earnings  the  owners  built  the  iron  steaml)oat  Belle,  and  made  themseU'es 
principal  owners  in  the  Senoritn — two,  for  that  day.  first-class  steamboats.  The 
Wnshinffton  was  somewhat  larger,  owned  by  .Alexander  S.  Murray,  who  commanded 
her.  He  took  the  boat  up  al)ove  the  falls  in  June,  1851,  run  her  there  until  the  fall 
or  winter  of  1851-2,  when  he  brought  her  ilown  and  rtm  her  between  Portland  and 
(Oregon  City  luitil  the  spring  of  1853.  when  she  was  again  taken  above  the  falK 
where  she  ran  until  July  of  the  same  year,  when  her  owniers  there,  Allan  McKinley  & 
Co..  brought  her  ])elow  and  sent  her  under  steam  around  to  the  Umpqua  river.  She 
arrived  there  in  safety,  crossing  the  bars  of  both  rivers,  and  ended  her  days  there  in 
the  service  of  her  t>\vners.  She  was  known  after  her  sea  voyage  as  the  ** Bully  Wash- 
inj^ton."  The  only  money  ever  ma<le  out  of  her  was  made  by  her  first  owner,  CapL 
Murray.  He  was  a  shaq)  Scotchman,  came  from  .Australia  here  and  returned  there 
when  he  left  Oregon.  He  is  said  to  l)e  the  father  of  internal  navigation  in  Australia. 
He  made  money,  and  when  I  last  heard  of  him  was  engaged  in  the  narigation  of 
Murray's  river,  which  empties  into  the  ocean  at  Adelaide. 


River  Navigation'.  255 

The  next  and  most  famous  of  the  steamers  that  were  brought  out  after  the  Success 
was  the  Multnomah  .  She  came  in  sections,  and  was  set  up  at  Canemah  by  two  or 
three  army  or  navy  officers  of  the  United  States,  who  had  brought  her  out,  Doctors 
Gray  and  Maxwell  and  Captain  Binicle;  was  built  of  oak  staves  two  inches  in  thick- 
ness and  of  the  width  and  length  of  ordinary-  boat  plank,  bound  with  hoops  made  of 
bar  iron,  keyed  up  on  the  gunwales;  was  100  feet  in  length,  with  good  machinery,  and 
like  her  principal  owner.  Dr.  Gray,  fastidiously  nice  in  all  her  appointments.  She 
had  no  timbers  except  her.  deck  beams  and  the  frame  upon  which  her  engine  and 
niachiner>'  rested;  was  as  staunch  as  iron  and  oak  could  make  her,  It  was  as  difficult 
to  knock  her  to  pieces  from  the  outside  as  it  is  for  a  boy  to  kick  in  a  well  hooped  bar- 
rel. She  commenced  running  above  the  falls  shortly  after  the  Washington,  and  run 
there — her  highest  point  being  Corvallis,  then  Marysville  until  May,  1852,  when  she 
was  brought  l)elow  on  ways  in  a  cradle,  and  thereafter  run  on  the  lower  Willamette 
and  Columbia,  part  of  the  time  making  three  trips  a  week  to  Oregon  City  and  three 
trips  to  the  Cascades.  She  brought  down  many  of  the  emigrants  of  1852.  She  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Abemethy  &  Co.,  and  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1853,  ran 
between  Portland  and  Oregon  City  in  connedlion  with  the  Lot  Whitcomb.  On  the 
failure  of  Abemethy  &  Co.;  she  fell  into  the  hands  of  their  creditors  and  had  different 
captains  every  few  trips  for  a  year  or  two.  She  was  then  purchased  by  Captain  Rich- 
ani  Hoyt,  and  run  on  the  lower  Columbia  route  imtil  his  death  in  the  winter  or  spring 
of  1861-2.  She  finally  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Com- 
pany, and  after  much  more  useful  service  laid  her  bones  in  the  bone-yard  below  Port- 
land. 

Al)out  the  same  time,  1851,  a  small  wooden  boat,  a  propeller,  called  the  Black 
Hawk,  ran  between  Portland  and  Oregon  City.  She  made  money  very  rapidly  for 
her  owners. 

The  other  lx)ats  built  for  or  run  alcove  the  falls  of  the  Willamette  were  the  Portland , 
built  opposite  Portland,  in  1853,  by  A.  S.  Murray.  John  Torrance  and  James  Clinton. 
She  was  afterwards  taken  above  the  falls  where  she  ran  for  some  time.  On  the  1 7th 
of  March.  1857,  she  was  carried  over  the  falls  in  high  water,  leaving  hardly  a 
vestige  of  the  boat,  and  drowning  her  captain,  Arthur  Jamison,  and  one  deck  hand. 

There  was  the  Canemah,  side-wheels,  built  in  1851,  by  A.  V.  Hedges,  afterwards 
killed  by  the  Indians  in  Colonel  Kelly's  fight  on  the  Toucliet  in  1856;  Alanson  Beers 
and  Hamilton  Campbell.  She  ran  between  Canemah  and  Corvallis.  The  heaviest 
load  she  ever  carried  was  35  tons.  Passage  on  her  was  J5  to  Salem.  She  made  little 
or  no  money  for  her  owners  though  she  had  a  mail  contract. 

The  Oregon,  built  and  owned  by  Ben  Simpson  &  Co.,  in  1852,  was  a  side-wheel 
lK>at  of  good  size,  but  proved  very  poor  ])roj>erty. 

The  Shoalwater,  built  by  the  owners  of  the  Canemah,  in  1852-3,  as  a  low-water 
Ixwt,  commanded  by  Captain  Leni  White,  the  j)ioneer  captain  upon  the  upper  Colum- 
bia, proved  to  l)e  a  failurs.  She  changed  her  name  several  limes,  was  the  Phcvnix, 
Franklin,  and  Minnie  Holmes.  Her  bad  luck  followed  her  under  every  alias.  In  the 
spring  of  1854,  she  collapsed  a  flue  near  Rock  Island  while  stopping  at  a  landing. 
None  were  killed,  but  several  were  more  or  less  seriously  injured  and  all  badly  .scared. 
H.  N.  V.  Holmes,  a  prominent  resident  of  Polk  county,  was  badly  injured,  but  jumped 
overboard  and  swam  across  the  river  to  the  eastern  shore  l>efore  he  knew  that  he  was 

hurt. 
h7j 


256  History  of  Portland. 


Next  was  the  Willamette^  also  built  by  the  owners  of  the  Canemabf  in  1853.  She 
was  a  large  and  expensive  boat  of  the  Mississippi  style;  run  above  the  falls  until 
July,  1854,  when  she  was  taken  below,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  was  sold  and 
taken  to  California.  She  proved  a  failure  everywhere  and  came  near  breaking  her 
owners.     The  current  seemed  to  be  against  her  whether  she  ran  up  or  down  stream. 

In  the  summer  of  1853  a  company  of  California  capitalists  bought  the  land  and 
built  a  basin  and  warehouse  on  the  west  side  of  the  Willamette  at  the  falls,  near 
where  the  canal  and  locks  now  are.  Their  first  boat  was  burned  on  the  stocks 
October  6,  1853.  The  second  was  the  ill-fated  Gazelle,  a  large  and  beautiful  side- 
wheel  steamer.  She  made  her  first  trip  on  the  18th  of  March,  1854.  On  the  5th 
of  April,  1854,  when  lying  at  Canemah,  her  boiler  exploded,  causing  great  loss  of 
lives.  Over  twenty  persons  were  killed  outright,  and  as  many  wounded,  three  or 
four  of  whom  died  shortly  afterwards.  The  Rev.  J.  P.  Miller,  a  Presbyterian 
minister,  of  Albany,  i^  this  State,  the  father  of  Mrs.  Judge  Wilson,  now  a  widow  and 
postmaster  at  The  Dalles  (postmistress  is  not  known  under  the  postofllice  laws);  Mrs. 
Kelly,  wife  of  Col.  Kelly,  late  U.  S.  Senator  from  this  State,  now  resident  of  Portland, 
and  Mrs.  Grover,  the  wife  of  Gen.  Cuvier  Grover.  Many  other  valuable  citizens  of 
Oregon  were  among  the  killed.  The  wreck  was  bought  by  Captains  R.  Hoyt,  William 
Wells  and  A.  S.  Murray,  taken  down  over  the  falls  on  the  11th  day  of  August,  1855, 
and  converted  into  the  Senorita,  of  which  I  have  before  spoken.  The  warehouse 
company  afterwards  built  the  Oregon,  which  was  sunk  and  proved  a  total  loss.  The 
property  passed  into  other  hands  ;  the  buildings  were  aflerwards  burned,  and  all  was 
swept  away  in  the  flood  of  December,  1861. 

The  first  steni-wheeler  upon  the  upper  Willamette  was  the  Enterprise,  built  in  the 
fall  of  1855,  by  Archibald  Jamison  (a  brother  of  the  one  lost  on  the  Portland  when 
she  went  over  the  falls,  in  March,  1854),  Captain  A.  S.  Murray,  Armory  Holbrook, 
John  Torrance  and  others.  She  was  115  feet  in  length,  fifteen  feet  in  width,  and  had 
neat  cabin  appointments.  She  run  on  the  upper  river  under  Captain  Jamison — ^the 
first  really  successful  boat  on  that  part  of  the  river — and  afler  some  years*  service  was 
sold  to  Captain  Tom  Wright,  son  of  Commodore,  better  known  as  "  Bully  "  Wright, 
of  San  Francisco,  who  took  her  to  Frazier  river  on  the  breaking  out  of  tlie  mines 
there,  where  she  finished  her  course  ;  as  I  now  recollect,  she  was  blown  up. 

In  1856  Captains  Cochrane,  Gibson,  Cassidy  and  others  built  the  James  Clinton, 
afterwards  called  the  Surprise.  She  was  in  her  day  the  largest  and  best  stem-whccler 
upon  the  Willamette. 

The  Success,  built  at  a  later  period  by  Captain  Baughman.  belied  her  name,  and 
had  a  short  and  unprofitable  career. 

There  were  other  steamboats  during  this  time  and  afterwards  upon  that  portion  of 
the  river  which  time  forbids  me  to  name.  What  I  have  already  stated  is  sufficient  to 
give  a  general  idea  of  the  growth  of  navigation  up  to  the  time  when  corporations 
commenced  their  operation.  These  boats  that  I  have  named,  and  others  built  and 
owned  by  private  individuals,  held  the  field  until  1862-3,  when  the  People's  Trans- 
portation Company,  a  corporation  under  the  general  incorporation  law  of  Oregon » 
entered  upon  its  career.  They  built  the  canal,  basin  and  warehouse  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river,  and  carried  on  a  profitable  trade  between  Portland  and  the  various  points 
up  the  river,  finally  selling  out  to  Ben  Holladay,  who,  with  his  railroad  and  river 
steamboats,  then  held  command  of  the  trade  of  the  entire  Willamette  Valley. 


River   Navigation.  257 


An  account  of  the  internal  commerce  of  Oregon  would  be  incomplete  without  a 
history  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company.  I  shall 
speak  of  it  historically  only,  how  it  originated  and  what  it  has  accomplished 
Whether  its  influence  has  been  good  or  bad,  whether,  on  the  whole,  it  has  been  or  is 
likely  to  be  detrimental  to  the  true  interests  of  our  people,  are  questions  that  are  not  to  be 
discussed  here.  Time  will  only  permit  me  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  prominent 
points  in  its  history.  It  is  an  Oregon  institution,  established  by  Oregon  men  who 
made  their  start  in  Oregon.  Its  beginnings  were  small,  but  it  has  grown  to  great 
importance  under  the  control  of  the  men  who  originated  it. 

In  April,  1859,  the  owners  of  the  steamboats  Carrie  Ladd,  Senorita  and  Belle y 
which  had  been  plying  between  Portland  and  Cascades,  represented  by  Captain  J.  C. 
Ainsworth,  agent,  the  Mountain  Buck,  by  Col.  J.  C.  Ruckel,  its  agent,  the  Bradford 
horse  railroad,  between  the  middle  and  upper  Cascades,  by  its  owners,  Bradford  &  Co., 
who  also  had  a  small  steamboat  plying  between  the  Cascades  and  The  Dalles,  entered 
into  a  mutual  arrangement  to  form  a  .transportation  line  between  The  Dalles  and  Port- 
land, under  the  name  and  style  of  Union  Transportion  Company.  There  were  some 
other  boats  running  on  that  route,  the  Independence  and  Wasco,  in  the  control  of 
Alexander  Ankney  and  George  W.  Vaughn  ;  also  the  Flint  and  Fashion,  owned  by 
Captain  J.  O.  Van  Bergen.  As  soon  as  practicable,  these  interests  were  harmonized 
or  purchased. 

At  this  time  freights  were  not  large  between  Portland  and  the  upper  Columbia,  and 
the  charges  were  high.  There  was  no  uniform  rule ;  the  practice  was  to  charge 
according  to  the  exigency  of  the  case.  Freights  had  been  carried  in  sail  boats  from 
Portland  to  the  Cascades  at  twenty  dollars  per  ton.  I  have  before  me  an  advertise- 
ment in  an  early  number  of  the  Weekly  Oregonian,  that  the  schooner  Henrys  owned 
by  F.  A.  Chenoweth,  now  a  practicing  lawyer  at  Corvallis,  and  George  L.  Johnson, 
would  carry  at  that  rate. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  1860,  there  being  then  no  law  under  which  a  corpora- 
tion could  be  established  in  Oregon — ^the  proprietors  of  the  Union  Transportation 
Line  procured  from  the  Washington  Territory  legislature  an  act  incorporating  J.  C. 
Ainsworth,  D.  F.  Bradford,  S.  G.  Reed,  R.  R.  Thompson  and  their  associates  under 
the  name  and  style  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company.  R.  R.  Thompson 
and  Lawrence  Coe,  who  then  first  became  interested  with  the  other  parties,  had  built 
a  small  steamboat  called  the  CoL  Wright,  above  The  Dalles,  which  went  into  the  line 
and  made  up  their  shares  of  the  capital  stock.  This  was  the  second  boat  they  had 
built  at  that  point.  The  first,  when  partially  completed,  was  carried  over  the  falls 
and  down  the  river  in  high  water.  There  the  hull  was  sold,  fitted  up  and  taken  to 
Frazer  river  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  gold  mine  excitement  in  British  Columbia,  and 
much  to  the  credit  of  its  builders,  made  the  highest  point  ever  reached  by  a  steamboat 
on  that  river. 

The  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company,  or  O.  S.  N.  Co.,  as  it  has  been  more 
generally  called  and  knowii  since  organized  under  the  act,  J.  C.  Ainsworth  was  the 
first  president,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  single  year,  when  J.  C.  Ruckel  held  the 
position,  has  been  its  president  ever  since.  Its  principal  office  was  located  at 
Vancouver,  and  its  property  formed  no  inconsiderable  addition  to  the  taxable 
property  of  Washington  Territory.  It  might  have  remained  there  until  this  time. 
had  it  received  fair  treatment.    But  the  citizens  thought  they  had  the  goose  that  laid 


258  History  of  Portland. 

the  golden  egg.  and  they  killed  it.  By  an  friendly  legislation  and  nnjnst  taxation,  the 
company  was  driven  from  the  Territory-,  and  in  October.  1862.  it  incorporated  nnder 
the  general  act  of  Oregon,  where  it  has  t:\-er  since  existed  an  Oregon  corporation;  in  fact 
as  it  has  always  been  in  ownership  and  name.  Its  railroads,  steamboats,  warehooses. 
wharf-boats  and  wharves  have  all  been  built  and  established  by  the  company  without 
public  aid  except  the  patronage  by  the  public  after  they  were  completetL 

All  its  founders  started  poor.  They  have  accomplished  nothing  that  has  not  been 
equally  within  the  power  of  others  by  tlie  exercise  of  equal  foresight,  labor  and  per- 
severance. They  had  no  exclusive  rights.  The  rivers  are  wide  enough  for  all  the 
steamers  which  can  ^)e  built,  and  the  passes  at  the  Cascades  and  The  Dalles  are  broad 
enough  for  all  the  railroa^ls  that  may  be  founii  desirable.  They  are  still  unoccupied 
and  open  to  all. 

The  ().  S.  N.  Co.  have  diminished  the  price  of  carrying  freight  and  passengers, 
\\  henever  it  has  establisheti  lines  from  the  great  cost  of  transportation  of  the  early  times; 
fares  have  come  down  to  $3  between  rortlaml  and  The  Dalles;  $12  to  Wallula;  |20to 
Lewiston;  $2  to  .\storia,  and  freight^  have  lieen  correspomlingly  reduced.  Wlieatand 
flour  were  last  season  brought  down  from  I.ewiston  for  $8.  and  from  Wallula  for  $S 
per  ton.  including  handling  over  the  boat  lines  and  two  railroads. 

Of  one  thing  the  citizens  of  Oreijon  may  well  l)oast.  Taking  into  consideration 
what  has  Ijeen  done  by  private  enterpri.'ie  alone,  there  is  no  young  State  in  the  Union 
where  so  much  in  the  way  of  internal  improvements  ha-^  been  accomplished  in  so  short 

a  time. 

The  canal  and  locks  in  the  Willamette  at  ( )rvgon  City,  in  the  main  constructed  by 
p)rivate  means,  have  worked  wonders  for  the  commerce  on  that  river.  Their  original 
cost  was  nearly  half  a  million  dollars.  Soon  we  may  hope  to  see  the  canal  and  locks 
at  the  Ca.sca<les,  completetl  by  the  I'nited  States,  which  will  be  of  equal  value  to  the 
commerce  u\yon  the  Columbia  river." 

An  entire  vohiine  nii<j^ht  be  filletl  with  an  account  of  the  early 
efforts  of  the  O.  S.  X.  and  P.  T.  Co.,  of  their  successes,  and  the 
adventures  of  their  captains,  as  BaujJ^hman,  the  Coes,  the  Grays, 
Stump,  NrXulty,  Snow,  Pease  and  Troupe;  and  the  tales  of  river 
and  shore  that  sprinj^^  up  in  the  aquatic  life  of  ever>'  coniniuuity. 
Hut  space  forbids  an\'  such  enticinji^  enlar^yenient,  and  instead  we 
must  be  content  with  a  list  of  the  steamers  which  were  built  by  the 
Peoples'  Transportation,  or  Orej^on  Steam  Navigation  Co.,  or  have 
come  into  possession  of  the  ().  R.  &  X.  Co. — which  absorbed  both 
the  P.  T.  and  the  O.  X.  Co.,  under  the  management  of  Villard. 
For  this  we  are  indebted  to  Captain  Troupe  and  Mr.  Atwood,  of  the 
().  R.  &  X.  Co. 

Idaho,  side  wheeler,  178  tons,  built  in  1860;  Col.  Wright,  stem 
wheeler,  built  in   1861;  Tenino,  stern    wheeler,  built  in  1861;  Nez 


River   Navigation.  259 

Perces  Chief,  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1863;  f?/2te/pnse,  stern  wheeler, 
built  in  1863;  Senator^  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1863;  Oneonta^  side 
wheeler,  built  in  1863;  John  H.  Couch^  side  wheeler,  built  in  1863; 
Iris,  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1864;  Active,  stem  wheeler,  built  1865; 
Webfooty  built  in  1865;  Alert,  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1865;  Okana- 
goiiy  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1866;  Shoshone,  stem  wheeler,  built  in 
1866;  Rescue,  Sprav  and  Lucius,  stem  wheelers,  built  in  1868; 
Yakima,  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1869;  Emma  Hay  ward  ^ 
stem  wheeler,  756  tons,  built  in  1870;  McMinnville,  stem  wheeler, 
420  tons,  built  in  1870;  Dixie  Thompson,  stern  wheeler,  276  tons, 
built  in  1871;  E.  N,  Cooke,  stern  wheeler,  299  tons,  built  in  1871; 
Daisy  Ains worth,  built  in  1872;  New  Tenino,  stern  wheeler,  built 
in  1872;  Alice,  stern  wheeler,  334  tons,  built  in  1873;  Welcome, 
stern  wheeler,  250  tons,  built  ifi  1874;  Bonita,  stern  wheeler,  376 
tons,  built  in  1875;  Orient,  stern  wheeler,  429  tons,  built  in  1875; 
Occident,  stern  wheeler,  429  tons,  built  in  1875;  Champion,  stern 
wheeler,  502  tons,  built  in  1875;  Almata,  stern  wheeler,  395  tons, 
built  in  1876;  S.  T.  Church,  stern  wheeler,  393  tons,  built  in  1876; 
Ocklahama,  stern  wheeler,  394  tons,  built  in  1876;  Annie  Faxon, 
stem  wheeler,  564  tons,  built  in  1877;  Wide  West,  stem  wheeler, 
928  tons,  built  in  1877;  Mountain  Queen,  stem  wheeler,  500  tons, 
built  in  1877;  Spokane,  stern  wheeler,  531  tons,  built  in  1877; 
Bonanza,  stern  wheeler,  467  tons,  built  in  1877;  Northwest,  stern 
wheeler,  274  tons,  built  in  1877;  R.  A.  Thompson,  stern  wheeler, 
912  toas,  built  in  1878;  S.  ().  Reed,  stern  wheeler,  607  tons,  built 
in  1878;  Harvest  Queen,  stern  wheeler,  6&7  tons,  built  in  1878; 
John  Gates,  stern  wheeler,  551  tons,  built  in  1878;  Willamette 
Chief,  stern  wheeler,  523  tons,  built  in  1878;  D.  S.  Baker,  stern 
wheeler,  566  tons,  built  in  1879;  Hassalo,  stern  wheeler,  350  tons, 
built  in  1880;  Olympia,  side  wheeler,  1083  tons,  built  in  1883; 
Escort,  tug,  built  in  1883;  Alaskan,  side  wheeler,  1257  tons,  built 
in  1883;  S.J,  Potter,  side  wheeler,  built  in  1887;  Sea  Home,  side 
wheeler,  built  in  1889;  Modoc,  stern  wheeler,  built  in  1889;  Wal- 
lowa, tug,  built  in  1889.  Of  the  Gov.  Grover,  Owyhee,  Minnehaha, 
Josie  McNear,  Mountain  Buck,  Cowlitz,  Belle,  Eagle,  Express  and 
tug  Donald,  owned  and  operated  by  the  companies  named,  we  have 
been  unable  to  learn  when  they  were  built. 


L 


260  History  of  Portland. 

Aside  from  the  O.  R.  and  N.  Co.,  and  its  predecessors  there  have 
always  been  a  few  independent  steamers  on  the  river,  making  their 
head  quarters  at  Portland,  such  as  the  Fannie  Troup,  Salem,  Man- 
zanillo,  Traveler,  Lurline,  G.  W.  Shaver,  and  local  craft  One  of 
the  most  indefatigable  of  our  independent  navigators  is  Capt  V.  B. 
Scott,  with  his  two  Telephones^  the  first  of  which  was  destroyed  by 
fire;  river  racers  equal  to  anything  of  which  the  world  has  record. 
Another  very  solid  company  is  that  of  Joseph  Kellogg  &  Son,  having 
two  good  steamboats,  the  Joseph  Kellogg  and  Toledo  and  making  a 
specialty  of  navigation  upon  small  streams,  particularly  the 
Cowlitz. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  older  craft  on  the  Willamette 
and  the  new  iron  ships  Olympian  and  Alaskan,  all  the  boats  named 
were  built  in  Oregon.  * 

With  the  opening  oi  the  Columbia  to  British  Columbia,  our 
inland  navigation  will  assume  a  hundred  fold  greater  proportions. 

It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  Columbia  river  steamers 
are  a  swift  and  powerful  class  of  vessels;  built  for  a<5lual  hard 
service,  and  having  a  certain  individuality  of  their  own.  Under  John 
Gates  many  improvements  were  made,  the  stem  wheel  developed  to 
its  full'  power,  and  the  perils  of  our  rapid  and  great  current  overcome 
by  the  hydraulic  steering  gear.  Some  of  them  have  reached  the 
high  speed  of  twenty  miles  per  hour,  and  all  have  been  able  to  over- 
come a  ten  and  twelve  mile  current.  As  the  most  magnificent  of 
swimming  animals  have  been  developed  in  the  Columbia,  so  we  may 
expect  the  finest  swimmers  of  man's  construdlion  to  be  made  on  its 
water. 


Railroads.  261 


CHAPTER    IX. 

RAILROADS. 

Portland's  Advantages  as  a  Railroad  Centre — Early  Struggles  for  a  Railroad — 
Curious  Features  of  the  Contest — Labors  of  Simon  E.  Elliott,  George  H.  Belden, 
Col.  Charles  Belden  and  Joseph  Gaston — First  Survey  by  Barry  and  Gaston — Report 
by  Col.  Barry — Provisions  of  the  First  Railroad  Bill  Passed  by  the  Oregon  Legis- 
lature and  United  States  Congress — The  Importance  of  Provisions  Suggested  by  Col. 
W.  W,  Chapman — Organization  of  the  First  Railroad  Company  in  Oregon — Formation 
of  a  Rival  Company — Contest  over  the  Land  Grant — Interesting  Ceremonies  in 
Connection  with  Commencement  of  Construction  of  the  West  Side  Road — Progress 
of  the  Work — Bitter  Warfare  Between  the  two  Companies— The  Fight  Carried  into  the 
Courts— The  Legal  Aspect  of  the  Contest — Advent  of  Ben  Holladay — His  Character 
and  Methods — Efibrts  to  Build  to  the  Atlantic  States — Labors  of  Col.  Chapman — 
Henry  Villard  and  the  Northern  Pacific — The  Southern  Pacific — Prominent  Railroad 
Managers  of  Portland — ^The  Narrow  Guage  System. 

PORTLAND  is  now  well  supplied  with  railway  connection,  not 
only  with  all  parts  of  the  Northwest,  but  with  the  whole  of 
North  America.  She  is  the  terminus  of  three  transcontinental 
Unes — the  Northern  Pacific,  by  the  O.  R.  &  N.  and  the  Oregon 
Short  Line,  and  the  Union  Pacific  systems,  respectively,  and  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  by  the  Oregon  and  California  Railway.  She  is  also 
a  terminus  of  the  Northern  Pacific  on  its  own  rails  across  the  Cascade 
mountains  and  by  way  of  Tacoiua  and  Kalama,  and,  by  the  routes  on 
Puget  Soimd,  communicates  directly  with  the  Canadian  Pacific.  The 
Oregon  Pacific,  which  is  pushing  out  across  middle  Oregon  for 
a  junction  in  Idaho  with  still  another  continental  line,  although 
maintaining  a  terminus  at  Yaquina  Bay,  will  also  seek  Portland, 
making  the  fifth  line  from  across  the  mountains  that  ultimates  upon 
our  city  as  the  chief,  or  at  least  co-important,  objective.  The  next 
line  from  the  East  will  probably  come  down  the  north  bank  of  the 
Columbia,  reaching  our  depots  by  way  of  Vancouver. 

Aside  from  these  main  lines,  our  city  is  also  served  by  a  number 
of  local  roads.  Standing  first  among  these  is  the  Oregon  Central,  to 
Corvallis,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Willamette,  operating  a  line  ninety- 
seven  miles  in  length.  A  still  greater  mileage  is  run  by  the  Oregonian 
Railway  Company's  lines,  the  Portland  and  Willamette  Valley  Road, 


262  History  of  Portland. 

the  extension  of  the  narrow  guage  system,  on  each  side  of  the  Wil- 
lamette— to  Sheridan  and  Airlie  on  the  west  and  Coburg  on  the  east 
Another  extensive  line  is  in  process  of  construction  from  Astoria  to 
some  point  on  the  Oregon  Central — Hillsboro — ^>^'hich,  although 
chiefly  for  the  accommodation  of  Astoria  and  the  western  part  of  the 
Willamette  Valley,  will  connecft  a  large  region  with  Portland  and 
open  it  up  to  the  enterprise  of  her  merchants.  There  is  talk  of 
constru<5ling  a  line  from  Hunter's  Point,  opposite  Kalama,  to 
Astoria,  thereby  furnishing  a  road,  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  paral- 
leling the  Columbia  and  making  passage  more  expeditious  for 
summer  travelers  to  the  ocean  beaches. 

Of  stri<5lly  local  lines,  /.  e.,  of  lines  less  than  twenty  miles  in 
length  and  aiming  to  do  only  local  business,  chiefly  passenger  traflic 
for  the  benefit  of  the  suburbs,  there  are  four  lines  in  active  operation 
— to  Vancouver,  to  St.  John's,  to  Mt.  Tabor  and  the  Ha\\^home 
Avenue  line,  also  tenninating  at  Mt  Tabor,  and  the  cable  line  to 
Portland  Heights.  At  least  three  others  are  in  process  of  construc- 
tion— to  Oregon  City,  the  Waverly-Woodstock  line  and  the  line  to 
West  Portland.  Several  other  lines  are  projected,  as  that  to  Marquam's 
Hill  and  a  line  around  the  hills  on  the  northw^est  of  the  citv.  Some 
of  these  will  doubtless  develop  into  longer  lines — as  the  Hawthorne 
Avenue  road,  a  standard  guage,  which  is  popularly  expected  to  be 
pushed  out  to  the  Sandy  river  and  to  Mt.  Hood. 

From  this  glance  it  will  be  seen  that  of  all  roads  built  and 
extending  beyond  the  city  limits,  so  as  not  to  be  enumerated  with  the 
street  car  lines,  there  are  eight;  there  are  building  four,  not  including 
the  Astoria  road,  which  will  enter  by  the  Oregon  Central;  and  two  or 
three  more  are  on  the  tapis.  This  list  shows  prodigious  railroad 
activity,  and  the  fact  that  all  the  lines  are  well  sustained  and  do  a 
paying  business  shows  the  dimensions  of  <)\it  freight  and  passenger 
traffic.  The  eagerness  for  further  construction,  and  the  large  prices 
paid  for  privileges  in  the  city,  indicate  that  cn-^  our  present  extensive 
system  is  not  complete.  It  is  the  purpose  oX  this  chapter  to  give 
something  of  the  history  of  the  building  of  theso  roads  and  develop- 
ment of  transportation  bv  rail.  "* 

« 


Railroads.  263 

Turning  to  the  history  of  railroad  construction  in  Oregon,  we  find 
there  was  very  early  agitation  of  the  subject.  In  1850  a  line  was 
projected, '  and  even  advertised  to  be  run,  from  St.  Helen's  on  the 
Columbia,  to  Lafayette,  in  Yamhill  county.  It  was  under  the 
patronage  of  Captains  Knighton,  Smith,  Tappen  and  Crosby.  Of 
course,  it  was  never  begun.  General  J.  J.  Stevens,  in  1853  and  for 
the  years  succeeding,  wrote  voluminously  upon  railroad  connection 
with  the  East,  and  four  roads  were  projected  (not  all  to  the  East),  one 
being  incorporated.  In  1854  a  charter  was  granted  a  road  to  Cali- 
fornia, to  begin  at  a  point  below  the  falls  of  the  Willamette.  In 
1857  a  company  was  fonned  to  build  a  road  to  Yaquina  Bay.  None 
of  these  were  constructed,  however,  and  no  rails  were  laid,  except  on 
the  portage  lines  at  the  Cascades  and  Dalles,  and  a  tramway  at 
Oregon  City,  before  the  days  of  the  Oregon  Central. 

The  development  of  the  railways  of  Portland  is  that  of  the  State. 
There  was  practically  nothing  accomplished  for  our  roads  outside  of 
Portland,  or  without  Portland  men.  True,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten 
that  there  was  a  considerable  number  of  representative  men  of  other 
sections  who  entered  with  lively  interest  into  encouraging  railroads, 
and  became  identified  with  the  first  enterprise.  J.  S.  Smith  and  I. 
R.  Moores,  of  Salem;  T.  R.  Cornelius,  of  Washington  County; 
Robert  Kinney,  of  Yamhill;  and  General  Joel  Palmer,  of  the  same; 
Colonel  J.  W.  Nesmith,  of  Polk;  Judge  F.  A.  Chenoweth,  of  Benton; 
Stukeley  Ellsworth  and  B.  J.  Pengra,  of  Lane,  and  Jesse  Applegate, 
of  Douglas,  were  among  this  number.  Other  names  might  be  added. 
They  were  active  in  interesting  the  people  of  their  several  localities 
in  the  construction  of  railroads  and  without  their  aid  difficulties 
would  have  multiplied.  The  very  first  movements  toward  a  road — 
in  1863 — moreover,  came  from  California,  with  Elliott  and  Barry. 
The  most  radical  and  active  mover  was  first  a  citizen  of  Jacksonville, 
in  Southern  Oregon.  Quite  a  considerable  portion  of  the  first 
impetus  came  from  the  desire  to  have  direct  communication  with 
San  Francisco,  so  that  the  people  of  Southern  ( )regon  and  the  upper 
Willamette  Valley  need  not  be  obliged  to  make  a  circuitous  route 
through  Portland,  or  sell  and  buy  in  her  market  and  pay  tolls  on 
passing  up  and  down   the  .lower  Columbia  and  Willamette.     The 


264  History  of  Portland. 


Califomians  first  agitating  the  project  certainly  had  no  aim  other 
than  to  extend  the  tributary  region  of  San  Francisco.  But  with  all 
this  in  view  it  still  remains  the  fact  that  it  was  upon  Portland  that 
all  the  railway  activity  centered  and  she  proved  to  be  the  only  point 
from  which  to  operate  successfully.  We  are  therefore  justified  in 
speaking  of  the  railway  development  of  Portland  as  that  of  the  State, 
and  dating  the  nativity  of  her  lines  from  the  first  efforts  in  1863. 
Whoever  accomplished  much  in  the  business  had  to  become  Port- 
landers. 

The  stor\'  of  our  first  railroads  is  interesting,  romantic  and 
dramatic.  One  is  astonished  at  the  intense  earnestness,  the  violent 
contentions,  the  lurid  combats,  the  savagery,  the  cunning,  the 
bluster  and  the  ludicrous  or  pathetic  denouements.  There  are 
situations  of  the  most  amazing  oddity ;  old  and  hitherto  most  amiable 
and  dignified  citizens  of  our  State  finding  theitiselves  perked  in 
hyperbolical  inversion  before  a  gaping  and  mystified  public,  who 
were  in  doubt  whether  to  break  into  a  guffaw  or  to  look  with  feigned 
nonchalance  upon  what  they  supposed  must  be  a  new  era  in  morals 
introduced  with  a  railroad  age.  What  with  plethoric  promises  of 
lands  quadrupled  in  value,  of  produce  doubled,  and  visions  of  the 
wealth  of  Aladin,  and  an  inner  feeling  of  the  heart  that  the  old  order 
of  toil  and  honesty  was  somehow  to  be  superceded  by  an  age  of 
gigantic  speculations  in  which  wealth  by  the  millions  was  to  be 
created  by  corporate  fiat,  and  the  fundamental  rules  of  arithmetic 
and  of  ancient  law  were  to  be  transmitted  into  something  easier  if 
not  better,  our  railroad  building  introduced  a  time  at  once  amusing 
and  pathetic,  as  well  as  pecuniarily  progressive.  The  former  phase 
of  the  subject  must,  however,  be  left  to  the  student  of  human  nature, 
or  to  the  homilist.  Like  all  great  changes  in  the  habits  and  outlook 
of  the  people,  it  was  accompanied  by  an  excitation  of  much  ambition, 
rivalr>%  passion,  and  at  length  a  general  cloud  burst  of  indignation 
and  censure;  but  worked  its  way  through  to  a  beneficent  result 

To  begin  with  a  somewhat  bare  account  of  all  this,  we  find  that 
in  1863  there  was  a  Californian  toiling  up  from  the  land  of  gold 
and  droughts,  through  the  valleys  of  the  Sacramento  and  Shasta, 
with   a   surveying   party,    to   run   a   line    for   a   railroad  from   the 


Railroads.  265 


Sacxatnento  to  the  Columbia  river.  This  was  Simon  G.  Elliott,  of 
Marysville,  who  had  but  recently  been  listening  to  the  expositions, 
prophecies  and  demonstrations  of  Judah,  the  first  preacher  in 
California  of  the  Pacific  railway.  In  the  spring  he  had  been  in 
Eugene  City,  Oregon,  and  there  interested  Mr.  George  H.  Belden, 
formerly  of  Portland,  in  his  enterprise,  and  during  the  season  of  '63 
the  two  were  running  the  level,  chain  and  transit  from  Red  Bluff, 
California,  to  Jacksonville,  in  Oregon.  There  were  twelve  men  in 
the  surveying  party,  and  accompanying  it  as  general  superintendent 
was  Colonel  Charles  Barry,  recently  from  the  seat  of  civil  war  then 
raging,  having  resigned  from  the  anny  on  account  of  a  wound 
received  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  This  was  purely  an  autonomous 
party,  without  legal  father  or  mother  or  sponsor  capitalists;  spying 
out  a  railroad  path  for  its  own  satisfaction,  and  having  no  means  of 
subsistence  except  from  contributions  on  the  way.  The  land, 
although  rugged  and  but  sparsely  populated,  was  sufficient  to  feed 
them,  and  the  settlers  along  the  route  listened  with  awe  to  their 
stories  of  iron  wheels  that  were  soon  to  roll  in  their  foot  tracks. 

In  November  they  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Jacksonville, 
Elliott  and  Belden  separating  on  account  of  the  delicate  question  of 
priority  of  leadership  the  rest  of  the  way;  the  former  going  to  San 
Francisco  and  the  latter  coming  to  Portland.  Colonel  Barry, 
Tiowever,  staid  by  the  party.  At  Jacksonville  was  added  the  most 
important  member  to  the  company.  This  was  Joseph  Gaston,  Esq., 
now  of  Gaston,  Washington  County,  and  of  Portland,  Oregon,  and 
the  present  editor  of  the  Pacific  Farmer,     He  was  then  editor  of  the 

Jacksonville  Times.     Gaston  went  to  work  with   the  enterprise  and 

'Enthusiasm  of  an  Achilles,  and  while  the  baker's  dozen  of  autonomous 
surveyors  were  boarding  themselves  in  the  old  hospital  at  Jacksonville, 
■went  about  collecting  means  to  enable  them  to  continue  the  work  the 
Tnext  summer.  He  was  successful,  and  in  May  following,  level, 
^transit  and  chain  were  again  set  in  motion.  In  September,  Barry\s 
3)arty  was  at  Portland,  having  made  measurements  and  memoranda 
the  whole  distance  from  Red  Bluff,  California,  to  the  public  levee  in 
our  city,  on  which  they  were  camped.  The  people  on  the  way  had 
lieen  startled  into  life  by  the  apparition,  and  the  State  groaning  like 


266  History  of  Portland. 


the  rest  of  the  Union  under  the  evils  of  the  great  war,  and  not  yet 
well  knowing  whether  there  was  still  a  nation,  was  aroused  by  this 
practical  exhibition  of  faith  in  the  future  of  the  country  and  deter- 
mination to  be  ready  for  the  great  national  development  just  so  soon 
as  the  Union  was  once  more'  compacted. 

Colonel  Barry  prepared  a  report  of  thirty-three  pages,  addressed 
to  the  ^^Directors  of  the  California  and  Columbia  River  Railway 
Company;"  not,  however,  designating  the  members  of  this  company 
by  name.  His  pamphlet  discussed  the  subject  of  routes,  and 
summarized  the  findings  of  the  surveyors.  As  illustrating  by  what 
means  bills  were  paid  at  this  stage  of  the  work,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  the  pamphlet  was  published  from  the  office  of  the  Salem 
Statesman^  and  the  work  paid  for  by  editorial  services  on  the  paper 
by  Mr.  Joseph  Gaston. 

Being  in  reality  an  address  to  the  people  of  Oregon,  it  was 
admirably  framed  to  excite  interest  in  a  general  movement  toward 
opening  the  State  by  rapid  transit.  As  to  routes.  Colonel  Barry 
reported  that  there  were  two  from  Jacksonville  across  the  Umpqua 
mountains;  one  by  Grave  Creek,  a  rugged  and  difficult  region,  with 
a  grade  of  100  feet  per  mile;  and  a  second  by  Trail  Creek,  which  he 
had  only  partially  examined,  but  thought  would  prove  better. 
Through  the  Umpqua  Valle>'  he  reported  an  easy  way  between  the 
multitude  of  hills,  with  grade  not  exceeding  eighty  feet.  He 
preferred  the  Applegate  Pass  of  the  Calipooiahs  to  that  by  Pass  Creek, 
and  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  facility  of  construction  down  the 
Willamette  Valley.  To  reach  the  Columbia  river,  he  preferred  a 
route  to  the  Scappoose  Mountains  and  through  them  by  the  Comeliiis 
Pass  to  St.  Helens,  but  recoguized  the  advantage  of  making  Portland 
the  terminus.  He  named  the  passes  of  the  Portland  hills  available 
as  at  the  falls  of  the  Willamette,  by  Sucker  Lake  and  Oswego,  and 
by  the  Cornelius  Pass  below  the  city.  He  also  spoke  of  the  impossi- 
bilitv  of  accommodatino:  the  whole  of  the  Willamette  Vallev  bv  one 
road.  By  pretty  careful  and  just  estimates,  he  set  the  total  cost  of  con- 
structing the  entire  line  at  $30,000,000,  and  the  net  annual  earnings 
of  the  road  from  Marysville  to  the  Columbia  at  $5,600,000.  The  report 
was  flattering,  presented  in  a   pleasing  form,  and  had  a  remarkable 


Railroads.  267 

air  of  ease  and  assurance.  He  accorded  especial  praise  to  Mr. 
(iaston  for  valuable  assistance  and  possession  of  scientific  attainments 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  railroad  enterprises.  Accompanying 
this  report  was  a  description — prepared  by  Mr.  (iaston — of  the  region 
traversed,  and  of  Oregon  in  general.  It  was  the  first  of  the  kind 
ever  attempted — exadl  and  concise. 

The  next  step  was  to  get  the  subject  before  the  I^egislative 
bodies.  It  was  brought  by  Mr.  Gaston  in  1864  to  the  attention  of 
the  Oregon  Legislature,  and  a  bill  was  passed  at  that  session  to  grant 
$250,000  to  a  company  constructing  a  road  from  Portland  to  Eugene^ 
but  this  sum  was  so  comparatively  small  as  to  induce  no  capitalists 
to  take  advantage  of  the  offer.  In  the  same  year  Colonel  Barry  went 
to  Washington  City  and  laid  the  matter  before  the  United  States 
Congress.  He  was  warmly  supported  by  Congressman  Cornelius  Cole, 
and  General  Bidwell,  of  California,  and  b>'  the  entire  Oregon  dele- 
gation— Senators  Williams  and  Nesmith,  and  Congressman  McBride. 
A  bill  was  prepared  and  pushed  through  the  House  by  Bidwell ;  by 
Nesmith,  in  the  Senate.  An  important  provision  had  already  been 
suggested  by  Colonel  W.  W.  Chapman,  of  Portland.  When  the 
surveyors  first  reached  Kugene  they  called  a  meeting  of  the  citizens 
to  ratify  their  undertaking.  Colonel  Chapman  happening  to  be 
present  at  Eugene  on  business,  attended  their  meeting.  When  a 
resolution  was  brought  forward  to  embody  the  sentiment  of  those 
present,  he  noticed  no  reference  as  to  the  place  of  beginning  to  build 
the  road  except  at  Mar>'sville  in  California,  and  seeing  at  once  that  a 
road  if  thus  biiilt  would  draw  trade  towards  San  Francisco  during  its 
whole  process  of  construction,  and  might  not  be  at  all  completed  to 
Portland,  he  added  the  provision  that  the  road  be  begim  at  the 
two  tennini,  Portland  and  Marysville;  that  the  two  roads  thus 
constructed  should  connect  near  the  California  border:  that  thev  be 
OQOfltntcted  by  two  companies,  a  California  and  an  Oregon,  each 
actfalg  under  the  laws  of  their  respective  States;  and  that  neither 
ahoakl  ever  discriminate  against  the  other  in  freights  or  fares.  These 
proviwons  were  embodied  in  the  bill  of  Bidwell,  which  also  provided 
a  kwd  grant  to  the  amount  of  twenty  alternate  sections,  or  12,800 
per   mile,    aggregating  some  7,000,000   acres,  worth   about 


268  History  of  Portland. 


$5,000,000  at  the  time — now  worth  at  least  $30,000,000.  Upon 
completion  and  equipment  of  the  first  tweut\-  miles  of  road  and 
telejijaph  line  within  two  years,  the  laud  grant  co-terminus  was  to 
be  patented  to  the  railroad  comjKinies;  the  road  twent\-  miles  further 
was  to  be  built  each  year,  and  the  whole  to  be  completed  by  1875. 
The  point  of  value  in  the  bill  was  its  land  grant.  Opposition  to  the 
giving  of  the  public  domain  to  coqx)rations  had  not  yet  developed, 
and  the  subsidy  worth  $5,000,000  at  the  least  was  sufficient  to 
induce  capitalists  to  lend  money  on  a  work  costing  not  more  than 
$30,000,000.  ( Treat  stress  was  laid  in  arguing  for  the  bill  on  the 
fact  that  the  Pacific  sea-board  was  open  to  the  attacks  of  a  foreign 
enemv,  and  that  to  make  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  railwavs 
effective  in  repelling  invasion  there  should  be  a  rail  line  parallel  to 
the  coast  to  allow  the  speedy  dispatch  of  troops  to  any  point 
threatened.  As  our  relations  with  Great  Britian  were  not  ver\- 
friendly  in  1866,  and  France  and  Spain  were  also  held  as  invidious, 
this  reasoning  had  weight  with  eastern  statesmen.  Bankers  seeking 
investments  for  the  bonds  and  notes  thev  held  of  the  Government  were 
readily  led  to  look  into  the  merits  of  such  a  road  as  that  proposed. 

The  point  of  difficulty  was  to  get  means  to  build  and  equip  the 
first  twenty  miles.  While  the  matter  of  $15,000,000  looked 
indescribably  easy  as  it  rolled  off  Colonel  Barry's  facile  pen,  the 
matter  of  securing  $40,000  in  Oregon  in  '68  was  a  herculean  task 
The  most  of  the  farmers  thought  they  were  doing  well  if  they  could 
produce  one  hundred  dollars  on  demand.  Of  the  financial  struggle, 
however,  some  account  will  appear  later. 

At  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  by  the  United  States 
Congress,  in  1866,  there  was  a  company  in  California,  already  in 
existence,  which  was  designated  in  the  bill  as  the  California  and 
Oregon  Railroad  Company.  But  in  Oregon  no  company  had  as  yet 
been  fonned.  The  singular  situation  was  therefore  seen  of  a  land 
grant  of  some  5,000,000  acres  to  a  company  not  yet  in  existence. 
To  meet  this  difficulty  and  to  secure  to  Oregon  the  advantage  of 
having  the  road  built  by  a  company  of  her  own,  the  bill  provided 
that  the  grantee  of  the  land  in  our  State  should  be,  '*Such  company 
organized    under   the  laws  of  Oregon  as  the  State  shall   hereafter 


Railroads.  269 


designate."  By  this  provision  our  State  was  left  to  name  the 
association  or  corporation  that  should  proceed  with  the  work  and 
take  the  land.  Immediate  steps  were  taken  to  organize  the  company 
and  on  October  6th,  1866,  Governor  Woods,  then  the  State  execu- 
tive, sent  a  message  to  the  Legislature  notifying  them  that  a  company 
was  about  to  be  organized  under  the  General  Incorporation  Act,  to 
be  known  as  the  Oregon  Central  Railroad  Company,  **composed  of 
some  of  the  most  responsible  and  energetic  business  men  of  the 
State.''  He  suggested  that  through  this  the  State  avail  itself  of  the 
liberal  grant  of  land  by  the  general  government,  and  that  to  secure 
the  construdlion  of  the  first  twenty  miles  of  road  the  State  pass  a 
bill  authorizing  the  payment  of  interest  from  the  State  Treasury  on 
the  bonds  sufficient  to  construdl  the  necessary  preliminary  section. 

With  this  proposed  State  aid  for  getting  the  first  sedlion  done,  a 

company  was  provisionally  incorporated  with  the  following  names: 

R.    R.    Thompson,    S.    G.   Reed,  J.    C.    Ainsworth,    M.  M.  Melvin, 

George  L.  Woods,  F.  A.  Chenoweth,  Joel  Palmer,  Ed.  R.  Geary,  S. 

Ellsworth,  J.    H.   Mitchell,  H.  W.  Corbett,  B.  F.  Brown  and  T.  H. 

Cox.     Joseph  Gaston  was  appointed  secretary  and  was  authorized  to 

open   stock  books,   and  solicit  subscriptions.      On  February  20th, 

1867,  he  published  notice  of  incorporation.      He  also  explained  that 

in  consequence  of  the  California  parties  having  chartered  the  avail- 

a.ble  ships,   no  iron  could  be  brought  out  for  his  operations   that 

year,  and   that   arrangements   for   an  extension  of  time  of  building 

their  road  had  been  made  with  the  Oregon  delegation  at  Washington. 

Stock,  he  said,  would  be  solicited  so  soon  as  positive  assurances  were 

received  from  Eastern  capitalists  of  investment  in  the  securities  of 

the  company,  and  as  soon  as  one-half  had  been  subscribed  a  meeting 

Avoiild  be  held  to  ele<ft  diredlors  according  to  law.     This  notice  was 

generally  published  in  the  papers,  and  almost  universally  favorably 

commented  upon. 

The  company   was  formally  incorporated   November  21,  1866, 

-vrith  the  following  names:  J.  S.  Smith,  J.  H.  Mitchell,  E.  D.  Shattuck, 

Jesse  Applegate,  Joel  Palmer,  H.  W.  Corbett,   M.  M.  Melvin,   I.   R. 

^loores,    F.  A.  Chenoweth,  George  L.  Woods,    R.  R.  Thompson,  J. 

C.   Ainsworth,   S.  G.  Reed,  John  McCraken,   C.   H.    Lewis,   B.   F. 


270  History  of  Portland. 

Brown,  T.  H.  Cox  and  J.  Gaston.  In  order  to  get  the  benefit  of  the 
Land  Grant  of  Congress,    it  filed  its  assent  to  the  tenns  of  the  act 

m 

before  July  25,  1867,  as  provided,  and  was  recognized  as  the  rightful 
recipient  of  this  grant,  conformably  to  conditions,  by  the  acting 
Secretary*  of  the  Interior,  W.  T.  Otto. 

After  getting  thus  far  in  its  way,  vigorous  measures  were  taken  to 
obtain  subscriptions  of  stock.  The  State  passed  a  bill  to  pay  interest 
on  $10,000  per  mile  of  the  first  hundred  miles  of  the  road  built, 
contingent  upon  the  completion  of  twenty  miles.  The  city  of 
Portland  agreed  to  pay  interest  on  $250,000  bonds  for  twenty  years 
upon  conditions  as  to  building,  etc.  Washington  county,  likewise, 
would  pay  interest  on  $50,000;  Yamhill  was  expecting  to  pay  on 
$75, 000.  Private  subscriptions  aggregating  above  $25, 000  in  money 
were  received,  and  a  much  greater  value  was  donated  in  the  shape 
of  land  from  farmers  and  others.  Values  to  nearly  half  a  million 
dollars  were  thus  accunnilated — not,  of  course,  available*  to  that 
amount  on  forced  sale,  but  substantially  so  in  permanent  possession. 
The  route  was  fixed  to  run  from  Portland  to  Eugene  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Willamette  river,  passing  through  Washington,  Yamhill,  Polk 
and  Benton  Counties. 

While  the  road  was  thus  pushing  along  with  detennination  there 
appeared  the  shadow,  or  double,  or,  as  it  afterwards  turned  out,  the 
antagonist  of  the  Oregon  Central  Railroad.  This  was  the  Oregon 
Central  Railroad  No.  2.  A  formidable  rival  of  the  first,  it  was  a 
company  organized  under  the  same  name  and  claiming  to  be  the  true 
Oregon  Central  Railroad,  and  therefore  entitled  to  the  Land  Grant 
from  the  Government.  It  differed  from  the  first  in  working  for  a 
road  on  the  east  side  of  the  Willamette  river  and  in  the  composition 
of  its  members.  It  may  not  be  worth  our  while  to  give  here  all  the 
j)articulars  of  the  split  and  division  in  the  original  corporation  which 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  two  companies.  It  is  easy  enough, 
however,  to  see  the  leading  motive.  There  were  two  sides  to  the 
Willamette  \'alley,  and  each  side  desired  a  railway,  and  to  have  it 
must  get  all  the  State  and  national  aid  obtainable.  It  was  a  matter 
of  course  that  the  moment  that  the  road  was  fixed  for  one  side 
(Gaston  having  decided  to    locate  on    the   side    raising  the  largest 


Railroads.  271 


subsidy),  there  would  be  an  attempt  to  divert  it  to  the  other.     It  was 

deemed  idle  to  expect  the  State  or  Nation  to  grant  substantial  aid 

for  building  on  both  sides,  and  hence  the   quarrel  began  for  the 

privileges.     The  company  as  originally  incorporated  embraced  men 

on  both  sides  of  the  river,  but  when  the  route  was  fixed  for  the  west 

side — in  truth,  generally  conformably  to  Barry's  survey — members  of 

the  east  side  or  those  favoring  it  preferred  to  form  another  organization 

to  be  under  their  own  control.     The  incorporators  of  this  company — 

the  East  Side  as  it  was  popularly  known — were  John  H.  Moores,  J. 

S.  Smith,  George  L.  Woods,  E.  N.  Cooke,  S.  Ellsworth,  I.  R.  Moores 

and  Samuel  A.  Clark.     It  was  incorporated  April   22,  1867.     Its 

first  board  of  directors  were  George  L.  Woods,   E.  N.  Cooke,  J.  H. 

Douthitt,  I.  R.  Moores,  T.  McF.  Patton,  J.  H.  Moores,  Jacob  Conser, 

A.  L.  Lovejoy,   F.  A.  Chenoweth,   S.   Ellsworth,    S.   F.   Chadwick, 

John  F.  Miller,    John  E.  Ross,  J.  H.  D.  Henderson,  A.  F.  Hedges, 

S.  B.  Parrish  and  Green  B.  Smith.     J.  H.  Moores  was  president  and 

S.  A.  Clarke,  secretary. 

It  may  very  well  be  supposed  that  the  two  rival  companies  thus 

formed,  each  aiming  to  secure  a  land  grant  worth  $5,000,000  and  to 

build  a  road  which  should  not  only  bring  millions  of  money  to  its 

constructors,  but  be  a  great  and  famous  achievement  and  bring  benefit 

to  the  whole  State,  and  particularly  to  those  portions  traversed,  began 

to  fight  each  other  to  the  death.     It  was  war  to  the  knife,  and  the 

Icnife  to  the  hilt.     The  spirit  of  the  combatants  was  most  earnest  and 

serious,  while  some  of  the  attending  circumstances  were  very  diverting. 

Before   the   people,  the   west   side   road   was  able  to  stand  on  the 

defensive  and  as  within  the  forms  and  requirements  of  law.     It  also 

xnaintained  the  position  of  financial  integrity,  and  carefully  eschewed 

^nd  stigmatized  any  **  wildcat  *'  schemes.     It  was  for  the  most  part 

favored  by  Portland,  which,  being  situated  upon  the  west  side  of  the 

river,   rather  feared  the  east  side  arrangement,  as,  if  not  actually 

l>uilding  up  a  rival  upon  the  opposite  shore,  at  least  withdrawing 

value  from  the  property  in  the  city.     She  was  then  a  place  of  less 

than  ten  thousand  people,  and  the  injury  of  having  the  seat  of  value 

even  a  mile  from  her  principal  streets  was  thought  to  be  considerable. 

TC^hose  living  upon  the  original  square  mile  looked  with  distrust  and 
[1*] 


272  History  of  Portland. 


opposition  even  upon  **  Couch's  Portland,"  and  spoke  freely  against 
the  inconvenience  of  walking  a  mile  to  the  depot — let  alone  a  voyage 
across  the  river  to  Wheeler's  farm,  in  the  woods.  Washington 
county,  always  warmly  attached  to  Portland,  and  enjoying  many 
favors  from  her  close  proximity,  raged  against  the  idea  of  being  left 
without  a  road  while  Congressional  aid  was  extended  for  a  track 
through  Clackamas  and  Marion.     There  was  also  much  said  about 

the  inutility  and  the  general  impropriet>'  of  a  dog's  having  two  tails 

the  Willamette  river  being  averred  to  be  good  enough  for  the  east- 
siders,  upon  whose  bank  their  road  was  to  be  built  A  broader  view 
was  expressed  by  some,  as  the  Oregonian^  which,  seeing  that  a  valley 
fifty  miles  wide  could  not  and  never  would  be  accommodated  by  one 
railway,  expressed  a  desire  that  both  lines  be  built,  speaking  as 
follows:  **  We  must  not  be  understood  in  any  way  as  taking  sides  in 
the  controversy  or  supposed  rivalr\'  between  the  east  and  west  side 
lines.  We  want  both  roads  built,  and  the  people  want  them,  and 
from  the  fact  that  there  is  as  much  need  of  the  one  as  the  other  we 
prefer  to  think  there  is  or  should  be  no  rivalr>'  between  them." 
(May  26,  1868). 

Such  pacific  counsels  had,  of  course,  no  influence  in  disposing  of 
the  real  difficulty,  and  so  long  as  the  existence  of  each  companv 
depended  upon  getting  the  grant  of  land,  and  each  company  was 
using  ever>'  possible  form  of  address  to  fulfill  the  conditions  the 
dispute  had  to  be  carried  to  a  conclusion — either  one  or  the  other 
getting  the  prize. 

During  1867  sur\eys  were  projected  on  both  sides.  A  board  of 
directors  was  chosen  for  the  west  side  road  May  24th,  composed  of 
Captain  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  Thomas  R.  Cornelius,  Wni.  T.  Newby  J. 
B.  Underwood  and  Joseph  Gaston,  of  which  Mr.  Gaston  was  elected 
president  and  W.  C.  Whitson  secretary.  Mr.  Hart  was  secured  as 
superintendent  of  construction.  Financial  arrangements  were  busily 
canvassed,  but  there  was  no  ground  broken  that  year. 

The  spring  of  1868  was  bright  and  fair,  and  April  blessed  with 
the  usual  showers.  The  15th  day  of  that  month  was  a  jubilee  in 
our  little  *' clucking-hen  of  a  city,"  as  someone  called  it  about  that 
time,  for  the  first  shovelful  of  railroad  earth  was  to  be  thrown  that 


Railroads.  273 


day.  The  scene  of  the  first  labors  was  at  the  then  head  of  Fourth 
street,  in  Caruther's  addition.  Hither  in  the  morning  of  the  15th 
repaired  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Oregon  Central  Railroad  (west 
side),  the  contractors,  Messrs.  Davis,  Thornton  &.Co.,  and  a  very^ 
large  and  enthusiastic  assemblage  of  citizens.  At  half  past  eleven 
the  ceremonies  began.  Mr.  Gaston,  the  president  of  the  board,  made 
a  speech,  embodying  the  history  of  the  company  and  a  statement  of 
its  franchises  and  finances.  He  outlined  the  general  policy  of  the 
company  to  be  to  obtain  enough  in  the  way  of  subscriptions  within 
the  State  to  build  the  first  twenty  miles,  and  secure  the  government 
land,  and  upon  this,  and  the  completed  work,  to  get  loans  of  outside 
capital.  He  said  that  it  was  confidently  believed  that  by  the  time 
subscription  lists  were  closed  in  Portland — ^having  referred  to 
municipal,  county  and  State  subsidies,  and  to  gifts  of  real  estate  by 
farmers  and  others — the  required  sum  for  the  first  twenty  miles  would 
be  in  hand.  Hiram  Smith,  of  Portland,  was  loudly  cheered  for 
being  the  first  to  pay  his  subscription  of  $1,000. 

Concluding  his  speech  in  the  hope  **that  the  work  now  to  be 
formally  inaugurated  shall,  in  its  completion,  be  made  the  servant 
and  promoter  of  years  of  future  growth,  prosperity  and  wealth  until 
here,  upon  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Willamette  shall  arise  a  city, 
lidding  the  keys  and  being  the  gateway  of,  and  hand-maid  to,  the 
commerce  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Indies,  shall  rival  Venice  in 
its  adornment  and  Constantinople  in  its  wealth,"  the  president  of  the 
company  descended  to  the  spot  '^here  shovel  and  barrow  were  in 
readiness,  and  amid  much  cheering  dug  the  first  earth. 

Colonel  W.  W*  Chapman  followed  in  a  speech,  setting  forth  the 
value  of  the  road  to  induce  immigration,  and  the  effect  it  would 
have  to  stimulate  the  building  of  a  branch  of  the  Union  Pacific  to 
Portland.  The  financial  basis  he  considered  exceptionally  good, 
footing  up  to  about  two  and  a  quarter  million  dollars,  while  the  cost 
of  construction  to  Eugene  would  not  exceed  two  millions.  He  spoke 
with  great  approval  of  the  policy  of  the  company  to  employ  only 
white  men— or,  at  least,  no  Chinese — ^as  laborers,  believing  that  the 
laboring  population  ought  to  be  of  a  permanent  character,  with 
interests  common  to  the  rest  of  the  people.     Ex-Cjovemor  A.  C 


274  History  of  Portland. 


Gibbs  continued  the  speech-making,  alluding  to  the  rise  in  the  value 
of  land  from  $2.50  an  acre  to  $50  under  railway  influence;  and  to 
the  immense  export  of  wheat  that  Oregon  would  soon  arrive  at 
,  With  the  close  of  this  address,  the  shower  that  had  been  falling 
passed  over,  the  sun  beamed  out  warm  and  the  crowd  moved  to  the 
grounds  and  began  a  frolic  of  digging,  pitching  and  wheeling.  A 
lady,  the  wife  of  Judge  David  Lewis,  an  engineer  of  the  road,  was 
among  the  first  to  lift  a  shovelful,  and  all  present  were  eager  to  be 
at  least  able  to  say  that  they  personally  had  a  part  in  breaking  the 
first  ground.  As  the  aftemoou  waned  the  crowd  dispersed,  and  the 
workmen  began  with  regular  steady  stroke  and  heave  to  move  the 
vellow  brown  loess. 

It  was  through  a  chequered  career  that  the  advancement  thus 
begun  continued  to  come  on. 

The  East  side  road  was  ready  to  break  ground  two  days  later. 
A  clipping  from  a  Portland  daily  paper  gives  the  following  account 
of  the  event: 

Thursday,  April  16th,  1868,  was  a  gala  day  in  the  history  of  Oregon,  for  it  wit- 
nessed the  practical  inauguration  of  the  work  of  the  construdHon  of  a  railway  through 
the  great  Willamette  Valley.  The  occasion  was  the  formal  breaking  of  the  ground  for 
the  east  side  railroad,  and  the  important  event  was  celebrated  in  a  befitting  manner. 
The  place  selected  for  commencing  work  was  an  open  field  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  from  the  Stark  street  ferry  landing,  at  East  Portland,  and  about  500  yards 
from  the  east  bank  of  the  Willamette  river.  The  spot  where  the  sod  was  first  dis- 
turbed was  not  far  from  where  the  old  asvlum  for  the  insane  then  stood. 

In  honor  of  the  event,  flags  were  flying  from  every  available  flag  staff  in  Port- 
land. A  procession  was  formed  in  the  city  and  marched  to  the  spot  selected,  where 
ground  was  to  be  broken.  This  procession  was  preceded  by  the  Aurora  brass  band. 
The  first  division  consisted  of  the  Washington  and  Fenian  Guards,  the  mayor  and 
meml>ers  of  the  council  of  Portland,  the  chaplain,  orator  of  the  day,  the  president 
and  directors  of  the  Oregon  Central  Railroad  Company,  the  chief  engineer  and  corps 
of  employees.  In  this  division  was  borne  the  shovel  to  be  presented  by  Samuel  M. 
Smith  to  the  president  of  the  road,  and  to  be  used  in  breaking  the  ground.  The 
second  and  third  divisions  consisted  of  the  fire  departments  of  Portland  and  Vancou- 
ver, and  citizens  on  horse  back,  in  carriages  and  on  foot.  Prior  to  the  arrival  of  the 
procession  an  immense  crowd  had  assembled  at  the  grounds  to  witness  the  cere- 
monies. 

The  assemblage,  numbering  not  less  then  5000,  was  called  to  order  by  Dr.  A.  M. 
I^rjea;  Rev.  A.  F.  Waller,  the  chaplain,  then  offered  prayer.  The  shovel  mentioned 
was  then  formally  presented  to  the  president  of  the  road,  Col.  I.  R-  Moores.  The 
shovel  bore  on  it  a  beautiful  silver  plate  attached  to  the  front  of  the  handle,  with  the 


Railroads.  275 


following  engrraved  inscription:  'Presented  by  Sam  M.  Smith  to  the  Oregon  Central 
Railroad,  Portland,  April  16,  1868.  Ground  broken  with  this  shovel  for  the  first 
railroad  in  Oregon/  The  presentation  speech  was  made  at  some  length  by  John  H. 
Mitchell  and  fittingly  responded  to  by  Col.  I.  R.  Moores. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  address  and  response  President  Moores  then  descended 
from  the  platform  with  the  shovel  in  his  hand.  He  proceeded  to  the  center  of  the 
square,  where  was  driven  the  *  'first  stake, "  and  threw  out  the  first  sod  in  the  construction 
of  the  Oregon  Central  railroad.  This  was  accomplished  amid  the  loud  acclamations 
of  the  multitude.  The  breaking  of  the  ground  was  followed  by  three  rousing  cheers 
for  the  road,  for  the  directors  and  contractors,  during  which  the  band  discoursed 
"Hail  Columbia."  After  this,  all  the  laborers,  at  a  given  signal,  fell  to  the  work  of 
grading.  The  remainder  of  the  ceremonies  consisted  of  addresses  by  Judge  W.  W. 
Upton  and  Hon.  J.  N.  Dolph.  Short  addresses  were  also  made  in  conclusion  by  J. 
H.  Reed,  Joel  Palmer  and  others. 

Work  was  pushed  on  both  sides  all  the  spring  and  summer,  and 
by  the  middle  of  September  the  west  side  had  the  main  grading 
along  the  face  of  the  mountains  finished  some  three  miles  out  from 
the  city.  This  road  was  very  much  in  the  nature  of  a  work  by  the 
people,  and  to  incite  them  to  effort  the  President  made  to  them 
extensive  appeals  through  the  newspapers.  In  his  report  of  May 
25th  1868,  officially  to  the  Board  of  Directors,  really  to  the  people 
of  the  State,  he  reached  a  remarkably  fine  strain,  reminding  one  of 
a  military  appeal,  and  well  calculated  to  awaken  enthusiasm.  He 
says  **  Oregon  has  not  yet  done  all  that  it  may  easily  do  to  aid  this 
great  work,  and  especially  those  along  the  line  who  are  most 
benefitted  by  the  road.  Every  man  can  help  some.  Let  every  man 
do  so  and  failure  will  be  utterly  impossible.  Laborers  must  be  fed 
and  the  farmers  along  the  line  can  contribute  flour,  bacon,  vegetables 
and  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  when  they  have  no  cash  to  spare;  and 
this  they  would  not  feel.  Teams  must  be  supplied  and  supported; 
horses  and  their  provender  are  everywhere  abundant;  let  them  be 
freely  supplied  and  the  work  will  not  lag.  The  right  of  way  ought 
to  be  cheerfully  donated  in  every  case.  Cross  ties  can  be  easily 
furnished  by  people  along  the  line,  each  furnishing  a  few,  and  taking 
their  pay  in  stock  or  lands.  In  this  way  let  a  railroad  spirit  be 
aroused  and  stirred  up  to  a  deeper  depth,  and  the  railroad  will  be 
eminently  the  people's,  and  an  Oregon  enterprise,  and  will  be  pushed 
rapidly  up  the  Willamette,  through  the  Calapooiahs  on  to  Rogue  River 
and  spreading  its  iron  arms  out  on  either  side,  will  infuse  new  life  into 


276  History  of  Portland. 


the  whole  country;  make  your  wheat  of  uniform  current  value  from 
Jacksonville  to  Portland,  take  out  every  brush,  reconstruct  ever>' 
farm,  quadruple  its  value,  erect  comfortable  houses  everywhere,  give 
the  farmer  the  full  value  of  his  labor  and  produce  at  his  own  door, 
create  new  towns  and  cities,  and  finally  supply  and  serve  the  wants 
of  a  million  of  people,  prosperous  and  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  one 
of  the  most  favored  spots  and  climes  beneath  the  sun." 

The  east  side  road  being  of  a  less  popular  character,  and  looking 
more  to  acquisition  of  capital,  and  use  of  modern  railroad  methods, 
was  already  seeking  for  an  alliance  with  some  capitalist  ready  to  run 
their  road  through.  They  seemed  to  have  had  a  wholesome  distrust 
of  popular  enthusiasm  in  matters  financial,  and  to  county  but  little 
upon  supplies  or  money  raised  in  tidbits,  and  dependent  for  its 
cheerful  delivery  upon  a  large  variety  of  people,  many  of  whom  were 
likely  to  be  miffed  or  chilled  by  reason  of  the  most  trival  or  personal 
circumstances.  They  knew  that  promises  to  the  people  in  order  to 
be  at  all  impressive  or  productive  of  results,  must  be  highly  colored 
or  even  extravagant;  and  such  promises,  before  fulfilled  must 
inevitably  seem  to  many  exaggerated  and  perhaps  spurious,  and  even 
in  the  fulfillment  would  to  many  of  sanguinary  temperament  seem  to 
fall  far  short  of  their  intent  They  preferred  to  rely  upon  a  railroad 
king,  who,  even  if  he  ate  up  some  of  his  subjects,  would  at  least  see 
that  he  got  back  interest  upon  his  investments  by  carrying  his  work 
through  to  completion  and  would  have  his  financial  stakes  well  set, 
and  thereby  assure  a  road.  With  the  generous  and  frank  methods 
of  the  west  side  road  it  is  impossible  not  to  sympathize,  at  the  same 
time  doubting  the  efficiency  of  their  plan  to  interest  the  people  in 
their  work  enough  to  be  anything  like  a  reliable  aid.  The  more 
calculating,  less  open,  and  extraordinary  measures  of  the  east  side 
company  commend  themselves  much  less  to  our  approbation,  but 
nevertheless  took  account  of  some  things  not  provided  for  in  the 
other.  It  may  seem  a  useless  thing  to  revive  the  story  of  old 
struggles,  especially  as  both  sides  got  their  road  and  things  are  now 
serene.  But  there  are  certain  obligations  on  the  historian  to  explain 
how  things  have  come  to  be  as  they  are,  and  hence  we  give  the 
thread  of  the  stor>'.     It  is  no  part  of  our  work  to  award  praise  or 


Railroads.  277 


blame.  Errors  are  always  to  be  set  down  as  evil,  and  iinscrupu- 
lousness  is  to  be  reprobated  wherever  or  by  whomsoever  practiced. 
In  this  case,  however,  the  reader  is  to  sit  as  judge.  Both  companies 
wanted  a  road,  and  took  the  shortest  cut  to  get  it. 

S.  G.  Elliott,  the  original  engineer,  came  up  and  took  charge  of 
the  working  measures  and  forces  of  the  east  side.     He  was  under- 
stood to  represent  a  large  amount  of  capital,  and  through  him  and 
others,  Mr.  N.  P.  Ferine  and  Mr.  James  P.  Flint  of  San   Francisco, 
arrangements  were  made  with  a  certain   *'A.  J.    Cook  &  Co."  to 
construct  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the  road.     Said  Cook  was 
declared  to  be  immensely  rich  and  fully  able  to   carry  the  work 
through.     In  a  circular  issued  by  the  company  it  was  stated  that  the 
capital  stock  was  $7,250,000,  which  was   the  represented  cost  of 
construction.     The  actual  cost  of  the  road  would,  however,  be  but 
$5,250,000 — at  $35,000  per  mile.     This  latter  was  to  be  known  as 
common  stock,  and  was  to  be  sold  at  ten  cents  on  the  dollar,  bringing 
in  something  over  $3, 000,  to  be  applied  upon  ever>^  mile.     The  other 
ninety  per  cent,  was  to  be  raised  by  a  mortgage.     Anyone  buying  a 
share  was  to  pay  $10  and  receive  a  share  marked  $100,  but  designated 
as  unassessable  and  not  to  be  subject  to  any  further  demands  for 
payment.     It  was  charged  by  the  other  party  that  the  $2,000,000  of 
unassessable  preferred  stock — the  difference  between  the  $7,250,000, 
or  the  represented  cost,  and  the  $5,250,000,  or  the  actual  cost — was 
for  gratuitous  distribution  among  the  directors  of  the  company  and 
to  buy  the  favor  of  prominent  men  in  the  State.     In  a  manner  as  a 
confirmation  of  this  charge,  the  statement  of  Col.  J.  W.  Nesmith, 
that  he  had  been  offered,  but  refused,  $50,000  stock  to  become  a 
director  of  the  east  side  road  and  to  deliver  the  speech  at  the  breaking 
of  ground,  was  widely  circuluted.     A  letter  from  James   P.  Flint, 
from  San  Francisco,  to  N.  P.  Perine,  with  reference  to  his  mission 
to  Oregon,  advising  the  liberal  use  of  stock,  common  rather  than 
preferred,  to  secure  the  good  will  and  co-operation  of  influential  men, 
was  afterwards  made  public.     It  was  further  said  that  of  the  whole 
stock  but  $700  had  been  subscribed  by  actual  signature  of  responsible 
men;  that  the  rest  had  been  subscribed  by  the  company  to  itself,  and 
the  incorporators  had  expressly  disavowed  any  further  liability  than 


278  History  of  Portland. 

■ —     — ■  ~ — 

of  the  seven  original  shares.  The  organization  of  the  company,  by 
which  they  had  elected  their  president  and  directors,  was  said  to  be 
contrary  to  the  State  statute,  which  provided  that  half  of  the  capital 
stock  must  be  subscribed  before  the  officers  were  elected. 

A  spirited  public  contest  began  almost  from  the  first  between  the 
two  companies,  each  making  copious  use  of  the  newspaper  press,  and 
warning  the  people  of  the  other.  The  president  of  the  west  side 
road  issued  circulars  not  only  in  our  State,  but  throughout  the  East, 
declaring  that  the  Oregon  Central  Railroad,  whose  principal  office 
was  at  Portland,  was  the  only  true  Oregon  Central  Railroad;  that  the 
other,  doing  business  from  Salem,  was  a  sham  and  fraud;  that  they 
had  no  legitimate  existence,  no  substantial  bottom,  no  claim  to 
public  lands  or  franchises  of  any  kind.  He  asserted  that  A.  J.  Cook 
&  Co.  was  a  myth;  that  their  methods  were  fraudulent,  their  repre- 
sentations false,  and  their  bonds  worthless,  except  as  made  good  by 
subscriptions  of  innocent  and  unsuspicious  parties  who  took  the  ten 
per  cent  unassessable  stock,  and  might  be  compelled  to  pay  one 
hundred  per  cent,  to  redeem  their  promises  according  to  statute.  His 
statements  were  curt  and  positive  and  in  the  East  broke  up  a  loan 
that  Elliott  was  contracting. 

The  east  side  replied  by  denouncing  him  as  one  whose  irregular 
methods  had  disintegrated  the  first  company  and  made  necessary  the 
formation  of  a  new.  They  said  that  he  had  been  originally  invested 
with  power  by  them  to  fonn  and  incorporate  a  company,  but  he 
abused  his  trust  by  enlarging  the  number  of  incorporators  without 
their  knowledge,  and  making  a  secret  agreement  with  a  certain 
portion,  principally  those  additionally  obtained  by  him,  to  divide 
among  themselves  the  profits  of  the  road,  to  the  injury  of  the  others; 
and,  worst  of  all,  that  he  failed  to  file  with  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
the  clerk  of  Multnomah  county  the  records  of  incorporation  in  time 
for  the  State  legislature  to  legally  designate  the  company  as  the  one 
entitled  to  the  donation  of  government  laud,  as  provided  by  the 
United  States  congressional  bill.  They  also  said  that  in  this  last 
particular  he  had  deceived  the  other  incorporators  and  the  State 
legislature,  having  affirmed  that  he  had  filed  the  articles. 


Railroads.  279 


To  these  personal  charges  Mr.  Gaston  at  first  gave  little  attention, 
preferring  to  continue  his  warnings  against  the  rival  company  and 
his  analysis  of  their  financial  standing;  but  when  it  became  neces- 
sary to  explain  the  matter  before  Congress,  he  was  able  to  show  by 
the  affidavit  of  the  clerk  of  Multnomah  county  and  by  statement  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  that  he  had  actually  presented  for  filing  the 
articles  of  incorporation  on  October  6th,  1866,  and  such  was  recog- 
nized in  pencil  on  the  articles;  but  upon  his  desire  to  retain  them  for 
a  time  to  get  additional  names  attached  to  them,  he  was  permitted 
to  do  so,  and  they  had  eventually  been  filed  formally  on  a  date  more 
than  a  month  later  and  after  the  legislature  had  adjourned.  The 
assertion  that  he  had  delayed  filing  the  articles  for  the  sake  of  work- 
ing up  a  secret  scheme  hostile  to  the  interests  of  the  company, 
was  thereby  shown  to  have  been  at  least  misapprehended. 

On  the  part  of  those  who  left  the  first  company  and  organized  a 
second,  it  may  be  very  fairly  said  that  looking  as  they  did  in  the 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  articles  in  order  to  be  sure 
that  they  were  there,  and  finding  no  account  of  them — the  Secretary' 
having  forgotten  the  circumstances  of  their  withdrawal  after  their 
presentation — they  might  well  have  felt  solicitous  and  looked  with 
suspicion  upon  agreements  that  they  had  heard  were  going  on  with- 
out their  knowledge  in  Portland.  Thus  the  whole  disruption  and 
contest  arose  in  a  measure  from  a  clerical  error  and  a  misunderstand- 
ing. This  at  least,  gave  a  certain  edge  and  bitterness  to  the 
controversy  that  would  have  been  absent  from  a  mere  question  of 
rivalry  or  pecuniary  interests;  for  gentlemen  of  each  party  felt  that 
their  personal  integrity  was  assailed. 

The  sharp  and  wordy  battle  in  public  print  was  speedily  carried  to 
the  court  room.  After  making  public  statements  of  the  fraudulent 
character  of  their  rivals,  complaint  was  made  on  the  part  of  the 
West  side  road  and  suit  was  brought  in  the  Circuit  Court  for  Multnomah 
county,  through  the  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  Fourth  Judicial 
District,  to  dissolve  the  East  side  company,  and  forbid  their  using  the 
name  Oregon  Central  Railroad  on  the  ground  that  their  organization 
had  not  been  made  in  accordance  with  Statute — only  $700  of  the 
17,250,000  having  been  subscribed  when  the  Board  of  Directors  was 


280  History  of  Portland. 


first  chosen;  and  that  it  was  a  public  fraud  and  statutory  illegality  to 
put  unassessable  stock  on  the  market.  Suit  was  begun  also  in  the 
Circuit  Court  for  Marion  county,  May  1st,  1868,  on  the  same  ground 
to  the  same  purpose. 

In  the  United  States  District  Court  at  Portland  suit  was  brought 
by  James  B.  Newby,  of  California,  to  dissolve  the  East  side  company 
and  forbid  the  use  of  their  name  O.  C.  R.  R.  Co.,  on  the  ground  that 
his  stock  in  the  West  side  road  was  depreciated  in  value  by  the 
fraudulent  use  of  the  corporate  name  of  the  company  whose  stock  he 
held.  Another  case  was  brought  up  from  Clackamas  county,  relative 
to  right  of  way,  in  which  the  same  assertions  were  made  as  to  the 
invalidity  of  the  East  side  organization. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  April,  1868,  the  East  side  company 
brought  suit  through  the  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  Fourth  Judicial 
District  to  dissolve  the  West  side  company  on  the  ground  of  a  secret 
fraudulent  agreement  between  certain  of  its  incorporators,  and  of 
many  other  irregularities;  but  withdrew  it  before  a  decision  was 
reached. 

These  cases  worked  their  way  very  slowly  across  demurrers  and 
other  legal  obstructions  from  court  to  court,  producing  little  but 
expensive  litigation,  retarding  the  sale  of  lands,  wasting  force  and 
means,  and  impairing  public  confidence.  A  decision  dampening  the 
West  side  company  was  reached  in  the  United  States  Distri<5l  Court 
about  this  time,  that  the  City  of  Portland  was  barred  by  the  clause 
in  its  charter  limiting  the  indebtedness  of  the  city  to  $50,000,  from 
paying  the  interest  on  $250,000  for  twenty  years  on  the  West  side 
bonds,  since  this  created  a  debt  of  more  than  $300,000.  It  does  not 
appear  that  this  suit,  which  was  brought  in  the  name  of  a  citizen  of 
California  who  owned  taxable  property  in  Portland,  was  instigated 
by  the  East  side  company,  yet  it  may  be  imagined  that  it  was;  and 
at  all  events,  it  had  the  effect  of  a  great  victory  for  them,  and  a  great 
defeat  for  the  West  side,  since  it  knocked  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars  security  upon  which  they  were  greatly  relying,  from  under 
their  feet. 

In  the  meantime  work  of  grading  from  East  Portland  to  Pudding 
River  was  energetically  prosecuted,  the  heavy  grading,  and  certain 


Railroads.  281 


spots  denied  right  of  way  being  ommitted  for  the  time.  The  rep- 
resentations of  Elliott  as  to  a  contract  with  A.  J.  Cook  and  Company, 
were  found  to  be  no  longer  serviceable.  Dr.  A.  M.  Loryea,  of  East 
Portland,  a  bluff,  gnarled  oak  sort  of  a  man,  naturally  opposite  to 
fine  work,  then  Vice  President  of  the  company  on  his  side  the  river, 
was  allowed  to  go  east  on  a  fruitless  search  for  the  contractors, 
finding  them  neither  east  nor  west,  and  in  no  way  a  connection  of 
Jay  Cook  &  Co.,  as  they  had  become  to  be  considered  by  the  public. 
The  blind  had,  however,  allowed  time  for  the  completion  of  arrange- 
ments with  Ben  Holladay,  of  California,  (if  not  at  first  prepared  by 
him  in  order  to  keep  the  name  and  machiner>'  of  the  east  side 
company  in  the  hands  of  Oregonians  until  the  land  grant  should  be 
declared  theirs,  or  to  keep  up  so  hot  a  fight  against  the  West  Side  as 
to  kill  it,  or  to  compel  it  to  sell  its  franchises  at  a  nominal  price  to  its 
rivals);  and  in  1868,  Holladay 's  money  began  to  flow  into  the 
exchequer  and  to  energize  the  work  of  construction. 

As  Holladay  came  here  as  a  railroad  king,  and  for  about  ten  years 
carried  all  public  matters  with  a  high  hand,  becoming  autocrat  of  all 
lines  of  transportation  and  well  nigh  political  dictator  and  trans- 
forming the  visage  of  the  countr>'  not  only,  but  inaugurating  a  new 
system  of  politics  and  of  public  proceeding  generally,  it  will  be  in 
place  here  to  indicate  something  of  his  aims,  methods,  and  previous 
historj'.  He  was  one  of  the  marked  men  of  the  age,  of  keen  fore- 
sight, and  an  ambition  and  self-confidence  that  hesitated  not  to 
seize  every  opportunity  of  self-promotion.  He  belonged  to  the 
second  order  of  potentates  who  have  sprung  up  in  America.  Our 
system  of  government  holds  public  servants  to  so  rigid  an  accouut, 
and  the  public  press  so  scrutinizes  their  actions,  that  it  is  not  the 
office  holder  who  wields  the  power.  He  is  hampered  by  constitu- 
tional restrictions,  and  public  espionage,  and  by  party  pledges  so  that 
his  work  even  in  the  legislative  hall  or  the  executive  chair,  becomes 
little  more  than  perfunctory,  or  that  of  a  factor.  But  behind  his 
sphere,  clothed  with  unlimited  power,  which  laws  have  been  unable 
to  specify  or  courts  to  define,  is  the  money  king.  It  is  popularly 
believed  that  his  power  is  actually  unlimited,  except  by  his  own 
mistakes,  by  the  opposition  of  rivals,  or  by  the  integrity  of  influential 


282  History  of  Portland. 


men  who  will  not  be  bought.  But  these  restrictions  upon  his 
autocracy — ^like  that  of  assassination  as  to  the  limit  of  the  Czar's 
absolutism — ^he  of  course  refuses  to  recognize. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  great  opportunities  were  offered  by  the 
financial  situation  for  immense  speculations.  That  great  conflict,  in 
which  men  were  organized  and  massed  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  money  was  moved  by  the  millions,  had  taught  the  country  how 
to  operate  on  a  large  scale.  A  spirit  of  daring  and  recklessness  was 
also  fostered.  Those  accustomed  to  risk  their  lives,  or  to  see  platoons 
of  men  hurled  to  death  before  long  rows  of  cannons  and  bayonets, 
felt  no  hesitancy  in  risking  so  tame  a  thing  as  money,  by  the  million 
dollars.  A  new  confidence  in  the  nation  sprung  up,  and,  as  a  sort  of 
reaction  from  the  moral  strain,  an  intense  eagerness  for  material 
advancement  took  possession.  Money,  as  a  power  to  control  human 
action,  was  valued  as  never  before,  and,  as  is  usual  with  new 
endeavors,  was  invested  with  a  potency  far  beyond  its  real  limit 
Men  of  ambition,  instead  of  following  in  the  steps  of  Clay  or  Webster, 
and  aiming  to  mould  events  by  argument  and  eloquence,  figured 
themselves  as  at  the  fountain  head  of  the  stream  of  gold,  and  by  its 
flowing  creating  and  transforming.  It  was  towards  railroading  that 
the  most  brilliant  conceptions  were  turned,  and  the  West  was  to  be 
the  theatre  of  the  vastest  schemes.  A  patriotic  and  humanitarian 
feeling  was  mingled  with  these  ambitious  ideas,  since  the  loyal  part 
of  the  nation  saw  the  advantage  of  bringing  out  of  the  wilderness 
States  loyal  to  the  government  which  had  just  emerged  from  an 
almost  fatal  struggle  with  secession,  and  setting  the  nation  upon  a 
granite  foundation.  Furthermore,  the  idea  of  renovating  and  popu- 
lating the  earth,  as  in  old  migrations,  but  by  new  improved  methods 
of  civilization,  became  once  more  fascinating  to  men  of  reflection. 

HoUaday  was  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  had  grown  up  in  the  West, 
had  learned  every  foot  of  country  between  St.  Louis  and  San  Fran- 
cisco upon  his  pony  express,  had  breathed  the  California  spirit  of  gold 
and  adventure,  and  imbibed  the  western  idea  of  the  immensity  of  the 
future  of  the  Pacific  shores.  Not  exactly  a  disciple  of  Bishop 
Berkeley,  he  had,  nevertheless,  a  practical  notion  that  the  star  of 
empire  was  about  nearing  its  zenith  over  the  Golden  Gate,  and  was 


Railroads.  283 


as  quick  as  anyone  to  see  the  opportunities  for  dominion  as  the 
national  government  was  once  more  restored.  He  had  had  practical 
opportunity  to  see  the  workings  of  a  railroad  era  in  the  Central  and 
Union  Pacific,  and  as  by  these  roads  his  mail  contracts  were 
suspended,  he  very  naturally  turned  elsewhere  for  a  field.  He  had 
kept  careful  watch  of  the  great  line  that  had  been  projected  into 
Oregon,  and,  keeping  fully  up  with  the  operations  of  the  companies 
managing  it,  he  bided  his  time  to  seize  their  work  when  the  best 
-chance  came.  As  an  American,  he  was  not  devoid  of  ideality.  He 
had  in  mind  the  development  of  a  new  empire.  The  pyrotechnic 
editorial  flashes  in  all  the  papers  about  the  seat  of  population  being 
soon  transferred  to  the  strip  of  country  between  the  Rockies  and  the 
Pacific  were  more  or  less  present  to  his  mind.  He  thought  out  some 
scheme  of  colonization.  He  was,  nevertheless,  a  man  whose  selfishness 
dominated  all  else,  and  his  practical  incentive  was  to  use  the  power 
of  wealth  to  control  a  State,  and  perhaps  a  much  larger  area,  in  his 
own  name.  He  showed  no  love  for  Oregon,  or  for  the  people  of 
Oregon,  but  no  other  field  was  so  inviting,  or  so  well  within  his 
means. 

From  his  subsequent  adlions,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  his 
purposes  were  absolutely  clear  to  himself,  or  that  he  followed  them 
unswervingly.  If  his  aim  was  simply  to  build  a  railroad,  he  might 
have  done  it  with  less  trouble  and  expense,  and  for  far  greater 
returns.  If  his  idea  was  to  make  himself  the  autocrat  of  the  State, 
to  own  legislatures  and  United  States  senators,  and  perhaps  to  extend 
his  operations  over  adjoining  Territories  and  control  transcontinental 
lines,  he  never  followed  it  with  consistency.  Upon  rigid  examination 
we  apprehend  that  he  would' be  found  a  man  of  strong  intentions, 
but  of  unstable  will,  of  deep  schemes,  but  of  feeble  convictions,  of 
large  aims,  but  incapable  of  sustained  endeavor  or  sacrifice,  and 
subject  to  passion  and  prejudice.  It  may  also  be  said  that,  although 
in  the  strength  of  manhood  when  he  came  to  our  State,  an  excessive 
luxury  of  life  and  diet  broke  his  vigor  long  before  he  reached  old  age. 

As  a  working  scheme  of  morality,  he  let  nothing  stand  in  way  of 
his  aims,  recognizing  no  right  except  the  shortest  way  to  his  object. 
He  had  one,  and  but  one,  means  of  attaining  his  end  and  that  was 


284  History  of  Portland. 


the  use  of  his  money.  To  buy  an  attorney,  a  judge,  a  city,  a 
legislature,  public  opinion,  was  all  one  to  him.  He  made  no  appeals 
to  the  people,  neither  addressing  them  on  the  side  of  self  interest  or 
generosity.  Upon  occasion  he  published  a  message  something  after 
the  style  of  a  manifesto  or  edict.  The  public  new  nothing  of  him 
except  that  he  was  a  nabob  living  in  unapproachable  magnificence, 
and  was  at  the  head  of  all  that  was  going.  He  paid  his  agents  and 
let  them  work  their  way,  allowing  them  to  use  profanity  or  religion 
to  reach  the  object  that  he  named.  This  was  the  man  that  appeared 
in  his  tnie  form  above  the  stormy  rail  road  horizon  of  Oregon  in 
1868.  J.  H.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  first  incorporators  of  the  original 
Oregon  Central  Railroad  Company,  but  also  an  incorporator  of  the 
second,  or  East  Side  Co.,  and  their  attorney,  rendered  very  efficient 
service  to  Mr.  Holladay. 

Two  general  obje<fb  were  now  before  this  company;  one  to  keep 
suits  in  court  as  long  as  possible  in  order  to  prevent  decision  upon 
the  mooted  points — since  while  'the  cases  were  in  court  the  two 
companies  seemed  to,  and  did,  stand  upon  the  same  legal  ground, 
and  neither  one  nor  the  other  ;had  the  right  to  assume  that  it  was 
the  tnie  and  only  company;  and,  in  the  meantime,  to  get  an  act 
through  the  Oregon  Legislature,  designating  their  company  as  the 
one  to  receive  the  grant  of  the  United  States  land.  They  also 
expelled  to  push  legislation  through  Congress. 

Upon  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature  at  Salem  in  1868,  a  bill 
was  brought  to  thus  designate  this  company  and  invest  it  with 
authority  to  receive  the  land.  This  was  an  audacious  move,  since  in 
the  session  of  1866,  two  years  before,  the  old  Oregon  Central  railroad 
had  been  designated,  and  the  company  of  which  Joseph  Gaston  was 
president  had  been  duly  recognized,  and  had  received  from  the  acting 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  a  certificate  that  its  assent  to  the  conditions 
of  the  land  grant  had  been  officially  filed;  while  the  assent  of  the 
East  Side  company — which  was  now  seeking  the  bill — sent  on  later 
was  returned  without  filing  for  the  double  reason  that  the  time  had 
expired,  and  that  the  other  company  had  fulfilled  the  condition. 
But  the  bill  was,  nevertheless,  introduced,  and  upon  the  minority 
report  that  there  was  no  Oregon  Central  Railroad  Company  of  any 


Railroads.  285 


kind  in  existence  on  October  10,  1866,  when  the  designating  bill 
was  passed  by  the  Oregon  Legislature,  and  that  such  bill  was, 
therefore,  mistaken  and  illegal,  and  the  Secretar>'  of  the  Interior  at 
Washington  City  had  been  misinformed;  and  also  that  the  West  Side 
road  had  no  more  than  $40,000  capital,  and  that  $2,500,000  stock 
was  held  by  the  president  of  the  company  alone.  The  measure  was 
passed.  This  was  done  in  opposition  to  the  majority  report  that  in 
their  opinion  the  previous  Legislature  had  designated  a  company, 
had  declared  it  to  be  in  existence,  and  that  its  articles  had  been 
provisionally  filed  on  October  6th,  four  days  before  the  original 
designating  bill  was  passed.  To  parry  the  force  of  this  last  statement 
it  was  contended  in  the  minority  report  that  the  company  whose 
articles  had  been  filed  October  6th,  in  pencil,  did  not  appear  to  be 
the  same  as  that  of  November  21st  following — ^which  was  the  genuine 
West  Side  Company — since  the  names  of  incorporators  were  changed 
or  appeared  with  certain  additions. 

Soon  after  this  J.  H.  Mitchell  went  with  these  resolutions  of 
1868,  favoring  the  east  side  company,  to  Washington  Cit>'  to  secure 
favorable  legislation  from  the  United  States  Congress,  taking  the 
dispute  to  a  national  arena.  He  brought  to  notice  of  our  senators, 
Corbett  and  Williams,  the  state  of  affairs,  and  the  latter,  learning  the 
understanding  of  the  matter  by  the  secretary  of  the  interior,  O.  H. 
Browning,  to  be  that  there  had  not  been,  as  yet,  a  legal  company  to 
receive  the  grant  of  laud — the  west  side  company  having  failed  to 
incorporate  in  time,  and  the  east  side  company  having  failed  to  file 
assent  in  time — and  that  therefore  without  an  a6l  to  revive  the  grant 
the  land  must  lapse,  or  had  lapsed  to  the  government;  introduced  a 
bill  to  allow  a  year's  time  from  date  of  passage  for  any  company  to 
file  assent  This  was  opposed  by  the  west  side  company,  who  were 
present  at  Washington  by  their  president,  and  by  S.  G.  Reed,  as  agent, 
on  the  ground  that  it  virtually  took  the  decision  out  of  the  courts, 
where  it  was  still  pending,  and  by  putting  the  two  companies  on  the 
same  footing  gave  the  east  side  a  legal  hold  which  it  then  did  not 
and  could  not  have — since  under  the  fonner  a6l  it  was  impossible  for 
it  to  file  its  assent  in  accordance  with  the  provision,  the  time  having  . 
long  since  passed  by.     The  west  side  also  complained  that,  as  they 


286  History  of  Portland. 


had  taken  all  the  first  steps  to  comply  with  the  conditions  of  the  adl^ 
forming  a  company,  spending  money,  and  securing  an  extension  of 
time  of  building,  while  the  east  side  was  for  months  doing  nothing, 
and  never  got  around  to  file  an  assent  in  time  to  hold  the  grant,  they 
ought  not  to  be  put  back  on  a  par  with  a  dilatory  corporation,  which 
since  its  formation  had  been  maliciously  opposing,  hindering  and 
trying  to  extinguish  the  only  company  that  had  had  the  address  and 
expedition  to  save  the  grant  to  the  State.  In  Senator  Corbett  they 
had  a  spokesman — Senator  Williams  also  disavowing  any  hostility 
to  them,  and  being  anxious  only  to  save  the  land — and  the  general 
spirit  of  the  Senate  was  in  their  favor;  Conkling,  Hendricks  and 
Howard  speaking  pointedly  that  the  equities  of  the  case  seemed  to  be 
with  the  west  side  company,  and  regarding  the  proposed  bill  as 
prejudicial  to  them.  It  was  consequently  re-committed;  but  at  the 
next  session  was  brought  up,  and  after  some  adverse  discussion  by 
Corbett  was  passed.  With  this  legislation  the  east  side  company 
virtually  gained  its  point.  Under  the  bill  it  became  inevitable  that 
the  company  which  was  able  to  complete  the  first  twenty  miles  of  the 
road  within  the  time  specified — ^by  December  25th,  1869 — ^would 
secure  the  land,  which  was  the  true  prize  and  object  of  controversy. 
Both  companies  pushed  forward  with  work  of  construction,  but  both 
met  with  delays.  S.  G.  Elliott,  on  the  east  side,  was  found  to  be 
either  incompetent,  or,  as  asserted  by  his  company,  wilfully  dilatory. 
On  the  west  side  the  contractors,  S.  G.  Reed  &  Co. ,  who  had  been  the 
main  stay,  became  disaffe<5led,  and  in  April  threw  up  their  contradl, 
leaving  the  road  hopelessly  in  the  lurch;  and,  as  asserted  by  west 
side  men,  furnishing  the  necessar>'  locomotives  and  iron  for  the 
completion  of  the  rival  road.  Gaston  applied  what  money  was  left,  and 
carried  the  grading  to  Hillsboro.  Elliott  was  superseded  by  Kidder, 
under  order  of  HoUaday,  and  by  forced  work  the  twenty  miles  from 
East  Portland  to  Parrott  Creek  was  completed  December  24th,  1869, 
just  in  time.     This  consummation  was  appropriately  celebrated. 

Seeing  the  impossibility  of  his  company  finishing  their  twenty 
miles  within  the  time,  Mr.  Gaston  applied  all  available  money, 
carrying  the  grading  to  Hillsboro,  and  went  to  Washington  in 
January  of  1870,  to  secure  if  possible  a  separate  grant  of  land  for 


Railroads.  287 


his  company.  In  this  he  was  successful,  the  grant  being  on  the  line 
from  Portland  to  Astoria,  and  also  to  McMinnville.  In  the  same 
year  the  old  controversy  as  to  which  of  the  two  was  the  rightful 
owner  of  the  name  O.  C.  Railroad  Company,  was  decided  in  favor  of 
the  West  Side,  Judge  Deady  holding  that  this  was  the  rightful  cor- 
poration, and  the  other  be  estopped  from  using  its  designation.  The 
East  Side  company  having  gained  its  government  land  cared  no 
further  for  the  name,  and  in  March  fonnally  dissolved  the  Ore- 
gon Central  Co.,  of  Salem,  transferring  all  their  franchises  and 
interests  to  the  Oregon  and  Califomian  Railroad  Company  organized 
but  a  short  time  before,  of  which  Holladay  became  president.  By  this 
act  the  West  Side  was  left  to  the  undisputed  use  of  the  name,  but 
this  was  now  a  barren  possession.  Under  his  new  land  grant  Gaston 
made  arrangements  with  a  Philadelphia  Company  to  build  the  road, 
but  owing  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  Portland  capitalists  upon  whom 
he  hitherto  relied,  he  decided  to  sell  his  road — the  board  of  directors 
concurring — to  Holladay.  This  was  done  in  the  summer  of  1870. 
The  Califomian  thereby  became  the  master  of  the  entire  railroad 
situation  in  Oregon.  Upon  the  subscription  of  $100,000.00  by  the 
people  of  Portland,  he  began  building  the  road,  and  in  1872  finished 
forty-eight  miles  to  the  Yamhill  River  at  St  Joe. 

It  is  instructive  to  notice  that  when  the  East  Side  road  had 
gained  its  end,  and  found  it  necessary  to  dispose  of  S.  G.  Elliott,  its 
attorney  declared  its  early  acts  as  to  the  issuance  of  unassessable 
stock  illegal;  and  **  A.  J.  Cook  &  Co."  was  then  admitted,  or 
asserted  to  be  a  myth,  or  at  least  but  some  obscure  individual  whose 
name  was  irresponsibly  and  fraudulently  used  by  Elliott — ^thus 
confirming  the  charges  of  their  old  enemy  and  rival. 

It  was  a  memorable  conflict,  that  condudled  by  the  first  rival 
railroad  companies  of  Oregon;  with  matter  in  it  for  a  novelist.  It 
would  be  rash  to  intimate  that  Elliott  with  all  his  mythical  capitalists 
was  an  agent  of  Holladay  all  the  time,  the  general  opinion  being  that 
he  was  at  first  acting  only  for  himself,  or  that  the  East  Side  Company 
knew  the  extent  of  his  romances,  which  they  used  so  well  to  their 
advantage.  It  would  on  the  other  hand  be  difficult  to  believe  that 
Holladay,  or  the  original  East  Side  Company,  were  actually  imposed 


288  History  of  Portland. 

upon  by  representations  as  to  a  firm  like  A.  J.  Cook  &  Co. ,  of  immense 
wealth  and  standing,  when  any  business  or  banking  gazetteer  would 
inform  them  as  to  the  existence  or  non  existence  of  such  a  firm; 
particularly  as  Mr.  Gaston  was  constantly  asserting  in  public  that 
this  company  was  all  a  pretence.  To  sum  up  the  results,  the  West 
Side  Company  was  able  to  prove  its  statements  as  to  the  irregularities 
of  its  opponent,  and  to  come  off  with  the  original  name;  also  to  get 
a  land  grant  of  their  own,  and  to  make  fair  terms  for  the  building  of 
the  road.  The  East  Side  Company,  beginning  almost  without  legal 
or  legislative  footing,  killed  the  opposition  of  their  rivals  in  court  by 
so  prolonging  the  cases  as  to  make  them  of  no  practical  injury^  but 
rather  as  sort  of  a  shield  to  themselves;  and  gained  State  and 
Congressional  Legislation  that  gave  them  standing  and  secured  for 
them  the  original  land  grant  Both,  however,  were  swallowed  up  by 
the  money  king. 

At  this  distance  of  time,  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  of  Oregon,  coming  to  the  State  at  a  later  day,  in  any 
wise  to  comprehend  the  character  and  extent  of  the  struggle,  the 
almost  insuperable  difficulties  to  overcome,  in  starting  these  two 
pioneer  railroads.  It  is  easier  for  Portland  to  raise  $1,000,000 
now  for  a  railroad;  than  it  was  $10,000  in  1868. 

After  completing  his  road  to  Roseburg  and  St.  Joe  at  a  cost  of  about 
$5,000,000,  and  incurring  a  debt  in  Germany  of  about  twice  that  sum, 
Holladay  found  himself  unable  to  pay  interest  on  his  bonds.  The 
countr>-  was  new,  the  people  were  unused  to  travel  by  rail.  Earnings 
scarcely  met  expences,  and  a  remark  made  long  before  by  a  Salem 
gentleman  that  the  railroad  would  on  its  first  trip  carry  all  the 
passengers,  on  its  second  all  the  freight  of  the  Willamette  Valley, 
and,  on  the  third  would  have  to  pull  up  the  track  behind  it,  seemed 
not  so  immeasurablv  far  from  realization.  Some  of  the  interest  as 
due  was  met  by  draughts  upon  the  capital  itself.  Then  the  avails  of 
the  steamship  lines  to  San  Francisco  were  turned  in,  but  even  then 
there  was  a  deficit.  The  road  was  therefore  claimed  by  the  bond- 
holders and  the  rights  of  Holladay  were  won. 

Efforts  for  a  road  to  the  Atlantic  States  began  with  Oregon  as 
well  as  in  the  East     In  our  State  there  were  two  who  had  their  own 


Railroads.  289 


plans  and  routes  in  view,  and   there  happened  to  be  two  Surveyor- 
Generals    of    the    State,      W.     W.    Chapman,    who   served   under 
appointment  of  Buchanan,   and   B.  J.    Pengra,   who  served   under 
Lincoln.     Chapman  was  a   Portlander,  one   of  the  fathers  of   the 
place,  and  although  a  man  of  wide  sympathies,  naturally  desired  the 
transcontinental  line  to  terminate  at  his  city.     He  had  passed  a  life 
of  almost  constant  political   activity  in  and  about  legislative  halls, 
having  been  the  first  delegate  of  Iowa  to  Congress,  and  from   his 
knowledge  of  parliamentary  tactics  was  most  admirably  adapted  to 
lay   the    foundation   of  a    road.       He,    of  course,    only   aimed   to 
determine  the  lines,  to  secure  necessary  legislation  promised  and  then 
interest  capitalists.     Without  large  means,  he  nevertheless  applied 
from  his  private  means  enough  to  make  a  provisional  running  of  the 
road,  and  to  send  an  agent  to  London  to  investigate  financial  condi- 
tions.    The  route  of  his  line  he  laid  by  The  Dalles,  up  the  Columbia 
and  Snake  Rivers,  and  to  connect  with  the  Union   Pacific   at  Salt 
Lake.     About  1 869  and  '  70  was  the  period  of  his  activity,  although 
for  a  long  time  before  this  he  had  cherished   the  plan,  and  was 
making  preparation.   Before  Congress  he  was  indefatigable  in  bringing 
the  claim  of  his  road  to  notice,  but  met  with  very  hostile  influences. 
One  of  them  was  that  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  which  saw  no  occasion 
for  a  road  to  the  Pacific  Northwest  other  than  their  own.    The  contest 
in  Congress  narrowed  down  to  a  fight  between  him  and  them.    In  this 
emergency  he  was  left  without  assistance  by  even  the  delegates  from 
his  own  State,  but  proved  amply  able  to  at  least  prevent  the  passage 
of  a  bill  that  would  have  left  Portland  without  a  road.      This  was 
the  means  authorizing  the  Northern    Pacific  to  construct  their  road 
via  the  Valley  of  the  Columbia  to  Puget  Sound,  the  conditions  of 
which  would  have  been  fulfilled  by  laying  the  rails  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river,  as  was  shown  to  have  been  preferred  by  their  map  filed 
with  the  Secretary.     By  his  timely  protest  the  bill  was  defeated,  and 
although  unable  to  go  forward  with  his   own   plan  the  way  was  left 
open  for  the  O.  R.  &  N.  Co. ,  without  hindrance  from  the  Northern 
Pacific,   or  any  other   party.      The  road,  earnestly  advocated  and 
agitated  by  Mr.  Pengra,  was  what  was  known  as  the  Winnemucca 
line     It  was  to  extend  from  some  point  on   the  Central  Pacific  in 


290  History  of  Portland. 


Nevada,  preferably  Winnemucca,  to  Oregon,  and  down  the  Cascade 
Mountains,  by  the  passes  of  the  Willamette,  coming  to  Eugene  City, 
and  thence  via  the  West  Side  road  to  Portland,  and  also  to  Astoria. 
From  this  point  on  the  Central  Pacific  it  was  no  farther  to  Portland 
than  to  San  Francisco,  and  the  people  of  Nevada  was  ver>'  much  in 
favor  of  the  plan,  being  fully  seconded  by  their  Congressman  Fitch. 
The  road  was  defeated,  however,  by  an  amendment  made  in  the 
Senate  that  instead  of  coming  to  Eugene  it  unite  with  the  Oregon 
&  California  in  the  Rogue  River  Valley.  By  this  change  it  was 
effectually  killed,  as  no  company  cared  to  build  a  road  which  must 
be  working  to  Holladay's  line,  as  this  would  be. 

HENRY   VILLARD   AND   THE   NORTHERN   PACIFIC. 

In  July,  1874,  Mr.  Henry  Villard  made  his  first  visit  to  Oregon. 
He  was  vested  with  full  powers  as  agent  for  and  to  represent  the 
German  bondholders.       His  purpose  in  coming  was  to  make  a  careful 
investigation  of  the  general  condition  of  the  roads  then  built  and 
equipped,  and  to  inquire  thoroughly  into  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
Oregon  &  California  Railroad  Company.     Prior  to  this  Mr.  Richard 
Koehler  arrived  in   Portland  as  a  resident  financial  agent  for  the 
German  bondholders.     Mr.  Koehler  reached  Portland  July  25,  1874-. 
He  was  installed  as  agent  for  the  syndicate,  the  members  of  which 
obtained,  by  previous  agreement  with  Holladay,  a  supervisory  right 
over  the  management   of  the  road   in  reference   to  operation  and 
constnictioni matters  and  a  representative  in  the  board  of  directors. 
Holladay  still  remained  in  nominal  control  of  the  roads  as  president; 
the  active  and  actual  management,  however,  was  retained  by  Villard 
under  the  powers  and  privileges  conferred  by  the  bondholders.     This 
condition  of  affairs  continued  until  April  18,  1876,  when  Holladay 
retired    altogether    from    the   management   of    the   road.     On    the 
following  day,  April  19,  Mr.  Villard  assumed  full  control.     On  the 
retirement  of  Holladay  the  following  were  the  officers  of  the  company  z 
President,   H.    Villard;    vice-president   and  treasurer,    R.    Koehler^ 
secretary,  A.  G.  Cunningham.     At  that  time  the  bondholders  bought:: 
out  Holladay' s  interest  and  became  the  owners  of  all  the  stock.     At 
the    regular   elections   following   for  several   years   there   were 


Railroads.  291 


changes  in  the  officers  until  April,  1882,  at  which  time  A.  G. 
Cunningham  retired  as  secretary  and  George  H.  Andrews  was 
elected  in  his  place.  Since  that  date  Mr.  Andrews  has  held  that 
position,  and,  like  his  predecessor,  has  proved  a  most  active  and 
efficient  officer. 

FROM    ROSEBURG   TO   ASHLAND. 

During  the  time  Villard  represented  the  German  bondholders, 
206  miles  of  the  additional  road  were  constructed.     This  embraced 
the  distance  between  Roseburg  and  Ashland  (145  miles);  the  west 
side  road  from  St.  Joe  to  Corvallis  (50  miles);  and  the  short  branch  line 
from  Albany  to  Lebanon  (11.5  miles).     In  May,  1881  a  reorganization 
of  thej[affairs  of  the  company  was  effected  by  which  the  original,  or 
;Ben    Holladay   stock,    was   wiped   out,    and    the   old    bonds    were 
<:onverted  into  stocks,  and  a  new  mortgage  made  to  provide  funds 
lor  the  extension  of  the  lines.     Work  on  the  extension  of  the  road 
T>eyond   Roseburg   was  commenced    in  December,  1881,  under  the 
ananagement  of  Villard,   and  operations  continued  with  but  little 
-intemiption  until  the  completion  of  the  road.     On  the  25th  of  May, 
11883,  the  road  then  constructed  between   Portland  and  Roseburg 
^was  leased  to  the  Oregon  &  Transcontinental  Company  for  a  term  of 
"SQ  years;  and,  on  the  same  date,  a  contract  was  entered  into  between 
^he  Oregon  &  Transcontinental   Co.  and  the  Oregon   &   California 
^Railroad  Company  for  the  construction  of  the  incompleted  portion — 
through  to  the  California  Line.     The  Oregon  &  Transcontinental 
Company  constructed  the  road  between  Roseburg  and  a  point   100 
miles  south  of  Ashland,  and  had  let  contracts  for,  and  partially  com- 
pleted the    Siskiyou    tunnels.  The     Oregon     &     Transcontinental 
Company  after  consummating  the  lease,  continued  to  operate  the  road 
until  June,  20th  1884.     But  upon  the  failure  of  Mr.  Villard,  the  lease 
and  construction  contracts  were  canceled,  and  the  road  surrendered  to 
the  Oregon  &  California  Railroad  Company,  and  mutual  releases 
between   the  two  companies  executed.     After   this,  the  Oregon  & 
California  Railroad   Company  continued  to  operate  its  roads  until 
December,  1884,  when,  at  the  suit  of  Lawrence  Harrison,  brought 
against  the  corporation,  Mr.  R.   Koehler,  the  former  vice-president 


292  History  of  Portland. 

and  manager  of  the  company,  was  appointed  receiver.  The  road 
has  been  operated  by  him  ever  since  his  appointment  to  the  receiver- 
ship, which  was  made  January  19th,  1885.  The  condition  under 
which  Mr.  Koehler  was  appointed  was  to  assume  entire  personal 
charge  of  the  property,  and  to  manage  and  operate  the  roads  under 
the  direction  of  the  United  States  Court.  This  trust  Mr.  Koehler 
has  faithfully  and  eflSciently  discharged,  and  the  afiairs  of  the  road 
have  been  managed  with  due  regard  to  every  consideration  of 
economy,  compatible  with  the  demands  of  the  public,  and  the 
adequate  facilities  for  general  transportation. 

May  5th,  1884,  the  road  was  completed  to  Ashland,  145  miles 
south  of  Roseburg,  and  340.8  miles  from  Portland,  and  the  event 
was  the  occasion  for  an  enthusiastic  celebration  and  of  general  public 
congratulations.  Work  beyond  Ashland  was  discontinued  in 
August,  1884.  Between  Roseburg  and  Grant's  Pass  the  natural 
diflSculties  of  construdlion  were  great  as  compared  with  most  of  the 
distance  previously  traversed.  These  obstacles  rendered  progress 
necessarily  slow,  and  the  building  very  expensive.  For  the  distance 
mentioned,  the  route  lay  through  a  mountainous  region,  necessitating 
sharp  curvatures,  and  for  a  length  of  about  thirty-five  miles  (between 
Glendale  and  Grant's  Pass)  grades  as  heavy  as  116  feet  to  the  mile 
had  to  be  overcome.  For  the  remainder  of  the  line  between  Rose- 
burg and  Grant's  Pass,  and  also  between  Grant's  Pass  and  Ashland, 
the  maximum  grades  do  not  exceed  52  feet  to  the  mile.  Nine 
tunnels  had  to  be  cut  in  construdling  that  portion  of  the  line, 
aggregating  about  7,325  feet. 

THE  SOUTHERN   PACIFIC. 

The  present  condition  of  the  road  is  said  to  be  excellent  which 
speaks  well  for  the  general  efficiency  of  the  management.  Notwith- 
standing the  period  of  financial  embarassments  through  which  the 
road  has  passed,  its  condition  has  been  gradually  improved.  New 
bridges  have  been  built  wherever  and  whenever  the  safety  of  th^ 
public  required;  the  bed  improved,  new  ties  laid,  and  the  road 
thoroughly  ballasted.  On  the  main  line  between  this  city  and 
Ashland,  only  about  100  miles  of  iron  rails  remain,  steel  rails  of  the 


Railroads.  293 


most  improved  and  durable  kind  having  been  substituted.  New  steel 
rails  will  be  laid  for  the  100  miles  just  as  rapidly  as  the  material  can 
be  procured.  Already  during  the  past  season  about  85  miles  of  road 
have  been  ballasted.  At  present  the  rolling  stock  of  the  company 
consists  of  the  following  property:  43  locomotives,  26  passenger 
coaches,  14?  mail  and  express  cars,  582  box,  flat  and  stock  cars. 

Early  during  the  present  year  a  meeting  was  held  in  London,  the 
result  of  which  was  the  transfer  of  the  stock  and  control  of  the 
corporation  of  the  Oregon  and  (Jalifornia  Railroad  to  the  Southern 
Pacific  Company.  At  that  meeting  an  arrangement  was  entered 
into  between  the  first  mortgage  bondholders  of  the  Oregon  and 
California  railroad  company,  the  stockholders  of  the  same  corpora- 
tion, duly  authorized  representatives  of  the  Pacific  Improvement 
company,  and  also  of  the  Southern  Pacific  company.  Under  this 
agreement  the  stockholders  of  the  Oregon  and  California  company 
sold  out  to  the  Pacific  Improvement  company  of  California.  Very 
briefly  stated,  the  conditions  of  the  sale  were  as  follows:  The  Oregon 
and  California  railroad  company's  stockholders  were  to  receive  for 
every  two  shares  of  preferred  stock  delivered,  one  share  of  C  .  P. 
stock,  and  for  every  four  shares  of  common  stock  surrendered  and 
delivered,  one  share  of  Central  Pacific  stock;  also,  a  cash  payment 
of  four  shillings,  sterling,  for  every  share  of  preferred  stock,  and 
three  shillings  for  every  share  of  common  stock.  The  first  mort- 
gage bonds  of  the  Oregon  and  California  were  to  be  exchanged  for 
new  five  per  cent,  bonds  guaranteed  by  the  Central  Pacific  at  the  rate 
of  110  per  cent,  of  new  bonds.  They  were  also  to  pay  four  pounds 
sterling  for  each  $1,000  of  the  old  bonds  so  exchanged.  According 
to  the  agreement  entered  into,  the  amount  of  the  new  bonds  to  be 
issued  and  $30,000  per  mile  of  standard  guage  railroad  construdled 
or  acquired,  and  $10,000  per  mile  of  narrow  guage  railroad  con- 
strudled or  acquired.  Under  this  mortgage  there  is  not  to  be  issued 
more  than  $20,000,000  of  bonds  in  all.  Under  and  in  pursuance 
of  this  agreement,  the  stock  and  bonds  were  exchanged  so  that  the 
corporate  organization  of  the  Oregon  and  California  railroad  com- 
pany was  transferred  to  the  management.  This  formal  transfer  took 
place  during  June,   1887.     While  the  possession  and  ownership  of 


294  History  of  Portland. 

the  stock  and  bonds  of  the  old  organization  has  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  Southern  Pacific,  still  the  custody  of  the  property  belonging 
to  the  former — rolling  stock,  road,  depot,  depot  grounds,  etc. — 
remains  iu  the  hands  of  Mr.  Koehler,  the  receiver,  and  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  Conjointly,  the  receiver  and  the  court  manage 
all  the  operations  of  the  road  the  same  as  before  the  formal  transfer  was 
eflFe<5led.  This  condition  of  aflFairs  will  continue  until  some  definite 
a<5lion  has  been  determined  upon  by  the  several  parties  to  the  agree- 
ment. The  above  is  the  present  status  of  the  Oregon  and  California 
Railroad,  but  what  new  phase  affairs  will  assume  depends  upon  the 
future  a<5lion  of  the  corporation  into  whose  hands  the  control  of  the 
old  organization  has  passed.  For  that  reason,  for  the  present  the 
result  remains  entirely  in  conje<5lure.  As  yet  there  has  been  no 
a<5lual  transfer  of  the  corporation's  property.  Since  the  transfer  the 
annual  election  of  the  Oregon  and  California  railroad  company  has 
been  held,  when  the  following  officers  were  chosen:  Leland  Stanford, 
president;  C.  P.  Huntington,  vice-president;  R.  Koehler,  second 
vice-president;  George  H.  Andrews,  secretary  and  treasurer;  J.  E. 
Gates,  assistant  secretary. ' 

There  have  been  but  very  few  important  changes  among  those 
officials  who  have  had  to  personally  superintend  the  actual  and 
practical  operations  of  the  road  during  the  past  twelve  or  fourteen 
years.  Mr.  E.  P.  Rogers  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the 
**  Pioneer  of  the  road."  Most  of  those  prominently  connected  with 
the  early  organization  of  the  road  are  dead.  Among  those  may  be 
mentioned  J.  H.  Moores,  I.  R.  Moores,  E.  N.  Cooke,  Joel  Palmer,  J. 
S.  Smith,  S.  Ellsworth,  James  Douthitt,  J.  H.  D.  Henderson, 
Greenberr>'  Smith,  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  A.  F.  Hedges,  W.  S.  Newby,  J. 
P.  Underwood,  Gov.  Gibbs,  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  Ben 
Holladay.  To  Mr.  Rogers  belongs  the  distinction  of  being  the 
eldest  officer  now  connected  with  the  operating  department  of  the 
road.  He  first  came  to  Portland  in  1870,  and  assumed  the  position 
of  general  freight  and  passenger  agent,  and  the  exacting  duties  of 
that  position  he  has  for  the  past  seventeen  years  discharged  with 
strict  fidelity  to  the  best  interests  of  the  corporation,  and  to  the- 
satisfaction  of  the  general  management 


Railroads.  295 


Mr.  John  Brandt  is  also  an  old  and  eflScient  oflScer  of  the  company. 
Mr.  Brandt  came  to  Portland  in  1873,  and  in  July  of  that  year 
assumed  the  position  of  general  superintendent  of  the  road.  This 
position  he  has  filled  proficiently  for  the  past  fourteen  years.  The 
fact  that  Mr.  Brandt  has  been  retained  as  superintendent  through  all 
the  changing  fortunes  of  the  road,  and  under  the  different  manage- 
ments, is  the  highest  evidence  of  his  competency  and  thorough 
experience  in  the  practical  operations  of  a  railroad. 

One  year  later  Mr.  R.  Koehler  came  to  Oregon.  As  before  stated, 
he  came  first  as  resident  financial  agent  of  the  German  bondholders. 
He  entered  upon  the  active  duties  of  the  position  July  25,  1874. 
Since  that  date  Mr.  Koehler  has  been  an  active  and  prominent  factor 
in  the  management  of  the  company's  affairs — ^as  financial  agent,  vice 
president  and  manager,  and  as  general  receiver.  His  long  retention 
by  the  owners  of  the  road,  and  the  implicit  trust  reposed  in  his 
ability  and  integrity  are  the  best  indorsements  that  could  be  offered. 

Under  the  management  of  these  gentlemen  the  roads  have  been 
operated  for  a  long  period  with  as  rigid  a  measure  of  economy 
as  the  financial  conditions  of  the  company  demanded,  and 
yet  with  as  much  liberality  and  in  as  satisfactory  a  manner 
to  the  public  service  and  the  necessities  of  traffic  as  was 
possible  under  all  the  existing  circumstances.  The  company 
was  entangled  in  a  somewhat  complicated  mesh  of  litigation 
during  the  first  few  years  of  its  existence,  and  the  corporate  name 
has  figured  very  extensively  in  the  records  of  the  United  States 
Courts  and  Courts  of  the  State,  both  as  defendant  and  plaintiff  to  a 
tangled  mass  of  suits.  But  when  the  unsettled,  uncertain  state  of 
affairs  is  considered,  when  the  controversies  and  desperate  struggles 
for  master}',  the  heated  and  bitter  rivalries,  and  the  inevitable  conflict 
of  personal  and  corporate  interests  are  all  taken  into  account,  the 
abundant  harvest  of  tedious  litigation  which  followed,  seemed  but  a 
natural  and  legitimate  result. 

Few  roads  of  equal  length  in  this  country  have  enjoyed  a  similar 
measure  of  exemption  from  disasters,  when  all  the  disadvantages  under 
which  operations  have  been  maintained  have  been  taken  into  due  con- 
sideration.  From  first  to  last  there  have  been  no  serious  collisions  of  rail 


296  History  of  Portland. 


accidents  on  the  line  involving  the  extensive  loss  of  human  life,  or 
the  destruction  of  much  valuable  propert>'.  This  very  important 
fact  speaks  in  most  emphatic  terms  of  the  care,  caution  and  good 
judgment  displayed  in  the  management  of  trains  for  the  past 
seventeen  years. 

This  article  would  be  incomplete  without  the  mention  of  Mr.  H. 
Thielsen's  name,  and  of  the  important  part  he  took  in  the  enterprise. 
Mr.  Thielsen  first  arrived  in  Portland  March  1,  1870.  He  at  once 
assumed  the  duties  of  chief  engineer  and  superintendent  combined. 
Practically  he  became  the  acting  manager  of  the  road.  Under  his 
supervision  the  twenty-  miles  of  road  which  have  been  constructed 
between  East  Portland  and  Rock  Island  were  rebuilt  He  had  charge 
of  the  building  of  the  entire  line  between  Rock  Island  and  Roseburg. 
Mr.  Thielsen  has  also  built  the  line  on  the  West  Side  from  Portlaud 
to  St.  Joe,  except  some  little  preliminar>'  operations  done  prior  to 
his  arrival  here.  Mr.  Thielsen  remained  in  charge  of  the  engineering 
department  of  the  road,  and  as  practical  engineer  until  the  retirement 
of  Holladay.  Mr.  Thielsen  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Koehler  in  1874 
in  the  practical  management  of  the  road.  Subsequently  he  retired 
from  all  ^connection  with  the  road,  and  soon  after  accepted  the 
position  of  chief  engineer  of  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation 
Company. 

The  car  shops  of  the  company  were  established  by  Holladay  in 
1870,  and  were  located  two  and  a  half  miles  south  of  the  east  side 
depot.  Since  they  were  first  started,  from  eighty  to  one  hundred 
men  have  been  kept  employed.  Mr.  Brandt  has  long  held  the 
position  of  master  mechanic.  Heretofore,  the  facilities  for  making 
necessary  repairs  and  building  new  rolling  stock  have  been  compara- 
tively adequate  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  company;  but  now, 
that  through  connection  has  been  established,  the  necessity  for  the 
enlargement  of  the  shops  and  the  increase  of  facilities  has  become 
imperative. 

THE    NARROW   GUAGE   SYSTEM. 

No  history  of  Portland  would  be  complete  without  some  notice 
of  the  system  of  narrow  guage  railways  which  terminate  here,  foi 


Railroads.  297 


having  no  other  outlet  for  their  business,  the  Narrow  Guage  System 
and  the  Metropolis  city  must  always  be  mutually  dependent  on  each 
other  for  prosperity. 

This  system  was  projected  by  Joseph  Gaston,  Esq.,  who  has  been 
noticed  as  the  pioneer  of  the  road  between  Oregon  and  California. 
Mr.  Gaston  took  up  the  idea  of  a  system  of  cheap  and  economically 
managed    lines    to    more   perfectly    develop   the   resources   of  the 
Willamette  Valley,  in  the  year  1877,  and  for  that  purpose  incor- 
porated a  company  to  construct  a  road  from  Dayton  to  Sheridan,  in 
Yamhill  County,  with  a  branch  to  Dallas  in  Polk  County.     He  knew 
that  any  move  of  this  kind  would  be  regarded  as  a  hostile  demon- 
stration by  the  owners  of  the  Oregon  Central,  with  which  he  had 
"been  formerly  connected,  and,  therefore,  to  avoid  drawing  their  fire  to 
^is  late  a  day  as  possible,  he  commenced  his  road  at  a  point  distant 
:fi:oni  this  city,  as  if  it  were  to  be  an  unimportant  afiair.     He  relied 
:MoT  his  means  to  carry  out  the  enterprise  mainly  on  the  wealthy 
armers  of  Yamhill  and   Polk  Counties,  and  made  much  the  same 
ppeals  for  popular  support  by  public  meetings  and  otherwise,  as  he 
formerly  made  in  behalf  of  the   Oregon   Central   line.     And 
Ithough  the  owners  of  the  Oregon  Central  very  early  comprehended 
he  interloper  in  their  field  of  business,  and  put  out  men  to  talk  down 
nd  oppose  Gaston,  she  had  by  April  1st,  1878,  made  such  headway 
to  be  able  to  break  ground  at  Dayton  and  purchase  the  iron  and 
oiling  stock  for  forty  miles  of  track.     He  pushed  his  work  with 
eat  vigor,  and  in  six  months  had  the  first  forty  miles  of  narrow 
railroad  in  Oregon  in  operation. 
After  thus  far  succeeding  the  opposition  did  not  abate  their  efforts 
o  check  or  cripple  Gaston's  scheme  of  a  system  of  railways  co- 
erminous  with  the  Willamette  Valley.     They  saw  too  plainly  that  it 
^i^meant  low  rates  and  no  profits  to   their  lines,  when  compelled  to 
^compete  with  the  little  narrow  guage  which  was  already  picking  up 
^-yroduce  and  passengers  at  every  cross  road.     Mr.  Villard  was  then 
zxising  to  his  zenith  of  power,  and  first  offering  to  buy  out  Mr.  Gaston 
^'^vithout  pledging  himself  to  maintain  the  road   he  had   built,  he 
turned  to  buying  up  the  claims  for  iron  and  other  debts  against  it 
^nd  threw  it  in  the  hands  of  a  Receiver.     But  the  man  who  had  built 


298  History  of  Portland. 


forty  miles  of  railroad,  without  a  sack  of  flour  to  start  with  was  not 
likely  to  be  gotten  rid  of  in  that  summary  way.  And  Gaston  quietly 
and  speedily  arranged  with  a  syndicate  of  capitalists  in  Dundee,  in 
Scotland,  to  take  his  road  off  his  hands  and  carr>'  out  his  plans  of 
extending  it  not  only  to  Portland,  for  which  Gaston  had  incorporated 
the  Willamette  Valley  Railroad  Co.,  but  also  southwardly  by 
branches  on  both  sides  of  the  Willamette  River. 

This  brings  in  the  Oregonian  Railway  Company  (Limited),  a 
corporation  organized  under  Royal  Charter  in  Dundee,  Scotland. 
This  company  was  organized  through  the  efforts  of  William  Reid, 
Esq.,  of  Portland,  who  became  its  President  Mr.  Reid  quickly 
took  the  Gaston  road  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Receiver,  and  went  to 
work  in  1880  with  great  vigor  to  extend  its  lines  to  both  sides  of 
the  Willamette,  to  the  west  side  track  and  crossing  the  Willamette 
River  at  Ray's  Landing  and  constructing  from  Dundee,  in  Yamhill 
County,  to  Coburg,  in  Lane  County. 

After  successfully  operating  this  narrow  guage  system,  now 
grown  to  be  a  formidable  factor  in  the  development  of  the  Willamette 
Valley,  and  while  Mr.  Reid  was  in  the  midst  of  his  work  in  extending 
the  road  from  Dundee  to  Portland,  Mr.  Villard  entered  into  negotia- 
tions to  lease  the  narrow  guage  lines,  which  lease  for  99  years,  was 
finally  accomplished  in  the  year  1882.  Upon  the  making  of  the 
lease,  the  work  of  extending  the  road  to  Portland  was  indefinitely 
suspended. 

It  is  but  justice  to  record,  that  Mr.  Reid  bitterly  opposed  the 
making  of  this  lease,  and  warned  his  constituent  stockholders  in 
Scotland,  that  although  they  might  be  stipulating  for  a  handsome 
income  on  their  investment  it  was  not  keeping  faith  with  the  people 
of  Oregon,  whose  people  and  legislature  had  heartily  encouraged  the 
road  by  granting  it  the  public  levee  in  this  city  for  terminal  grounds, 
and  bv  much  other  substantial  aid,  and  that  the  lease  would  terminate 
badly.  Mr.  Villard  operated  the  Narrow  Gauge  lines  for  about  a  year, 
and  then  repudiated  the  lease  as  made  without  authority  or  power, 
and  abandoned  the  property  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  United, 
States  Circuit  Court,  which  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  a  Receiver  for" 
preservation  during  the  pendency  of  the  litigation  to  determine  thi 
validity  of  the  lease. 


Manufacturing.  299 


Upon  the  execution  of  the  lease,  Mr.  Reid  withdrew  from  the 
Oregonian  company,  and  in  the  year  1886  incorporated  the  Portland 
and  Willamette  Valley  railroad  company  to  construct  a  narrow  gauge 
road  from  Dundee,  in  Yamhill  county,  the  northern  tenninus  of  the 
narrow  gauge  lines  above  mentioned,  to  the  city  of  Portland.  This 
twenty-seven  miles  of  track  was  very  expensive,  but  was  pushed  to 
final  completion  to  the  public  levee  in  this  city  in  the  year  1888.  It 
is  now  known  that  leading  capitalists  of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad 
have  purchased,  not  only  this  last  road  built  by  Mr.  Reid,  but  also 
all  the  lines  constructed  by  the  Oregonian  company;  the  lease  to 
Villard  having  been  declared  void  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  Scotch  stockholders  losing  all  their  invest- 
ments, but  the  bondholders  and  other  creditors  of  the  road  being 
paid  out  of  the  proceeds  of  such  sale  to  the  Southern  Pacific  com- 
pany. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MANUFACTURING. 

Conditions  Which  Cause  the  Growth  of  Manufacturing  at  Portland — Character  of 
Early  Manufactures — Present  Condition  and  Magnitude  of  Manufacturing  Enterprises 
of  Portland. 

THE  development  of  Portland  as  a  manufadluring  point  has  been 
much    later    than  in  the  lines  of  commerce.     Indeed,  it  can 
scarcely  be'  said  to  have  yet  begun  upon  the  real  business  of  manu- 
facturing, unless  in  two  or  three  particulars.     Its  industry  has  been 
chiefly  confined  to  such  departments  as   met   an   immediate    local 
demand,  and  had  no  aim  to  reach  out  to  something  distant  and  world 
>jvide.     It  ^as  not  yet  entered  the  minds  of  our  capitalists  that  we 
liave    facilities    here   to   compete   with  the  mills  of  Pennsylvania, 
Illinois,  or   Michigan,  for   the   trade  of  the  western  end  of  North 
America,  or  that  by  many  advantages  we  may  successfully  operate 
for  control  of  demands  from  the  Pacific  Islands,  South  America,  and 


300  History  of  Portland. 

the  Orient.  Not  until  the  present  time  and  perhaps  not  even  yet, 
would  manufadluring  on  such  a  scale  be  so  remunerative  as  in  other 
lines  of  business.  But  now  as  the  great  profits  of  the  early  days  are 
over  it  will  be  necessary  to  settle  down  to  a  larger,  more  extended 
and  comprehensive  sort  of  adlivity;  and  this  will  naturally  gravitate 
toward  manufa<5luring.  Railroad  traffic,  navigation,  commerce, 
agriculture,  all  our  interests  will  become  restridled  unless  rounded 
out  by  the  labor  of  the  manufacturer,  and  the  surplus  wealth  of  the 
State,  both  natural  and  acquired  will  flow  from  us  to  the  region  from 
which  we  import  our  wares. 

With  this  industry  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  it  is  of  course  impossible 
to  find  for  it  much  history.  A  glance  at  the  unrivaled  advantages 
we  possess  both  from  central  position  in  a  region  of  great 
natural  wealth  and  from  contiguity  to  the  falls  of  the  Willamette 
and  the  Cascades  of  the  Columbia,  has  already  been  taken.  Lowns- 
dale's  journey  has  been  spoken  of.  Mention  has  also  been  made  of 
saw  mills  established  in  the  city  at  an  early  day.  The  steam  mill  of 
Coffin  and  Abrams  at  the  foot  of  Jefferson  street  was  the  fruit  of  this, 
being  a  capacious  strudlure,  and  having  a  cutting  capacity  of  over 
20,000  feet  per  day.     This  was  built  in  1853. 

Abrams  was  an  indefatigable  worker  in  lumbering,  and  with 
Hogue  operated  a  mill  for  many  years.  J.  C.  Carson  and  J..  P. 
Walker  inaugurated  enterprise  in  the  sash  and  door  business.  Smith 
and  Co. ,  Weidler  and  Governor  Pennoyer  extended  the  business  to 
its  present  extensive  proportions.  As  an  off-shoot  of  the  lumbering 
business  we  have  manufacturers  of  furniture,  pioneers  of  which  were 
Messrs.  Hurgren  and  Shindler,  a  firm  still  continued  under  the 
name  of  Hurgren  and  Co.  I.  F.  Powers  entered  the  field  somewhat 
later  and  now  has  one  of  the  largest  plants  and  works  on  the  coast 

Foundries  were  early  established  and  gave  principle  attention  to 
manufadlure  of  boilers,  steam  engine^,  mill  irons,  steamboat  fixtures, 
mining  machinery  and  to  a  large  degree  iron  fronts  and  ornamental 
works  for  buildings.  In  1866  the  iron  works  were  established  at 
Oswego,  and  have  been  operating  intermittently  since  that  date, 
having  now  become  fully  equipped  with  the  best  of  furnaces,  a 
railroad,  and  a  large  number  of  kilns  for  charcoal. 


Manufacturing.  301 


As  a  great  business  was  that  of  flouring  mills  which  began  as 
eariy  as  1864,  having  gradually  gained  pre-eminence  over  the  busi- 
ness in  the  same  line  at  Oregon  City  and  Salem. 

With  the  discovery  and  development  of  the  quartz  mines  and  ore 
beds  of  Idaho  and  Southern  Oregon  consequent  upon  the  railroad 
development  of  the  past  decade,  efforts  were  made  for  the  establish- 
ment of  reduction  works  at  our  city.  These  were  first  built  on  the 
line  of  the  O.  and  C.  R.  R.,  in  East  Portland;  the  site,  however,  was 
abandoned,  after  a  few  months,  and  works  have  been  constructed  at 
Linnton,  below  the  city. 

Fruit  canneries,  and  dry-houses,  tanneries,  excelsior  works,  paper 
mill  (at  La  Camas,  operated  by  a  Portland  company),  barrel  works, 
pottery,  rope  factory,  soap  works,  watch  factory,  willow  ware,  box 
factories,  pickle  works,  meat  preservatories,  and  a  multitude  of  works 
for  simple  city  needs,  and  ice  and  baker's  goods,  have  grown  with 
the  growth  of  the  country  and  of  the  place  itself 

The  following  extracts  from  the  columns  of  the  Oregonian  for 
Jan.  1,  1890,  indicate  something  of  the  prosperity  and  magnitude  of 
the  manufacturing  of  Portland: 

'^January  1,  1890,  opens  up  with  over  600  firms  engaged  in 
converting  the  raw  material  into  manufactured  goods.  They  employ 
a  bona  fide  working  capital  of  over  $14,000,000  and  they  furnish 
employment  tor  7,859  workmen  at  just  and  living  wages.  Five  million 
is  the  sum  expended  for  home  raw  material.  The  gross  amount 
realized  from  the  co-operation  of  this  capital  and  labor  is  $20,183,- 
044,  leaving  a  net  profit  of  $6,000,000  on  a  total  investment  of 
$13,000,000,  which  after  deducting  taxes  and  other  legitimate 
expenditures  will  leave  in  the  clear  a  net  gain  of  33  J^  per  cent,  for 
the  year,  a  higher  rate  of  gain  than  is  realized  by  any  manufactures 
of  the  Eastern  and  older  cities.  This  is  true  because  of  the  vast 
quantity  of  raw  material  purchased  at  home  at  reasonable  prices,  the 
comparative  cheapness  of  land,  and  to  the  fact  that  competition  has 
not  here  reached  the  cut-throat  point  of  sacrificing  all  profit  in  the  mad 
desire  to  do  business  at  all  hazards.  One  hundred  and  fifty-five 
distindl  lines  of  manufacture  are  engaged  in  here  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  and  each  is  prospering  beyond  expectation. 


302  History  of  Portland. 


*'The  lumber  trade  and  planing  mills  of  Portland  during  the  year 
1889  has  been  enonnous,  not  only  in  the  amount  of  output  for  local 
use,  but  in  that  required  for  export  trade  as  well,  and  notwithstand- 
ing our  timber  facilities,  much  more  has  been  imported  of  grades 
and  qualities  now  in  demand,  but  not  of  woods  grown  in  Oregon  or 
vicinity.  In  January,  1889,  there  were  ten  firms  engaged  in  the 
trade  and  three-fourths  of  a  million  dollars  in  the  lumbering  interests 
and  employing  517  hands.  January  1,  1890,  finds  twelve  firms 
engaged  in  the  business,  with  a  total  output  for  the  year  of  $2,000,000, 
furnishing  employment  to  760  hands,  with  wages  running  from 
$2.50  to  $3.00  per  day.  Every  mill  is  running  to  its  fullest 
capacity,  and  a  few  of  the  larger  companies  are,  and  have  been  for 
months  past,  turning  away  profitable  contradls  for  lack  of  men  and 
and  facilities  for  handling  more  trade. 

''During  the  past  year  the  furniture  trade  began  to  assume  the 
proportions  that  it  should  reach  here,  by  reason  of  natural  advantages 
enjoyed  by  this  branch  of  business,  in  a  country  where  the  material 
is  abundant  and  the.  water  power  all  that  could  possibly  be  desired. 
Still  we  do  not  supply  with  domestic  manufacture  enough  to  meet 
the  demand  for  home  consumption.  The  importation  of  goods  of 
Eastern  make  exceeds  the  home  manufacture,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  home  product  is  very  large.  Four  firms  are  actually 
engaged  in  manufacturing  furniture,  investing  $490,000  in  the 
business.  The  output  was  $600,000,  as  against  $410,500  for  the 
previous  year.  Five  hundred  men  were  employed  in  1889  as  against 
400  of  the  previous  year. 

*'The  woolen  mills  owned  by  Portland  men  and  operated  by 
Portland  capital  have  been  a  complete  success  and  brought  handsome 
returns  to  the  men  who  were  financially  plucky  enough  to  put  their 
coin  into  the  enterprise.  The  Oregon  made  goods  have  this  year 
competed  with  Eastern  goods  both  in  quality  and  price.  The 
exceedingly  mild  winter  of  1889,  and  the  moderate  weather  of  the 
present  season  has  kept  down  the  output  to  a  lower  point  than  the 
natural  prosperity  of  the  season  should  have  induced  but  with  these 
disadvantages,  and  with  no  increase  of  capital  stock  the  output  rose 
from  $540,000  to  $756,000  for  the  past  year,  giving  employment 
to  additional  workmen. 


Manufacturing.  303 


'*As  to  paper,  ten  newspapers  in  Portland  and  the  Timesy  Press 
and  Post'Intelligencery  of  Seattle,  and  the  Review^  of  Spokane  Falls, 
are  supplied  with  the  paper  on  which  they  are  printed  from  Portland. 
This  immense  tonnage  of  paper  is  the  produ(5l  of  a  fa6lor\'  owned  by 
Portland  men  and  run  by  Portland  capital.  The  sum  of  $150,000 
is  invested  in  this  business.  Inprovements  have  been  added  during 
the  year  amounting  to  $17,000.  In  1888,  eighty  hands  were  given 
employment  in  this  industry;  in  1889,  ninety  men.  In  1888  the 
value  of  the  output  was  $180,000;  in  1889,  $240,000;  an  increase 
of  33)^  per  cent,  in  the  volume  of  business  for  the  past  year.  The 
produdl  of  these  mills  finds  its  way  all  over  Oregon,  Washington  and 
Idaho,  and  recently  ver>'  heavy  shipments  have  been  made  to  San 
Francisco. 

*  'Portland  being  the  center  of  a  great  wheat  and  cereal  growing 
sedlion,  it  is  but  natural  that  the  converting  of  the  golden  grain  into 
flour  and  feed  should  assume  an  important  status.  We  not  only 
make  enough  flour  each  day  for  our  own  consumption  but  thousands 
of  barrels  go  to  other  coast  ports,  to  England,  to  South  America  and 
other  foreign  countries.  The  capital  stock  invested  in  this  industry 
was  in  1888,  $344,000  and  in  1889,  $350,000.  "^By  turning  the 
capital  invested  several  times  a  year,  the  output  during  1889 
reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $2,806,000  as  against  $2,520,000  for 
1888,  at  the  same  time  giving  employment  to  sixty  men  at  wages 
ranging  from  two  to  three  dollars  a  day. 

*'The  smelting  works  located  at  Linnton, seven  miles  below  Portland, 

is  not  merely  a  local  institution,  calculated  only  to   benefit  the  city, 

but  is  of  importance  to  the  whole  State  and  the  Northwest  as  well. 

The  capital  stock  of  the  smelting  company  is  $1,000,000,  of  which 

#500,000  is  fully  paid  in.     The  cost  of  the  plant  is  $150,000.    The 

Smelter  will  have  a  capacity   of  150   tons   daily.     The   building   is 

60x220  feet.     When  operations  begin  fully  a  large  force  of  men  will 

t>e  given  steady  and  regular   employment. 

'^Oswego,  ten  miles  above  Portland,  is  the  location  of  one  of  the 
xnost  important  enterprises  of  the  State.  The  iron  product  of  the 
Mrorks  here  supplies  most  of  the  raw  material  for  all  of  our  foundry 
"Vvork  and  large  quantities  are  shipped  to  every  part  of  the  Northwest. 
^he  value  of  the  product  approaches  $50,000  annuallv. 

fao] 


304  History  of  Portland. 


**In  foundries  and  machine  shops  the  sum  of  $1,200,000  was 
invested  in  January,  1889.  The  year  has  witnessed  its  growth  to 
S2, 000, 000.  The  output  has  increased  from  $1,500,000  to  $1,- 
750,000,  while  the  number  of  men  provided  with  emplo\Tnent  has 
increased  from  900  to  1,000.  The  men  in  this  branch  of  business 
look  for  a  constant  increase  and  development  for  some  years  to  come 
for  several  reasons.  Boat  building  requires  constantly  more  and  more 
iron  and  steel,  railroad  construction  is  going  forward  in  this  part  of 
the  world  without  cessation,  and  buildings,  especially  those  designed 
for  business  purposes,  require  quantities  of  iron  in  their  construction. 
Prices  remain  firm  and  the  work  is  steadily  increasing,  yielding  fair 
and  reasonable  profit  on  the  investment. 

**A  prominent  machinist,  in  .speaking  of  the  foundr\'  work  done  in 
Portland,  .said  that  this  industr\',  though  enjoying  great  prosperit>', 
was  capable  of  .still  indefinite  expansion.  He  said  that  the  larger 
shops  confine  themselves,  in  a  great  measure,  to  repair  work,  that 
branch  of  the  business  being  exceedingly  profitable.  There  was  no 
reason  why  Portland  should  import  a  single  dollar's  worth  of 
machiner\';  that  every  particle  used  in  the  industries  here  could  be 
made  at  home,  vet  that  durino:  the  vear  nearlv  a  million  dollar's 
worth    of  machiner\'   was  purchased  in  the  East  for  use  in  Portland. 

'*  At  the  corner  of  Third,  H  and  (i  streets  an  immense  foundr\*  and 
also  a  machine  shop  are  rapidly  approaching  completion.  Two 
buildings  are  in  course  of  construclion,  one  50x200  feet  and  the 
other  50x100,  the  cost  of  which  exceeds  the  sum  of  $25,000. 

'*Tlie  new  foundry  is  being  con.stru(5led  upon  the  most  approved 
plans  and  will  be  supplied  with  the  latest  machiner>'  for  heavy  marine 
work. 

'^In  brick-making  the  producl  for  1889  reached  $230,000,  and 
from  the  eniploynient  of  106  men  in   1888,  it  rose  to  225  in  1889, 
without  any  indication  whatever  pointing  to  a  decrease  of  output  for 
1890. 

'*Thc  display  of  carriages,  wagons,  buggies  and  carts  at  the  fair 
held  in  Portland  was  one  of  the  most  attra<5live  features.  The 
interest  was  occasioned  principally  by  the  fa6l  that  many  of  the- 
samples  on  exhibition   were  made   here.     The  roads  of  Oregon  ar^:? 


Manufacturing.  305 

peculiarly  and  distindlively  poor  and  there  appears  to  be  something 
in  the  soil  peculiarly  destru(5live  to  wagons,  etc.  For  good  and 
serviceable  wear  it  is  vastly  important  that  goods  of  this  class  should 
be  made  here  to  supply  all  those  charadleristics  made  necessar\'  by 
the  peculiarities  of  our  surroundings.  The  sum  of  $50,000  was 
invested  in  this  business  in  1888.  This  doubled  for  1889.  The 
output  increased  from  $175,000  to  $300,000,  while  the  number  of 
•employees  increased  from  75  to  125.  Improvements  have  been 
made  in  some  of  the  fa<ftor\'  buildings  and  one  new  brick  factory  has 
Tjeen  built. 

*'Ship  and  boat  builders  have  had  a  busy  and  prosperous  season. 
^he  industry  has  been  carried  on  without  cessation  on  both  sides  of 
^he  river  during  the  entire  year.  A  large  number  of  fleet  vessels 
Tiave  been  constructed  during  1889;  and  thousands  of  dollars 
expended  in  Portland's  ship  yards  for  repairs  and  improvements. 
JSach  year's  experience  adds  to  the  testimony  in  favor  of  Oregon  fir 
zfor  ship  building,  as  well  as  innumerable  other  purposes.  The  boats 
turned  out  of  our  local  ship  yards,  not  only  ply  upon  the  waters  of 
^he  Willamette  and  Columbia  rivers,  but  are  noted  for  speed  and 
ndurance  on  Puget  sound  and  also  upon  the  Pacific  ocean. 

"A    large  proportion  of  the    crackers    and    fancy    small    cakes 
onsumed  in  this  city  and  vicinity  are  products  of  home  industry. 
^Hn  1888  the  output  was  $170,000,  that  is  of  the  one  factory  then  in 
peration,  and  in  1889  this  had  increased  to  $200,000.      Forty  men 
ain  their  livelihood   through   this  industry.     Tlie  concern  uses  up 
cfrom  forty  to  fifty  barrels  of  flour  per  day.    Factories  of  the  same  kind 
stablished  in  other  near  by  cities,  have  started  a  lively  competition, 
therwise  the  output  for  1889  would  easily  have  reached  the  sum  of 
250,000.       The    machinery    used    in    the    factory    is    the  latest 
mproved. 
* 'Early  this  year  of   1890  another  immense   cracker  factory   will 
g^n  active  operations  here.     Over  $30,000  has  been  expended  in 
ew  and  latest  improved  machinery.     The    new    plant   will    have  a 
apacity  of  fifty  barrels  a  day  and  will  require  the  services  of  twent}- 
ve  men  to  begin   with  and    as  many  more  as  increased  trade  ma\' 
ecessitate. 


306  History  of  Portland. 


**Five  years  ago  the  idea  of  turning  Oregon  clay  into  sewer  and 
chimney  pipe  was  first  carried  into  execution,  and  $50,000  were  put 
into  the  business.  The  industry  grew,  and  the  capital  was  increased 
to  $100,000.  During  1888  and  1889  the  business  has  increased  to  such 
an  extent  and  imports  have  developed  so  that  the  company  operating 
the  business  will  enlarge  the  plant  during  1890,  having  already 
bought  ground  for  the  purpose.  It  is  claimed  that  a  perfect  fire- 
proof brick  can  be  made  here  at  a  comparatively  small  cost,  and  the 
company  will  turn  its  attention  largely  to  this  department  of  the 
industr\'  during  the  year  just  ushered  in.  Half  a  hundred  men 
find  regular  and  steady  employment  here  at  good  li\nng  wages. 

**Brooms  and  willow  ware  of  all  descriptions  are  so  necessary  in 
ever\'  household  that  we  at  once  appreciate  the  effect  and  importance 
of  having  them  made  at  home.  Probably  the  largest  establishment 
for  this  purpose  on  the  Pacific  Coast  is  to  be  found  in  Portland  In 
this  industry  fifty  men  are  given  employment.  The  capital  invested 
in  this  business  is  about  $100,000,  and  the  output  in  1888  was 
valued  at  $100,000,  and  in  1889  at  $125,000. 

'*For  a  city  of  its  size  Portland  has  more  large  and  successful 
printing  establishments  than  any  other  city  in  the  United  States. 
The  printing  trade  has  known  no  dullness  during  the  past  year.  The 
season's  fulfillment  has  overreached  most  sanguine  expectations,  and 
business  still  holds  out  with  remarkable  vitality.  The  opening  day 
of  1890  finds  38  firms  engaged  in  business,  which  invest  the  sum  of 
$550,000,  as  against  $500,000  for  1888,  employing  410  men,  as 
against  310  for  1888,  with  an  output  of  $960,000,  as  against 
$686,500. 

*'The  commendable  activity  and  enterprise  of  the  West  is  exhibited 
in  no  matter  so  clearly  and  emphatically  as  in  seizing  upon  the 
advantages  offered  by  the  development  of  the  powers  of  electricity. 
In  this  respect  we  are  far  in  advance  of  Eastern  cities  of  similar  size, 
and  Portland  stands  pre-eminent  in  availing  herself  of  all  the 
advantages  that  electricity  brings.  The  whole  of  Portland  and 
vicinity  is  illuminated  at  night  by  electricity,  and  well  lighted  at 
that.  The  excellence  with  which  the  city  is  lighted  at  night  is  more 
effective  in   the  prevention    of  crime   than  even  the   watchful  and 


308  History  of  Portland. 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE    BENCH   AND   BAR. 

Oregon  Under  Canadian  Laws — Efforts  of  the  American  Settlers  to  Organize  a 
Judiciar>' — Peculiar  and  Comical  Features  of  their  Proceedings — The  first  Judiciary 
System — Re-organization  of  the  Judiciary  by  the  Provisional  legislature  of  1845 — 
Early  Judges  and  Attorneys — Manner  of  Adopting  the  Laws  of  Iowa — Status  of  the 
Courts  Prior  to  Territorial  Government — First  Court  House  at  Portland — Establish- 
ment of  Office  of  Recorder,  and  Other  City  Judicial  Offices — List  of  Recorders,  City 
Attorneys,  Police  Judges  and  Justices  of  Peace — Re-organization  of  the  Judicial 
System  after  the  Creation  of  Oregon  Territory — Incidents  in  the  Administrations  of 
Justice  During  Territorial  Period — First  Term  of  the  Supreme  Court— Organization 
of  Multnomah  County  Court — Sketches  of  leading  Attorneys  of  Portland  Prior  to 
1855 — Interesting  Cases  before  tlie  Supreme  Court — Organization  of  the  United 
States  District  Court- -Portland  Attorneys  after  the  Admission  of  Oregon  as  a  State — 
Re-organization  of  the  Judicial  System  of  the  State  in  1878 — Judges  who  have  Served 
in  Portland  and  Multnomah  County  Courts— Cases  of  Historic  Importance  Tried 
Before  Portland  Courts — Uaited  States  vs.  Randall — The  Holladay  Cases — List  of 
Attorneys  who  have  Practiced  at  the  Portland  Bar. 

THE  origin  and  development  of  the  Courts  and  the  law  in  this 
community  afford  a  striking  illustration  of  the  adaptability  of 
the  American  people  to  the  necessities  of  their  condition,  and  their 
natural  aptitude  for  State  building  and  self  government  Would 
the  scope  of  our  work  pennit,  it  would  be  interesting  and  instructive 
to  follow  in  detail  the  various  steps  taken  by  the  pioneers  of  Oregon 
in  creating  a  civil  polity  for  themselves  without  adventitious  aid  or 
the  supervising  control  of  a  sovereign  government,  and  to  show  how 
the  diverse  and  often  conflicting  influences  of  religion,  nationalit>% 
heredity  and  individual  environments  were  blended  and  coalesced 
into  a  practical  system  of  laws.  But  our  present  purpose  is  to 
describe  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  Portland,  and  reference  to  the  growth 
of  the  legal  and  constitutional  organism  of  the  State  is  necessar>' 
only  as  it  shows  the  conditions  under  which  the  Courts  and  the  law 
in  the  city  are  to  be  viewed. 

The  operation  of  the  laws  of  Canada  was,  by  Act  of  Parliament 
at  an  early  day,  extended  to  include  the  English  subjects  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  and  three  Justices  of  the  Peace  were  commissioned,  one 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  309 


of  whom,  James  Douglas/  afterward  Sir  James  Douglas  and  Governor 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  interests  for  a  short  time  before  the 
United  States  extended  its  jurisdiction  over  the  Territory,  resided  at 
Vancouver  and  exercised  his  duties  as  Justice  there  until  the 
provisional  government  was  organized.- 

The  protestant  missionaries,  likewise,  appointed  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  but  the  cases  that  came  before  these  officers  for  adjudication 
were  rare  and  of  little  importance.  The  settlers  were  so  few  in 
number  and  so  widely  scattered  that  Courts  were  not  often  needed. 
With  these  exceptions  there  was  no  attempt  to  organize  a  judiciary 
in  the  Northwest  until  in  1841. 

At   that  time  the  American  settlers  in  the  Willamette  Vallev 
were     anxious    that  the    government   of   the     United    States    ex- 
tend   its    sovereignty     over    the    Oregon     countr\^     and    establish 
a  system    of    local    laws    and    government,    but   to  this    the  sen- 
timent  of  the    French    and     Canadian   settlers  was    more  or  less 
openly  hostile.     Ewing  Young,  who  had   been  an  active  and  promi- 
nent figure  in  the  settlement  and  had,  after  a  life  of  adventure  and 
roving,  accumulated  a  small  estate,  chiefly  by  a  successful  enterprise 
in  driving  from  California  a  herd  of  cattle,  died  at  his  home  near  the 
present  site  of  the  town  of  Gervais,  and  the  advocates  of  a  local 
government  found  a  convenient  pretext   for   the   consummation  of 
their  plans  in  the  absence  of  probate  courts  and  laws  to  regulate  the 
administration  of  his  estate.     A  meeting  was  held  by  the  settlers, 
after    the    funeral,    at    Young's  house,  which,    after   appointing   a 
committee  to  draft  a  constitution  and  a  code  of  laws  and  recommending 
the  creation  of   certain  offices,   and,    in   committee   of  the   whole, 
nominating  persons  for  those  offices,  adjourned  until  the  next  day. 
In  accordance  with  the  adjournment  a  full  meeting  was  held  at  the 
American   Mission   House  on  the  18th  day  of  February,  1841,  and, 
among  other  proceedings  had,  I.    L.    Babcock  was  elected  Supreme 
Judge,  with  probate  powers. 

1  Douglas  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  1845  one  of  the  District  Judges  of 
the  Vancouver  District. 

2  Under  this  act  the  Justices  had  jurisdiction  to  the  amount  of  two  hundred  pounds 
sterling,  and  in  criminal  cases,  upon  suflficient  cause  being  shown,  the  prisoner  was  to 
be  sent  to  Canada  for  trial. 


310  History  of  Portland. 


The  peculiar  and  comical  feature  of  this  proceeding  was  in  the 
adoption  of  a  resolution  at  this  meeting  instructing  the  Supreme 
Judge  to  act  according  to  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  until  a 
code  of  laws  should  be  adopted  by  the  community.  One  historian 
affirms  that  at  the  time  there  was  not  a  copy  of  the  New  York  Code 
in  the  settlement,^  and  certainly  there  was  not  more  than  one. 

The  judge  was  a  physician,  connected  with  the  Methodist  Mission, 
who  had  perhaps  never  read  a  law  book.  By  some  adverse  fate  the 
projected  government  was  never  finally  organized  as  intended,  but 
Dr.  Babcock  was  subsequently  elected  a  Circuit  Judge,  and,  at  the 
time  the  first  houses  were  building  in  Portland,  he  was  holding  court 
in  the  Clackamas  district  and  occasionally  in  the  district  which 
included  the  present  county  of  Multnomah.^  Another  attempt  at 
forming  a  provisional  government  was  made  in  1843,  with  the  result 
that  an  Organic  Law,  somewhat  rudely  framed  upon  the  ground  plan 
of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  was  adopted  by  the  people  at  a  public 
meeting  held  July  5,  1843. 

In  the  meantime,  while  taking  the  preliminary  steps  toward 
organization  and  the  adoption  of  laws,  at  a  meeting  held  on  the  2d 
day  of  May,  1843,  at  Champoeg,  A.  E.  Wilson,"'  was  selected  to  act 
as  Supreme  Judge,  with  probate  powers,  and  a  number  of  magistrates 
were  elected.  By  the  adoption  of  the  judiciar>'  system  proposed  at 
the  same  meeting  by  the  legislative  committee,  these  officers  were 
continued  in  office  until  their  successors  should  be  elected,  and  a 
general  election  was  provided  for  on  the  2d  day  of  May,  1844. 

The  territory  was  organized  into  four  districts  for  Judicial 
purposes,    the    First    District,    to   be   called    the   Tuality   District, 

3  Gray  Histor>'  of  Oregon,  page  201.  Wells  History  of  the  Willamette  Valley, 
page  243. 

*  The  estate  of  Ewing  Young  was  ^^•ithout  an  administrator  until  in  1844,  when 
the  Legislature  authorized  the  appointment  of  one.  (See  Laws  of  1843-1849,  pub- 
lished in  1853,page  94).  vSeveral  suits  were  brought  against  it,  in  one  of  which,  the  name 
of  the  administrator  was  omitted,  and  the  estate  itself  was  sued;  the  judgment  was 
reversed  on  this  ground,  and  tliis  was  one  of  the  earliest  cases  in  which  an  opinion 
was  written  by  the  Oregon  Supreme  Court,  contained  in  Vol.  I,  Supreme  Court 
Records,  page  90.  A.  L.  Lovejoy  wasthe  ac^ministrator.  The  Legislature  subsequenUy 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  311 

comprised  all  the  country  south  of  the  northern   boundary'   of  the 
United  States,  west  of  the  Willamette  or  Multnomah  River^  north 
of  the  Yamhill  River  and  east  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

This  arrangement,  however,  was  altered  by  the  first  Legislature 
^hat  met  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the  organic  act,  in  June,  1844, 
and  the  whole  fabric  of  government  was  remodeled.  So  far  as  the 
judiciary  was  concerned  the  change  was  chiefly  in  vesting  the  judicial 
3K)wer  in  Circuit  Courts  and  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  providing  for 
^he  election  of  one  Circuit  Judge,  with  probate  powers,  whose  duty 
^t  should  be  to  hold  two  terms  of  Court  annually  in  each  county. 
Justices  of  the  Peace  and  other  ofiicers  were  to  be  elected,  and  their 


•^duties  were  defined. 

Babcock,  who   had  been   elected    Circuit  Judge   in  May,  1844, 
^^efeating  by  a  considerable  majority,  J.  W.  Nesmith,  P.  H.  Burnett, 
P.  G.  Stewart,  Osbom  Russell  and  O.  Johnson,  resigned  the  office 


ZZNovember  11,  1844.      He  was  succeeded  by  J.  W.  Nesmith,  who 
Jield  his  first  term  in  April,  1845,  at  Oregon  City. 

The  Courts  were  now  fully  and  properly  organized,  but  there 
were  no  suits  of  importance  at  this  period.  Almost  all  the  cases  were 
heard  before  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  no  record  remains.  The 
•Hest  record  of  any  case  in  the  Supreme  Court  arose  from  the 
iistrict  in  which  Portland  was  included,  between  two  farmers  who 
to  the  territory  with  the  large  immigration  of  1843,  and  located 
^dn  the  prairies  of  Yamhill  County.  It  seems  that  among  the  cattle 
brought  overland  in  that  year  in  great  numbers  by  the  settlers, 
UNinevah  Ford  and  Abi  Smith  each  had  several  head,  but  when  the 
^^^alley  was  reached  these  had  dwindled  down   in  number,  by  the 


<^>rdered  a  sale  of  the  property  and  the  use  of  the  proceeds  to  erect  a  log  jail,  pledg- 
ing the  return  of  the  money  to  any  heirs  of  Young  that  might  establish  their  claim. 
It  may  be  added  that  heirs  did   appear  and   claimed  the  property,   but  afterwards 
-QBissigned  the  claim,  and  several  unsuccessful   efforts  were  made  to  collect  the  money 
^fix>tn  the  State,  until  finally  by  IvCgislative  action  the  full  sum  and  interest   was  paid. 

*     Albert  E.  Wilson  was  an  intelligent,  unassuming  and  excellent  young  man,  who 

•came  to  the  country  in  the  employ  of  Caleb  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  in  company 

^ipvith  Captain  Couch,  on  the  Chenamus,  and  was  left  in  charge  of  the  stock  of  goods, 

"IjTOUght  outby  that  vessel,  at  Oregon  City  in  1842.   He  was  not  a  law\'er  by  education. 


312  History  of  Portland. 


hardships  and  short  rations  of  the  journey,  and  both  Ford  and  Smith 
claimed  the  ownership  of  a  certain  pair  of  oxen  that  remained. 
Ford  had  the  cattle  and  Smith  brought  suit  for  their  possession  and 
upon  trial  before  two  Justices  of  the  Peace,  sitting  as  a  Supreme 
Court,  in  April,  1844,  a  verdict  was  returned  by  the  jury  in  favor  of 
the  plaintiflF. 

The  Legislature  that  was  elected  in  1845,  under  this  new 
scheme  of  government,  at  once  appointed  a  committee  again  to 
revise  the  Organic  Law,  and  then  it  was  that  the  fundamental  act 
which  is  generally  referred  to  as  creating  the  Provisional  Government, 
a  model  of  statecraft,  and  upon  which  the  State  Constitution  of 
Oregon  was  afterwards  constructed,  was  prepared,  and  subsequently 
ratified  by  the  people  at  an  election  held  July  26,  1845. 

By  the  eighth  section  of  Article  II  of  this  instrument,  the 
judicial  power  was  vested  in  the  Supreme  Court  and  in  such  inferior 
Courts  as  might,  from  time  to  time,  be  established  by  law.  The 
Supreme  Court,  consisting  of  one  judge,  to  be  elected  by  the  House 
of  Representatives  for  the  tenn  of  four  years,  was  given  appellate 
jurisdiction  only,  with  general  superintending  control  over  all  inferior 
Courts  of  law,  and  power  to  issue  certain  original  remedial  writs  and 
to  hear  and  determine  the  same.  The  Legislature  might  also 
provide  for  giving  the  Supreme  Court  original  jurisdiction  in  criminal 
cases. 

The  Legislature  elected  Nathaniel  Ford,  of  Yamhill  County, 
Supreme  Judge  at  it$  meeting,  August  9,  1845,  and  passed  various 
a(5ls  creating  distridl,  probate,  criminal  and  justice  courts,  eledling 
B.  O.  Tucker,  H.  Higgins  and  Wm.  Burris,  Distridl  Judges  of 
Tuality  County.  Nathaniel  Ford  declined  to  accept  the  oflSce  of 
Supreme  Judge  and  the  House  elected  in  his  stead  Peter  H.  Burnett. 

Burnett  had  come  to  Oregon  in  1843  from  Missouri,  where  he 
had  been  Distri(5l  Attorney,  and  with  General  M.  M.  McCarver, 
afterward  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  had  located  and 
laid  out  the  town  of  Linnton,  on  tlie  Willamette,  and  lived  there  in 
the  early  part  of  1844,  but  in  May,  1844,  he  removed  with  his  family 
to  a  farm  in  Tualatin   Plains  near  Hillsboro.      He  was  one  of  the 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  313 


Legislative  Committee  in  1844,  and  again  in  1848/  Burnett  was 
perhaps  the  ablest  lawyer  of  this  period  of  Oregon  History,^  but 
as  he  says/  there  was  nothing  to  do  in  his  profession  until  some  time 
after  his  arrival  in  Oregon  and  he  was  therefore  compelled  to  become 
a  farmer.  He  held  the  office  of  Supreme  Judge  until  December  29, 
1-846,  when  he  resigned  the  office.^  Eledled  to  the  Legislature  of 
of  the  Provisional  Government,  in  1848,  he  again  resigned,  this  time 
to  go  to  California,  where  he  received  a  commission  from  President 
Polk,  dated  August  14,  1848,  as  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Oregon,  under  the  Territorial  organization.  This  commis- 
sion he  declined,  and  in  August,  1849,  was  eledled  Judge  or  Minister 
of  the  Superior  Tribunal  of  California.*®  On  the  organization  of 
that  State,  he  was  eledled  Governor,  and  subsequently  became  a 
banker  at  San  Francisco. 

When  Judge  Burnett  opened  Court,  June  2,  1846,  at  Oregon  City, 
three  attorneys  were  admitted  to  the  bar:"  W.  G.  T.'  Vault,  A.  L. 
Lovejoy  and  Cyrus  Olney.  *^  These  were  the  first  attorneys  regularly 
admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  Oregon,  though 
others  were  in  the  Territory  and  had  practiced  before  the  inferior 
Courts,  and  of  these  three,  two  of  them,  A.  L.  Lovejoy  and  Cyrus 
Olney  are  identified  in  no  slight  degree  with  the  history  of  the  Bench 
and  Bar  of  Portland. 

Both  Pettygrove  and  Lovejoy,  the  original  Portlanders,  were 
versed  in  the  law.  Pettygrove  was  a  merchant  at  Oregon  City  and 
served  as  Judge  of  the  District  Court,  in  the  Clackamas  District  in 
1844  and  1845,  resigning  his  office  in  December,  1845."  Lovejoy 
was  one  of  the  first  lawyers  that  came  to  the  territor}' ,  and  from  the 


•    Burnett's  RecoUections,  page  193.  "^    Gray's  History  of  Oregon,  page  374. 

8    Burnett's  RecoUections,  page  181.  ••    1  Sup.  Court  Record,  page  2. 

»»  Burnett's  RecoUections,  page  339.  »»  1  Sup.  Ct.  Rec.  52. 

^  A.  A.  Skinner  was  also  an  attorney  of  the  Court  and  these  with  Judge  Burnett, 
after  his  resignation  as  Judge,  were  the  only  attorneys  admitted  to  practice  until 
June,  1848,  when  Samuel  R.  Thurston,  Aaron  E.  Wait  and  Milton  Elliott  were 
on  motion  admitted  to  practice,  (1  Sup.  Ct.  Rec.  98),  these  were  the  only  at- 
torneys admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  before  the  organization  of 
Oregon  Territory.  13  Or.  Archives,  page  129. 


314  History  of  Portland. 


first  his  name  is  associated  with  public  affairs.  He  was  a  ver\' 
positive  charadler,  fimi  and  often  extreme  in  his  opinions,  but  was  a 
man  of  many  good  qualities.  He  lived  but  a  brief  time  at  Portland, 
though  he  always  took  an  interest  in  its  affairs.  In  his  earlier  years 
in  Oregon,  particularly  in  the  days  of  the  provisional  government, 
he  was  an  active  practitioner,  and  frequently  ser\'^ed  as  Prosecuting 
Attorney"  and  as  a  member  of  the  I^egislature,  and  was  the  first 
regular  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  of  Oregon  under  the 
provisional  government,  but  as  he  grew  older  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  quiet  of  fann  life  near  Oregon  City,  where  he  died  1882.  A 
sketch  of  his  connection  with  the  founding  of  Portland  is  presented 
in  a  preceding  chapter. 

The  first  business  before  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  first  written 
opinion  of  which  there  is  any  record,  was  in  reference  to  an  application 
of  James  B.  Stephens  for  a  license  to  keep  a  fern-  across  the  Willamette 
at  Portland,  which  was  denied  on  the  ground  that  the  statute  conferring 
the  power  to  grant  licenses  upon  the  Supreme  Court  was  unconstitu- 
tional as  in  contravention  of  the  provisions  of  the  Organic  Law 
which  gave  the  Court  appellate  jurisdiction  only,  except  in  criminal 
cases.  The  onlv  other  business  done  at  this  tenn  was  in  a  case 
wherein  John  H.  Couch,  of  Portland,  was  plaintiff 

After  Judge  Buniett  resigned,  J.  Quinn  Thornton  was  appointed 
Supreme  Judge,  Feb.  9,  1847,  and  held  his  first  term  of  Court  at 
Oregon  City  on  the  7th  day  of  June,  1847.  He  was  succeeded  again, 
after  holding  two  tenns,  by  Columbia  Lancaster,  who  also  held  two 
tenns,  the  June  and  September  tenns  in  1848,  at  Oregon  Cit\'. 

The  Legislative  committee  that  met  at  Willamette  in  May,  1843, 
to  prepare  an  Organic  Law,  at  their  meeting,  May  19,  provided  for 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  three,  to  prepare  and  arrange  the 
business  done  at  that  session  and  revise  the  laws  of  Iowa. '^  This 
was  the  first  suggestion  of  the  use  of  the  Iowa  Laws  in  Oregon.  The 
committee  having  reported  the  laws  as  revised  by  them,  they  were 
adopted  with  some  modifications  at  a  subsequent  meeting.'^     The 


"    Sup.  Ct.  Rec,  page  10. 

i'»    Or.  Archives,  19.      Gray's  Historj*  of  Oregon,  344-. 

16    June  28,  1843.    Or.  Archives,  23,  24. 


T* 


xHE  Bench  and  Bar.  315 


W 


same  body  also  adopted  a  resolution  to  purchase  several  law  books  of 
James  O'Neil  to  be  the  property  of  the  community,  and  though  it  is 
not  positively  known,  it  is  believed  that  among  these  books  was  the 
only  volume  of  the  Iowa  Code  then  in  the  colony.'"  At  any  rate,  at 
the  public  meeting  of  the  people  July  5,  1843,  this  report  of  the 
Legislative  committee  was  adopted,  and  it  was,  ^^Resolved^  That  the 
following  portions  of  the  laws  of  Iowa,  as  laid  down  in  the  Statute 
Laws  of  Iowa,  enacted  at  the  first  session  of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
of  said  Territor>',  held  at  Burlington,  A.  D.,  1838-39;  published  by 
authority,  DuBuque,  Bussel  and  Reeves,  printers,  1839,  certified  to 
be  a  correct  copy  by  Wm.  B.  Conway,  Secretary  of  Iowa  Territor>% 
be  adopted  as  the  laws  of  this  Territory;  viz:  etc.** 

The  book  was  brought  to  Oregon  in  1843;  it  was  called  the 
**blue  book,*'  and  was  boimd  in  blue  boards.  On  the  27th  of  June, 
1844,  the  Legislative  Committee  adopted  an  Act  **Regulating  the 
Executive  Power,  the  Judiciary  and  for  Other  Purposes,**  of  which 
Art.  Ill,  Sec.  1,  was  as  follows:  **Sec.  1.  All  the  Statute  Laws  of 
Iowa  Territor>'  passed  at  the  first  session  of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
of  said  Territory  and  not  of  a  local  character,  and  not  incompatible 
with  the  condition  and  circumstances  of  the  country  shall  be  the  law 
of  the  government,  imless  otherwise  modified;  and  the  Common  Law 
of  England  and  principles  of  equity,  not  modified  by  the  Statutes  of 
Iowa  or  of  this  government  and  not  incompatible  with  its  principles, 
shall  constitute  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land.  *  * 

After  the  Organic  Law  had  been  remodeled  in  1845,  and  the 
Legislature  convened  in  August  of  that  year,  it  was  deemed  advisable 
to  re-enact  the  Iowa  Laws,  lest  any  doubt  of  their  binding  force 
under  the  new  provisional  government  be  entertained,  and  accordingly 
a  bill  for  that  purpose  was  passed,  August  12,  1845.^**  At  this  time 
there  was  no  printing  press  in  Oregon,  and  though  many  laws  were 
enacted  it  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  they  were  very  widely 
promulgated,  and  perhaps  the  maxim  that  ignorance  of  the  law 
excuses   no   one,  would,  under   the   circumstances,  prove   severe  in 


'7    Thornton,  Or.  and  Cal.  Vol.  II,  page  31. 
"*    Or.  Archives,  page  101. 


t* 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  317 


The  peculiar  status  of  the  Courts  at  this  period,  is  expressed  by 

Judge  Deady,  in  the  case  of  Lownsdale  vs.  City  of  Portland,  decided 

in  1861,  in  the  following  language,  which  was  afterward  quoted  with 

approval  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case  of 

Stark  vs.  Starrs:^ 

'*It  is  well  known  that  at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  Oregon 
T^erritor>',  an  anomolous  state  of  things  existed  here.  The  countrj- 
"^vas  extensively  settled  and  the  people  were  living  under  an  indepen- 
<dent  govennent  established  by  themselves.  They  were  a  community 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  engaged  in  agriculture,  trade,  commerce 
.^nd  the  mechanic  arts;  had  built  towns,  opened  and  improved  farms, 
^established  highways,  passed  revenue  laws  and  colledled  taxes,  made 
^war  and  concluded  peace.'' 

In  the  case  of  Baldro  vs.  Tolmie  (1  Or.  Rep.  178),  the  territorial 
Supreme  Court,  after  the  provisional  government  was  superceded, 
speaking  through  Williams,  C.  J.,  said:  ^^Confessedly  the  provisional 
government  of  this  territory  was  a  government  de  factOy  and  if  it  be 

»  6  WaU,  U.  S.  402. 


consisting  of  Messrs.  J.  K.  KeUy,   R.   P.   Boise,  and  I).  R.   Bigelow  was  appointed 
X.O   draft  a  code,  this  was,  by  Judge  Olney's  influence,   separated  into  statutes  on 
Ararious  subjects  before  being  adopted  as  a  code.     It  was  printed  in  New  York,  and 
^fter  about  100  copies  had  been  received  in  Oregon  the  remainder  of  the  edition  was 
lost  in  the  wreck   of  a  vessel  bringing  them  via  the  I'pper  Columbia.      Another 
edition  was  authorized  in  1854—55  in  which  was  incorporated,  as  a  supplement,  the 
statutes  adopted  at  that  session  of  the  Legislature.     In   1860,  A.  C.  Gibbs  and  J.  K. 
ICelly  were  appointed  a  commission  to  draft  a  civil  co<le,  but  on  the  election  of  Cxibbs 
SLS   Governor,  the  two  commissioners  appointed  Matthew  P.  Deady,  who  was  then 
Judge  of  the  District  Court  of  the  U.  S.,  to  assist,  and  the  work  was  done  by  him  and 
adopted  by  the  I^egislature  of  1863.     This  was  a  laborious  task,  as  the  alterations 
-necessary  on   account  of  the  change  from  Territory  to  State  and   the  alterations  of 
counties,  courts  and  practice  required  much  detail  work.     The  same  Legislature  then 
•authorized  the  compilation  of  a  Criminal   Code  by  Judge   Deady,  which  he  accom- 
plished, and  reported  his  work  to  the  Legislature  of  1864,  which  adopted  it  without 
change, — ^Judge  Deady  reading  it  through  on  the  last  day  of  the  session  himself  in  the 
Senate  to  insure  its  passage,  as  he  was  a  very  rapid  reader,  and  could  read  for  several 
consecutive  hours  without  rest.     Deady  was  then  authorized  to  compile  for  publication 
ajiew  all  the  codes  and  laws,  and  this  was  published  under  his  supervision,  in  1*864, 
lie  reading  the  proof.     In  1872,  the  Legislature  authorized  Judge  Deady  and  Sylvester 
C.  Simpson,  a  member  of  the  Portland  bar,  to  collect  and  arrange  the   laws  with 


318  History  of  Portland. 


admitted  that  governments  derive  their  'just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed,'  then  it  was  a  government  dejure.  Emigrants  who 
first  settled  Oregon,  upon  their  arrival  here,  were  without  any 
political  organization  to  protect  themselves  from  foes  without  or  to 
preser\'e  peace  within;  and,  therefore,  self-preservation  constrained 
them  to  establish  a  system  of  self-government.  Congress  knowing 
their  necessities  and  withholding  the  customary  provisions  for  such  a 
case,  tacitly  acquiesced  in  the  action  of  the  people,  and,  on  the 
fourteenth  of  August,  1848,  expressly  recognized  its  correctness  and 
validity.  No  reason  can  be  imagined  for  holding  that  the  people  of 
Oregon,  in  1844,  had  no  right  to  make  such  laws  as  their  wants 
required;  for  where  the  functions  of  government  have  not  been 
assumed  or  exercised  by  any  other  competent  authority,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  such  a  power  is  inherent  in  the  inhabitants  of  any 
countr\',  isolated  and  separated  as  Oregon  was  from  all  other  com- 
munities of  civilized  men.  Some  effort  has  been  made  to  assimilate 
the  laws  in  question  to  mere  neighborhood  agreements,  but  the 
argument  seems  to  apply  with  equal  force-  to  the  acts  of  all  govern- 
ments established  by  the  people." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  infant  city  of  Portland,  though  not 
under  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  in  its  earlier 
years,  was,  nevertheless,  a  part  of  an  organized  and  existing  political 
autonomy,  and  its  inhabitants  were  bound  by  an  intelligent  system  of 
laws  which  were  valid  and  authoritative  and  administered  by  a 
regularly  constituted  tribunal. 

Within  the  limits  of  the  settlement  at  Portland  there  were  no 
Courts  during  the  time  of  the  provisional  government  There  were 
several  justices  of  the  peace  within  the  Tuality  District,  but  they 
resided  in  the  level  country  west  of  the  Portland  hills  and  far  south- 
ward toward  the  Yamhill  river.     But  in  December,  1845,  an  act  was 


notes  and  references.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Simpson  resigned  from  the  commission  and  the 
Governor  appointed  Lafayette  Lane  in  his  place.  The  work  was  mainly  done  by 
Judge  Deady,  and  published  in  1874.  W!  Lair  Hill  undertook  to  compile  a  new 
collection  of  laws  in  1885  and  received  Legislative  sanction  and  approval  in  1887. 
He  carefully  collected  and  arranged  the  laws  and  added  copious  annotations  and 
references  to  decisions  both  of  Oregon  and  other  States,  and  published  it  under  the 
name  **  Hill's  Annotated  Statutes  of  Oregon." 


*  .A' 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  319 

adopted  by  the  legislature  providing  for  the  election  of  an  additional 
justice  of  the  peace  in  the  Eastern  District  of  the  Tuality  District, 
and  accordingly  A.  H.  Prior  was  elected  and  received  his  com- 
mission on  the  7th  day  of  October,  1846,  and  he  may  be  said  to  be 
the  first  judicial  officer  at  Portland,  for  he  afterwards  held  his  office 
at  that  place  in  his  precinct.'^ 

In  1849,  Portland  then  having  but  one  hundred  inhabitants,  an 
association  was  formed  to  erect  a  meeting  house,  and  this  building 
was  used  for  several  years  afterward  for  a  court  house  and  also  as  a 
school  house  and  a  place  for  religious  meetings. 

When  the  city  was  incorporated,  in  January,  1851,  the  office  of 
recorder'^  was  created  and  this  officer  was  given  the  same  jurisdiction 
as  a  justice  of  the  peace  as  to  offences  committed  within  the  city,  and 
also  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  cases  of  violation  of  city  ordinances, 
and  jurisdiction  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  collection  of  debts. 
A  city  attorney^  was  also  provided  for  by  the  amended  charter  of 
1852.'-'^  By  an  amendment  of  October  28,  1870,  the  office  of 
recorder  was  abolished  and  the  police  judge  was  made  the  judicial 
officer  of  the  corporation,  and  his  Court  was  named  the  Police  Court.  ^ 
He  was  given  substantially  the  same  jurisdiction  that  had  been 
exercised  by  the  recorders.'^" 


3*  Laws  1843-9,  Pub.  1853,  page  38;  1  Sup.  Court  Rec,  page  3. 

2-'^  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  persons  who  held  office  of  city  recorder:  W.  S. 
CaldweU,  1851;  S.  vS.  Slater,  1852;  A.  C.  Bonnell,  1853;  A.  P.  Dennison,  1854;  L. 
Limerick,  1855;  A.  L.  Davis,  1856-7;  Alonzo  Leland,  1858;  Noah  Huber,  1859;  O. 
Risley,  1861;  J.  F.  McCoy,  1862-5;  J.  H.  Hoffmau,  1866-8;  O.  Risley,  1869;  Levi 
Anderson,  1870. 

2«The  following  is  a  list  of  the  city  attorneys  after  1865:  J.  N.  Dolph,  1865-6; 
W.  W.  Upton,  1867;  D.  Freidenrich,  1868;  W.  F.  Trimble,  1869;  C.  A.  Dolph, 
1870-1;  C.  A.  Ball,  1872;  M.  F.  Mulkey,  1873-4;  A.  C.  Gibbs,  1875;  John  M. 
Oearin,  1876-7;  J.  C.  Moreland,  1878-82;  S.  W.  Rice,  1883;  R.  M.  Dement,  1884; 
A.  H.  Tanner,  1885-7;  W.   H.  Adams,  1887-. 

27  Special  Laws,  1852,  page  6. 

2^  The  police  judges  were:  D.  C.  Lewis,  1871;  O.  N.  Denny,  1872-5;  W.  H. 
Adams,  1876-9;  L.  B.  Stearns,  1880-2;  S.  A.  Moreland,  1883-5;  Ralph  M.  Dement, 
1885-8;  A.  H.  Tanner,  1889-. 

•-»  Charter  170,  Sees.  154,  160  and  175. 

[21] 


320  History  of  Portland. 


The  city  was  also  divided  into  precincts,  in  each  of  which  justices 
of  the  peace  were  elected.  At  first  these  were  the  North  and  South 
Portland  precincts;  they  were  afterward  subdivided  and  extended, 
until,  for  a  long  time,  the  city  supported  six  of  these  Courts,  besides 
the  Police  Court  and  the  Courts  of  Record;  but  in  1885  the  legisla- 
ture attempted  to  cure  what  had  long  been  a  public  nuisance,  by 
abolishing  a  number  of  these  useless  tribunals  and  returning  to  the 
original  plan  of  having  but  two  precincts,  called  the  North  and  South 
Portland  precincts  respectively.* 

As  the  Territory  of  Oregon  came  into  existence,  March  3,  1849, 
when  the  new  Governor,  Joseph  Lane,  arrived  at  Oregon  City  and 
issued  his  proclamation  to  that  eflfect,  the  Distridl  and  Supreme 
Courts  under  the  provisional  government  ceased  their  functions,  and 
new  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  appointed  by  the  President  pur- 
suant to  the  A61  of  Congress,  soon  after  came  to  Oregon.  The  first 
Judges  were  Wm.  P.  Bryant,  Chief  Justice ;  Peter  G.  Burnett  and 
James  Turney.  Tumey  did  not  accept  and  Orville  C.  Pratt  was 
substituted.  Judge  Burnett,  as  we  have  said,  had  already  gone  to 
California,  and  declined  the  office,  and  William  Strong  was  appointed 
in  his  stead  in  1850.  In  that  year  Chief  Justice  Bryant  also 
resigned,  and  Thomas  Nelson  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

The  legislature  provided  for  a  special  term  of  the  Supreme 
Court  by  an  A(5l  passed  August  28,  184?9,  and  accordingly  two  days 
afterward.  Judges  Br^'ant  and  Pratt  opened  the  term  at  Oregon  City. 

^  The  Justices  of  the  Peace  who  have  served  in  the  following  precincts  since  1863, 
are:  1863-4— L.  Anderson,  North  Portland;  D.  W.  Lichenthaler,  South  Portland. 
1865-6— L.  Anderson,  North  Portland;  Geo.  B.  Gray,  South  Portland.  1867— L. 
Anderson,  North  Portland;  Jno.  Corey,  South  Portland;  I.  Graden,  Central.  1868  — 
L.  Anderson,  North  Portland;  S.  A.  Moreland,  Central.  1869-70— J.  O.  Waterman 
North  Portland:  Jno.  C.  Work,  Central;  M.  P.  Bull,  Washington.  1871-72— Thos 
J.  Dryer,  North  Portland;  C.  Crich,  South  Portland;  A.  M.  Snyder.  Central;  S.  A. 
Moreland,  Washington.  1873  -Alex.  Dodge,  North  Portland;  C.  Crich,  South 
Portland;  Thos.  J.  Dryer,  Western,  E.  W.  Ryan,  Morrison,  H.  W.  Davis,  Madison; 
L.  Anderson,  Couch.  1874— E.  Russell,  North  Portland;  C.  Crich,  South  Port- 
land; Thos.  J.  Dryer,  Western;  E.  W.  Ryan,  Morrison;  H.  W.  Davis,  Madison. 
L.  Anderson,  Couch.  1875— J.  Reilly,  North  Portland;  O.  ;S.  Phelps  South  Port- 
land; Thos.  J.  Dryer,  Western;  A.  Bushwiler,  Morrison;  H.  W.  Davis,  Madison;  L. 
Anderson,  Couch.  1876-7— C.  S.  Clark,  North  Portland;  O.  S.  Phelps  and  C. 
Crich,  South  Portland;  Thos.  J.  Dryer,  Western;  R.  E.  Bybee,  Mordson;  H.W.Davis, 


322  History  of  Portland. 


would  like  to  read."  **  You  need  not  read  it,  it  is  bad  law  if  it  sus- 
tains your  proposition,  and  I  will  uot  hear  it.  You  may  sit  down. 
I  will  take  the  case  under  advisement  on  the  other  questions  pre- 
sented, and  will  announce  my  decision  this  afternoon  at  the  opening 
of  Court.''  Other  business  was  taken  up  by  the  Court  and  it  soon 
became  Wait's  duty  to  argue  another  case.  After  stating  his  posi- 
tion and  presenting  his  argument.  Wait  quietly  proceeded  to  read 
his  authority  bearing  on  the  point  in  controversy,  and  among  other 
cases  he  read  the  one  which  the  Court  had  previously  refused  to 
hear,  although  it  did  not  relate  to  the  matter  then  in  hand.  Judge 
Pratt  leaned  forward  and  was  on  the  point  of  administering  a  repri- 
mand on  the  presumptuous  attorney,  but,  evidently  thinking  better 
of  it,  settled  back  and  listened  without  comment  until  the  case  was 
read,  when  Wait  turned  down  the  leaf  and  laid  the  book  on  the 
Judge's  desk  and  proceeded  with  his  argument.  At  noon  Pratt  took 
the  book  with  him  to  his  dinner  table,  and  on  resuming  the  Bench, 
annoimced  his  decision  in  favor  of  Wait,  citing  the  case  which  had 
been  forced  upon  his  attention. 

Judge  Pratt  on  another  occasion  disbarred  Col.  W.  W.  Chapman 
because  the  latter  filed  an  affidavit  for  his  client,  asking  a  change  of 
venue  on  the  ground  that  the  Judge  was  biased  and  prejudiced 
against  his  client.  Chapman  drew  the  affidavit  in  general  terms 
alleging  prejudice,  but  the  motion  was  disallowed  on  the  ground 
that  the  affidavit  was  insufficient;  whereupon  an  affidavit  was  filed 
which  alleged  the  facts  in  detail  relied  upon  to  show  prejudice. 
Judge  Pratt  called  Chapman  to  account  at  once,  and  required  him  to 
show  cause  wh\'  his  name  should  not  be  stricken  from  the  roll.  The 
result  was  that  a  judgment  was  rendered  suspending  Chapman  from 
practice  for  two  years  and  he  was  ordered  imprisoned.  A  writ  of 
error  was  however  obtained  from  the  Supreme  Court,  staying  the 
proceedings  before  any  real  attempt  was  made  to  enforce  Judge 
Pratt's  order.  At  the  December  tenn,  1851,  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
at  the  opening  of  the  Court,  a  motion  was  made  for  the  admission  of 
Chapman  as  an  attorney  of  that  Court;  the  objection  was  made  that 
he  had  been  suspended  by  Judge  Pratt,  but  after  taking  the  matter 
under  consideration  for  a  day  or  two,   he  was  allowed  to  take  the 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  323 


oath  and  sign  the  roll  as  an  attorney  of  that  Court  and  in  the 
meantime,  while  the  matter  was  under  consideration,  he  was  permitted 
to  argue  a  case  before  the  Court. 

Judge  Pratt's  term  expired  in  1852,  and  he  opened  a  law  office  at 
Multnomah  City,  opposite  Oregon  City,  for  a  while,  but  after  a  short 
time  removed  to  California,  where  he  has  sustained  the  promise  of 
his  career  in  Oregon,  and  his  reputation  and  his  fortune  has  grown 
with  his  years. 

Judge  Nelson  and  Judge  Bryant  never  held  Court  in  Washington 
County,  but  the  Portland  lawyers  were  often  before  them  when  on 
the  Circuit  as  well  as  when  holding  Supreme] Court.  A  lawyer's 
business  in  those  days,  and  for  many  years  after  Oregon  had 
advanced  to  the  dignity  of  Statehood,  required  him  to  '*ride  the 
Circuit"  and  to  follow  the  Court  in  its  peregrinations  from 
county  to  county.  So  that,  in  a  sense,  the  early  history  of  the 
Bench  and  Bar  of  Portland  is  closely  identified  with  that  of  the 
whole  State.  There  were  few  Court  Houses,  and  the  accommoda- 
tions at  the  hotels  were  often  rude.  One  term  of  Court  at  Eugene 
City,  at  about  this  time,  was  held  under  an  umbrageous  oak  tree. 
The  mode  of  travel  was  upon  horseback,  and  it  was  usual  to  stop  at 
night  at  farm  houses  on  the  way.  At  the  county  seats,  the  lawyers, 
judges,  litigants  and  witnesses  boarded  around  at  diflFerent  houses, 
and  as  there  were  few  public  amusements,  the  evenings  were  generally 
spent  in  fireside  conversations,  where  the  time  passed  very  pleasantly 
with  jokes  and  stories.  Sometimes,  however,  the  rush  of  business 
during  term  time  demanded  midnight  lucubrations,  as  was  the  case 
with  Judge  Wait  on  one  occasion  at  Hillsboro.  Amory  Holbrook 
had  been  retained  in  an  important  case  against  some  of  the  owners  of 
the  town  site  of  Portland  regarding  a  steamship,  for  some  San 
Francisco  people,  and  desiring  to  go  East,  employed  Wait  to  take 
charge  of  the  case  in  his  absence.  Wait  was;  confronted  by  all  the 
lawyers  of  note  in  the  Territory.  There 'were  Chapman  &  May  re, 
Hamilton  &  Stark,  Lansing  Stout,  Boise  &  Campbell,  David  Logan 
and  others  from  Portland,  and  Columbia  Lancaster  from  Multnomah 
City,  all  interposing  pleas  and  demurrers  and  raising  every  objection 


324  History  of  Portland. 


that  ingenuity  could  suggest  Poor  Wait  was  almost  submerged, 
but  by  dint  of  working  all  night,  he  was  ready  each  morning  for 
his  antagonists  and  managed  to  hold  his  own. 

Governor  Lane,  by  proclamation,  established  three  Judicial 
Districts,  and  assigned  Judge  Bryant  to  one,  consisting  of  Vancouver 
and  the  counties  immediately  south  of  the  Columbia,  and  Judge 
Pratt  to  the  district  called  the  Second  District,  which  comprised 
the  remaining  counties  in  the  Willamette  Valley.  There  was  no 
Judge  in  the  territory  at  that  time  to  sit  in  the  Third  District,  which 
included  the  remainder  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Washington. 
Judge  Bryant  was  but  five  months  in  the  territory.  He  returned  to 
the  East  and  resigned  Jan.  1,  1851;  and  for  nearly  two  years  Judge 
Pratt  remained  the  only  Judge  in  the  Court  in  Oregon." 

Judge  William  Strong  arrived  by  water  in  August,  1850,  and 
Judge  Nelson  in  April,  1851.  On  the  same  ship  with  Strong  came 
General  Edward  Hamilton,  territorial  secretary,  who  subsequently 
took  up  his  residence  at  Portland  and  became  an  active  member  of 
the  bar  there.  He  was  associated  for  some  years  with  Benjamin 
Stark,  under  the  firm  name,  Hamilton  &  Stark. 

Judge  Strong's  district  was  the  Third  and  was  wholly  included 
within  the  present  State  of  Washington,  and  he  took  up  his 
residence  at  Cathlamet  on  the  Columbia.  Chief  Justice  Thomas 
Nelson  had  the  first  district,  but  when  the  controversy  about  the 
''Steamboat  Code''   and  the  location  of  the  State  capitol  was  at  its 


>2  The  Statesman,  of  date  July  11, 1851,  published  at  Oregon  City,  contains  an 
editorial  concurring  with  the  sentiment  expressed  in  a  letter  signed  "Willamette" 
published  therein,  which  was  laudatory  of  Judge  Pratt.  This  was  drawn  forth  by 
some  resolutions  adopted  at  a  public  meeting  held  at  Portland,  April  1,  1851,  called 
to  adopt  measures  to  prevent  the  escape  and  provide  measures  for  the  punishment  of 
Jabe  McName,  a  gambler  who  had  killed  William  Keene  in  a  dispute  over  a  game  of 
ten-pins.  The  resolutions  were  drawn  by  a  committee  of  which  Col.  W.  W.  Chap- 
man was  the  moving  spirit,  and  were  no  doubt  greatly  biased  by  the  political  heat  of 
the  time,  as  well  as  by  the  personal  feelings  of  some  of  the  persons  present  at  the 
meeting.  It  was  resolved  that,  '  'The  repeated  and  almost  continual  failure  of  hold- 
ing Courts  not  only  in  this,  the  Second  District,  but  in  Oregon  generally  is  highly 
injurious.*'  It  was  complained  that  no  Court  had  been  held  in  Washington  county 
since  the  previous  spring  and  no  Judge  resided  in  the  district  to  whom  application 
could  be  made  for  the  administration  of  the  laws. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  325 


height,  his  district  was  cut  down  by  the  legislature  to  Clackamas 
county,  only.  He  was  a  man  of  rather  small  stature,  mild  in  man- 
ners, but  firm  in  his  opinions,  and  prompt  and  accurate  in  his 
decisions  on  questions  of  law.  He  was  thoroughly  educated,  having 
graduated  at  Williams  college  and  taken  a  course  of  medical  lectures 
and  spent  some  time  in  European  travel  before  adopting  the  law  as 
his  profession. 

At  this  time  the  administration  of  justice  by  the  Courts  was 
much  interfered  with  by  the  violent  political  controversies  and 
partisan  warfare  that  divided  the  judges  as  well  as  the  body  of  the 
people.  Amory  Holbrook,  of  Portland,  the  District  Attorney  of  the 
Second  District,  was  absent  in  the  '  *  States, ' '  and  the  Legislature 
essayed  to  appoint  Reuben  P.  Boise,  afterward  a  resident  of  Portland, 
in  his  place,  but  Chief  Justice  Nelson  refused  to  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  Legislature  in  that  respect  and  appointed  S.  B. 
Mayre,  also  of  Portland,  to  act  in  that  capacity  at  the  Spring  Term, 
1852.  On  the  expiration  of  Judge  Pratt's  term,  in  the  Autumn  of 
that  year,  C.  F.  Train  was  appointed  in  his  stead  by  the  President, 
but  he  never  came  to  Oregon.^ 

With  a  change  of  the  administration  at  Washington,  came  a  change 
in  the  offices  of  the  Territory  of  Oregon,  and  instead  of  the  existing 
judges,  Pratt  was  appointed  Chief  Justice,  with  Matthew  P.  Deady 
and  Cyrus  Olney  as  associates.  Pratt's  name  was  withdrawn  and 
that  of  George  H.  Williams  was  substituted.  The  new  Judges  held 
one  term  of  Court,  when  Deady  was  removed  and  Obadiah  B. 
McFadden  was  appointed  in  his  stead,  but  he  was  removed  to  the 
new  Territory  of  Washington  almost  immediately  after,  and  judge 
Deady  was  reinstated.^  His  was  the  Southern  Oregon  District. 
Williams  had  that  east  of  the  Willamette,  and  Olney,  west  of  that 
river.     Each  of  these  Judges  held  Court  at  different  times  at  Portland, 

**  Judge  Nelson  left  June,  1853,  after  two  years  in  Oregon. 

3*  It  seems  that  Deady's  removal  and  McFadden's  substitution  was  owing  to  the 
fact  that  some  political  opponents  of  Deady's  caused  his  commission  to  be  made  out 
with  the  use  of  a  political  nickname  that  had  been  made  use  of  in  some  of  the  news- 
papers, instead  of  his  proper  name,  and  this  was  the  cause  for  issuing  another 
commission  to  McFadden,  but  the  change,  and  the  reasons  for  it  were  so  unpopular 
in  Oregon  that  Deady  was  soon  reinstated. 


326  History  of  Portland. 


for  Multnomah  County  was  now  organized  by  the  Legislature  of 
1854-55,  and  each  of  them  has  been  a  prominent  figure  at  the 
Bench  and  Bar  of  Portland. 

In  1853,  the  Legislature  provided  for  two  terms  of  the  Supreme 
Court  annually,  to  be  held  at  Salem  on  the  first  Monday  of  December 
and  at  Portland  on  the  first  Monday  of  June.  The  first  term  of  the 
Supreme  Court  held  by  the  new  Judges  was  at  Portland.  Judges 
Deady  and  Olney  repaired  thither  and  opened  Court  on  the  20th  day 
of  June,  1853.  The  Clerk,  Allan  P.  Millar,  was  absent  on  a  trip  to 
to  the  Bast,  and  Ralph  Wilcox^  was  appointed  Clerk  until  further 
order,  and,  as  the  records,  books  and  papers  of  the  Court  were  not  at 
hand,  an  order  signed  ''C.  Olney"  and  *'M.  P.  Deady,'*  without 
official  designation,  was  carried  by  J.  W.  Nesmith,  the  Marshal,  to 
Allan  M.  Seymour,  the  Deputy  Clerk  under  Millar,  at  Oregon  City, 
directing  him  to  turn  over  the  records.  The  next  day  the  Marshal 
returned  without  the  books  and  with  a  report  that  Seymour  refused 
to  produce  them,  whereupon  an  order  of  attachment  was  issued  and 
Seymour  was  brought  to  Portland  in  the  custody  of  Nesmith. 
Alexander  Campbell  filed  interrogatories  as  Prosecuting  Attorney,  in 
behalf  of  the  Territory,  and  Amor\'  Holbrook  attempted  to  be  heard 
as  Counsel  for  the  prisoner,  but  the  Court  refused  to  hear  him  until 
the  books  were  produced.  Seymour  said  he  was  willing  to  deliver 
them  to  Millar\s  successor,  on  receiving  a  proper  receipt  upon 
being  duly  ordered  to  do  so,  but  as  they  were  in  his  custody  and  he 
had  been  ordered  by  Millar  to  take  this  course,  he  should  decline 
until  the  proper  receipt  was  tendered  him.  Seymour  was  ordered 
confined  in  the  County  Jail,  and  attempted  to  procure  his  release 


^  Wilcox  was  a  native  of  New  York,  where  he  graduated  in  a  medical  college, 
subsequently  removing  to  Missouri,  was  married  in  1845  and  emigrated  to  Oregon  in 
1846.  He  was  a  County  Judge  of  Tualitin  County  in  1847,  and  afterwards  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  several  terras.  After  holding  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Supreme 
Court  a  short  time,  he  was  appointed  in  1856  to  the  office  of  Register  of  the  U.  S. 
Land  Office  at  Oregon  City,  which  office  he  held  until  1858,  and  was  then  again 
elected  County  Judge  of  Washington  County  and  again  a  member  of  the  Legislature. 
July  3,  1865,  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court  at  Portland,  a 
position  he  held  until  April  18,  1877,  when  he  died  by  his  own  hand.  He  was  a 
genial  man,  a  universal  favorite  with  the  bar,  and  though  he  had  some  weaknesses, 
he  merited  his  popularity. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  327 


by  habeas  corpus^  but  Olney,  before  whom  the  application  for  the 
writ  had  been  made  in  chambers,  adjourned  the  j hearing  to  the  open 
Court,  and  on  the  return  of  the  writ  ordered  him  to  jail,  whereupon 
he  agreed  to  surrender  the[records  and  go  with  the  Marshal  to  the 
place  where  they  were  concealed.  The  Marshal  brought  the  books 
to  Court  and  the  whole  matter  was  dropped  on  Seymour's  paying 
the  costs,  it  appearing  that  he  was  acting  under  advice  of  Millar's 
sureties,  and  the  Court  taking  into  consideration  his  youth  and  his 
good  intention.  A  number  of  appeal  cases  were  heard  at  this  term 
of  Court,  many  being  from  Portland,  as  the  law  business  there  was 
already  assuming  importance,  and  among  other  business  was  the 
admission  to  the  Bar  of  Benjamin  Stark,  Esq.*^ 

After  the  organization  of  Multnomah  county,  with  Portland  as 
the  county  seat,  law  business  there  increased  greatly  in  volume  and 
importance.  The  growth  of  the  population  and  the  business  of  the 
place  accomplished  this  result.  The  first  term  of  the  District  Court 
there  was  held  by  Judge  Olney  in  a  wooden  building  at  the  corner 
of  Front  and  Salmon  streets,  known  as  Nos.  161  and  163  Front 
street,  a  small  and  ill-constructed  building  which  was  rented  of 
Coleman  Barrell,  until  1867,  when  the  present  Court  House  was 
erected.  The  term  was  opened  April  16,  1855,  though  as  early  as 
the  9th  of  February  previous  some  confessions  of  judgment  had 
been  entered  by  the  clerk  in  two  cases  against  John  M.  Breck  and 
William  Ogden,  in  favor  of  Thomas  F.  Scott  and  John  McCarty 
respectively.  The  first  case  called  by  Judge  Olney.  was  the  case  of 
Thomas  V.  Smith  against  William  N.  Horton;  Messrs.  Logan  and 
Chinn  appeared  as  attorneys  for  the  plaintiff  and  asked  for  a  non- 
suit, which  was  granted.     The  same  disposition  was  made  of  a  num- 

»  The  attorneys  of  the  Territorial  Supreme  Court  admitted  before  that  time  were  : 
December  Term,  1851,  John  B.  Preston,  David  B.  Brennan,  Simon  B.  Mayre,  A. 
Campbell,  Alexander  E.  Wait,  William  T.  Matlock,  Cyrus  Olney.  E.  Hamilton,  W. 
W.  Chapman,  J.  B.  Chapman,  Columbia  Lancaster.  December  Term,  1852  :  J.  G. 
Wilson,  Milton  Elliott,  James  McCabe,  Reuben  P.  Boise,  G.  N.  McConaha,  J.  A.  B, 
Wood,  David  Logan,  Addison  C.  Gibbs,  M.  P.  Deady,  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  A.  Holbrook, 
B.  F.  Harding,  L.  F.  Grover,  G.  K.  Shiel,  E.  M.  Bamum,  James  K.  Kelly,  R.  E. 
Stratton,  S.  F.  Chadwick,  L.  F.  Mosher,  C.  Sims,  M.  A.  Chinn,  Delazon  Smith,  N. 
Huber.     (Vol.  2,  Sup.  Ct.  Records.) 


328  History  of  Portland. 


ber  of  other  cases,  in  some  of  which  the  same  attorneys  appeared 
and  in  others,  Campbell  &  Farrar  appeared.  On  the  second  day  of 
the  term  defaults  were  entered  in  a  large  number  of  cases,  the  attor- 
neys who  appeared,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  being  Hamil- 
ton, Stark,  McEwan,  Wait  and  Marquam.  A  jury  case  was  tried, 
William  W.  Baker,  plaintiff,  vs.  George  J.  Walters,  defendant,  the 
verdict  being  returned  in  favor  of  the  defendant.  At  the  same 
term  a  number  of  cases  for  retailing  spirituous  liquors  on  Sunday 
were  disposed  of  and  one  case  wherein  the  defendant  was  accused  of 
selling  a  gun  to  an  Indian.  Peter  Espelding  was  admitted  to  citi- 
zenship.'^ 

The  first  County  Court  in  Multnomah  County  began  its  term 
January  17,  1855.  G.  W.  Vaughn  was  County  Judge,  and  Ainslie 
R.  Scott  and  James  By  bee,  Commissioners.*  When  the  State  was 
organized,  the  first  term  of  the  County  Court  was  opened  on  the  4th 
day  of  July,  1859,  with  Hon.  E.  Hamilton  as  County  Judge. 

In  addition  to  the  leading  members  of  the  Portland  Bar  at  this 
period,  already  mentioned,  were  W.  W.  Chapman  and  Amory 
Holbrook.  The  first  of  these  to  come  to  Portland  was  W.  W. 
Chapman,  who  still  lives,  the  oldest  member  of  the  Bar  of  the  city. 
Frequent  mention  of  him  has  been  made  in  the  preceding  pages.  Of 
late  years  he  has  not  been  engaged  in  active  practice,  but  at  the 
period  of  which  we  now  speak  he  was  prominent  not  only  in  l^;al 
aflFairs  but  in  political  as  well.  At  the  Bar,  he  was  ever  polite  and 
dignified,  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school. 

Holbrook,  a  young  man  of  medium  height,  fair  and  good  looking, 
came  to  Oregon  in  March,  1849,  and  was  at  this  time  in  his  prime. 
His  abilities  as  an  orator  were  of  no  mean  order  and   his  quick 


3^  The  first  jury  in  Multnomah  County  consisted  of  J.  S.  Dickenson,  Clark  Hay, 
Felix  Hicklin,  K.  A.  Peterson,  Edward  AUbright,  Thomas  H.  Stallard,  William  L. 
Chittenden,  George  Hamilton,  William  Cree,  Robert  Thompson,  William  H.  Fmsh, 
Samuel  Famam,  William  Hall,  William  Sherlock,  W.  P.  Burke,  Jacob  Kline, 
Jackson  Powell,  John  Powell. 

*  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Judges  of  the  County  Court  of  the  State  of 
Oregon  for  Multnomah  County:  E.  Hamilton,  1858-1862;  P.  A,  Marquam,  1862- 
1870;  E.  Hamilton,  1871-74  ;  J.  H.  Woodward,  1875-78  ;  S.  W.  Rice,  1879-82  ;  U 
B.  Steams,  1883-85  ;  J.  C.  Moreland,  1885-86  ;  John  Catlin,  1886-90. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  329 


preception  and  ready  knowledge  of  law  combined  to  make  him  one 
of  the  foremost  figures  of  the  times.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  afterwards  and  a  candidate  for  United  States  Senator, 
but  his  temperment,  volatile  and  variable,  led  him  to  habits  that 
interferred  with  the  career  of  more  than  one  of  the  brilliant  lights 
of  the  Bar  in  these  earlier  days  of  its  history.  Moreover,  he  was 
noted  for  a  certain  biting  humor  which  gave  vent  to  numerous 
sharp  sayings,  which,  though  repeated  with  enjoyment  by  those 
who  were  not  the  subjects  of  his  caustic  sarcasm,  made  bitter 
enemies  of  others.  His  abilities  as  a  lawyer  never  waned  until  his 
death  at  middle  age  cut  him  off. 

David  Logan  was  perhaps  the  greatest  jury  lawyer  of  his  time. 
Like  Holbrook,  he  had,  as  a  contemporary  has  remarked,  but  one 
enemy,  and  that  was  himself.  He  was  born  in  1824?  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  and  was  a  son  of  an  eminent  lawyer  and  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  that  State.  He  came  to  Oregon  in  1850,  and 
settled  in  Lafayette  but  removed  to  Portland  soon  after.  He  was 
defeated  as  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature,  in  1851.  He  served  as  a 
member  in  1854,  and  ran  unsuccessfully  as  a  candidate  for  Congress 
in  1860  and  again  in  1868.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention.  Logan  had  a  large  practice  and  was  very  popular.  He 
was  shrewd  and  sharp-witted  and  for  twenty  years  held  front  rank 
at  the  Portland  Bar.  He  was  of  medium  size,  light  complexion, 
and  had  curly  hair  and  a  light  mustache. 

Another  lawyer  of  this  period  worthy  of  special  mention  is 
Alexander  Campbell,  who  was  particularly  well  drilled  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  common  law.  He  placed  great  dependence  upon  his  books, 
carefully  preparing  his  cases,  and  appearing  in  Court  with  an  armfuU 
of  authorities  on  every  occasion.  He  removed  to  California,  after  a 
few  years  in  Oregon,  and  became  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  State  and  a  leading  member  of  the  San  Francisco  Bar. 

Mark  A.  Chinn  and  W.  H.  Farrar  were  bright  men,  and  each 
was  a  partner  of  Logan  for  a  time.  Simon  B.  Mayre,  a  partner  of 
Chapman  in  those  days,  had  a  good  name.  Benjamin  Stark  was  in 
partnership  with  Hamilton,  under  the  firm  name,  Hamilton  &  Stark 
for  some  time,  as  has  already  been  mentioned.     He  was  a  member  of 


330  History  of  Portland. 


the  legislature  in  1853  and  1860  and  was  appointed  United  States 
Senator  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  E.  D.  Baker,  in 
1861.  He  was  accused  of  disloyal  sentiments  and  some  delay  was 
occasioned  before  he  took  the  oath,  but  was  finally  admitted.  As 
one  of  the  owners  of  the  townsite  and  a  wealthy  man  he  attained 
some  prominen  ce,  but  for  many  years  has  resided  in  the  State  of 
Connecticut. 

P.  A.  Marquam  was  also  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  bar  of 
Portland,  and  served  as  county  judge  for  some  years.  Of  late  years 
he  has  retired  from  practice,  devoting  himself  to  his  private  business 
affairs,  which  he  has  managed  with  success. 

Judge  Olney  made  Portland  his  place  of  residence,  and  though  a 
somewhat  peculiar  man  he  was  highly  respected  and  was  a  modest 
and  unassuming  gentleman.  He  had  a  noticeable  faculty  for  taking 
up  all  the  circumstances  and  details  of  a  case  and  arranging  them  in 
logical  sequence  into  a  persuasive  argument.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  State  Constitutional  Convention,  and  later  he  removed  to  Clatsop 
county,  and  represented  his  district  in  the  legislature  in  1864. 
Gradually  he  retired  from  acftive  legal  practice,  spending  his  last  days 
quietly  upon  his  farm.  George  H.  Williams  and  he  had  been 
Circuit  Judges  in  adjoining  circuits  in  Iowa,  where  both  were 
elected  at  the  first  State  eledlion  of  that  State  in  1847.  Olney  came 
to  Oregon,  where  he  was  appointed  by  President  Pierce,  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court;  and  Williams,  on  being  likewise 
appointed  Chief  Justice,  followed  him  a  few  months  after.  They 
remained  close  friends  until  the  death  of  Olney,  and  continued  on 
the  bench  together  until  1858,  when  both  resigned. 

During  this  period  the  Supreme  Court,  consisting  of  these  two 
judges  and  Mathew  P.  Deady,  passed  upon  many  intereresting  and 
important  questions,  and  by  the  decisions  made  in  the  Distridl  Courts 
as  well  as  when  the  judges  sat  together  as  a  Supreme  Court,  the 
practice  was  settled  and  many  serious  questions  were  set  at  rest.  The 
cases  that  affe<5led  the  town  site  are  elsewhere  treated  of  at  length,  and 
nothing  more  need  be  said  here  than  that  at  this  time  and  for  many 
years  afterward  some  of  the  most  important  litigation  that  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  Portland  arose  from  this  source. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  331 


One  case  that  might  be  mentioned  arose  in  Polk  County  in  1853, 
By  writ  of  habeas  corpus  a  colored  man  and  his  wife  were  brought 
before  Judge  Williams,  and  it  appeared  that  they  had  been  brought 
as  slaves  from  Missouri,  by  Nathaniel  Ford,  and  were  being  held  by 
him  as  such  in  Oregon.  After  careful  inquiry  the  Court  decided  that 
there  could  be  no  slavery  in  the  Territory  of  Oregon,  and  that  the 
slaves  were  freed  when  brought  to  free  soil. 

Many  cases  arose  under  the  Donation  Land  Law,  and  in  one  of 
them*  it  was  decided  that  an  Indian  wife  of  a  white  man  was  a 
married  woman  within  the  meaning  of  the  Act,  and  capable  of 
holding  a  half  section  of  land,  which  decision  it  may  be  supposed 
affected  not  a  few  of  the  very  early  settlers  in  the  Territory. 

On  the  resignation  of  Judge  Olney,  Reuben  P.  Boise*^  was 
appointed  Associate  Judge  of  the  Territory,  and  Judge  Williams 
having  also  resigned.  Judges  Deady  and  Boise  remained  the  only 
judges  until  the  admission  of  the  State  in  1859.**  At  the  election  of 
June,  1858,  to  provide  officers  for  the  new  State,  Matthew  P.  Deady, 
R.  E.  Stratton,  R.  P.  Boise  and  A.  E.  Wait  were  elected  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  on  the  20th  of  May,  1859,  they  met  at 
Salem  and  drew  lots  for  their  terms  of  office.  Boise  and  Stratton 
drew  the  six  year  terms  and  Wait  the  four  year  term,  the  latter 
becoming,  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution,  Chief  Justice.  Deady 
having  in  the  meantime  been  appointed  by  the  President,  Judge  of 
the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Oregon, 
did  not  qualify  for  the  State  Court,  and  P.  P.  Prim,  of  Jackson 
County  was  appointed  in  his  stead,  and  at  the  election  of  1860  was 
continued  in  office  by  vote  of  the  people.  These  judges  under  the 
constitution  were  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Courts  and  sat  together  as  a 


»  Randolph  vs.  Otis,  1  Or.  153. 

^  Boise  who  lived  for  some  time  at  Portland  has  spent  most  of  his  life  upon  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  and  Circuit  Courts  of  Oregon,  and  is  at  present  Circuit  Judge 
in  the  Third  District.  As  a  judge  he  has  deserved  honor,  being  recognized  as  fearless 
and  upright,  and  by  reason  of  his  many  years  of  experience,  as  well  as  his  early 
education,  is  well   fitted  for  his  position. 

*i  The  following  Portland  lawyers  were  members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention: 
M.  P.  Deady,  J.  K.  Kelly,  A.  h.  Lovejoy,  Cyrus  Olney,  John  H.  Reed,  L.  F. 
Grover,  Geo.  H.  Williams,  David  Logan,  Reuben  P.  Boise  and  E.  D.  Shattuck. 


332  History  of  Portland. 


Supreme  Court  at  stated  intervals.*^  Of  these,  Wait  represented  the 
Fourth  District,  which  included  Multnomah  County.  He  resigned 
in  1862  to  run  for  Congress,  but  was  defeated  and  settled  down  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Portland,  and  in  the  meantime 
William  W.  Page  was  appointed  judge  and  held  Court  from  May  to 
September,  1862.  In  the  election  of  that  year,  E.  D.  Shattuck  was 
elected  over  Page,  who  was  a  candidate,  and  in  the  same  year  Joseph 
G.  Wilson  was  appointed  to  the  newly  created  Fifth  District,**  and  the 
Court  as  thus  constituted  continued  until  1867  without  change  in 
its  personel. 

Soon  after  the  creation  of  the  State,  provision  was  made  by 
Congress  for  extending  the  judicial  system  of  the  United  States  over 
Oregon.  A  District  Court  was  provided  for,  and  Matthew  P.  Deady 
was  appointed  judge,^*  a  position  which  he  has  since  filled  with 
dignity,  until  now,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two,  he  has  been 
longer  upon  that  bench  than  any  of  the  Federal  Judges  of  the  United 
States. 

J.  K.  Kelly  was  appointed  District  Attorney  for  the  United 
States,*^  and  Walter  Forward,  of  Marion  County,  was  appointed 
Marshal. 

The  first  term  of  this  Court  was  opened  at  No.  63  Front  street, 
near  Stark,  on  the  third  floor  of  the  building,  in  1859,  and  for  many 
years  the  government  afforded  no  better  quarters  for  it,  although  the 


*'^  By  the  Act  of  June  3,  1859,  a  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  directed  to  be  held 
at  the  Seat  of  Government  on  the  first  Monday  of  December  foUowing,  and  there- 
after at  the  Seat  of  Government,  on  the  second  Monday  in  December,  and  at  Portland 
on  the  second  Monday  in  July  annually.  By  Act  of  October  17*,  1862,  one  term  was 
ordered  to  be  held  at  the  Seat  of  Government  annually  on  the  first  Monday  of  Sep- 
temper.  This  was  again  changed  in  1872,  1878,  1880  and  1889,  no  provision  being 
made  for  holding  Court  at  Portland,  but  the  Act  of  1889  providing  for  one  term  each 
year  at  Pendleton. 

*^  Act  approved  October  11,  1862,  entitled  "An  Act  to  create  the  Fifth  Judicial 
District,  and  increase  the  number  of  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court." 

**  His  commission  was  dated  March  9,  1859. 

*5  The  District  Attorneys  of  the  United  States  have  been— J.  C  Cartwright.  1868- 
71;  Addison  C.  Gibbs,  1872-73;  Rufus  Mallory,  1874-82;  J.  F.  Watson,  1882-86;  L. 
h.  McArthur,  1886-90.  Clerks— Hamilton  Boyd,  1863-65;  Ralph  Wilcox,  1865-77; 
Edward  N.  Deady  (pro  tern)  1877;  R.  H.  Lamson,  1877. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  333 


place  was  poorly  adapted  for  its  purpose.  In  1871  the  present 
government  building  was  completed  and  the  Federal  Courts  were 
assigned  commodious  and  convenient  quarters. 

During  the  years  that  have  followed  the  organization  of  this 
Court,  the  strong  individuality  of  Judge  Deady  has  made  him  a 
prominent  and  central  figure  in  the  history  of  the  city.  The  events 
4  of  his  life  are  elsewhere  related,  and  it  is  suflScient  in  this  connection 
to  repeat  that  his  indefatigable  industry  and  his  retentive  memory, 
together  with  his  many  years  of  experience  in  a  Court  whose  broad 
jurisdiction  embraces  many  of  the  most  important  cases  litigated  in 
the  Northwest,  and  every  variety  of  criminal  and  maritime  cases, 
as  well  as  actions  at  law  and  suits  in  equity,  have  combined  to  form 
the  solid  basis  for  an  eminence  that  ambitious  lawyers  may  strive  for, 
but  few  attain.  His  personal  appearance,  always  noticeable,  is 
dignified  and  impressive  when  he  is  upon  the  bench,  and  the  business 
of  his  Court  is  conducted  with  decorum  and  a  due  regard  for  the 
proper  ceremonies  of  a  court  of  law.  Judge  Lorenzo  D.  Sawyer, 
whose  home  is  at  San  Francisco,  has  been  Circuit  Judge  of  the  Ninth 
Judicial  District,  which  includes  Oregon,  since  1873,  and  when 
business  demands  it,  sits  with  Judge  Deady  on  the  bench  of  the 
Circuit  Court  at  Portland.  He  is  a  careful  a^^d  painstaking  man, 
and  an  able  and  impartial  judge.  Asssociate  Justice  Stephen  J. 
Field,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  also  sits  in  the 
Circuit  Court  at  Portland  when  business  requires  it,  and  Judge 
George  M.  Sabin,  of  the  Nevada  District,  has  relieved  Judge  Deady 
during  a  temporary  absence  of  the  latter  from  Oregon. 

The  attorneys  already  noticed  as  prominent  at  Portland  before 
the  admission  of  the  State  generally  retained  their  position  in  this 
respect  during  the  decade  following.  This  period  was  noted  for  the 
brilliancy  and  ability  of  the  bar.  Judge  Strong  came  up  from  his 
farm  at  Cathlamet  in  the  winter  of  1861-62,  and  soon  secured  a 
lucrative  practice  and  a  foremost  station  among  the  Portland  lawyers. 
He  became  the  regular  counsel  for  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation 
Company,  the  richest  and  most  powerful  of  corporations,  and  in 
criminal  and  civil  actions  he,  with  Logan  and  Hoi  brook,  and 
afterward  Geo.  H.   Williams,  Shattuck,  Reed,  Stout,  Gibbs,  Grover, 


334  History  of  Portland. 


Page,  Wait  and  Kelly  were  perhaps  the  most  prominent  at  that  time. 
Mitchell  and  Dolph  went  into  partnership  in  1864?  and  by  1870 
they  too,  were  in  the  lead,  while  others  had  long  since  dropped  out 
of  the  race. 

In  1863  there  were  twenty -one  lawyers  in  the  city;  five   years 
after,  the  number  had  increased  to  forty-one.      The  population   was 
growing  rapidly,  the  census   of  1865  showing  5,819  inhabitants,  an  , 
increase  of  over  a  thousand  in  one  year.     Law  business,  particularly 
concerning  land  titles,  was  flourishing. 

The  County  Court  was  presided  over  by  P.  A.  Marquam^  for 
many  years  until  1870,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Edward  Hamilton; 
and  Judge  Shattuck  of  the  Circuit  Court  gave  place  to  W.  W.  Upton, 
who  was  elected  in  1868  and  served  until  September  1874.  Hamilton 
had  been  in  partnership  for  a  tim?  with  H.  C.  Coulson,  who  was 
afterwards  elected  Clerk  of  Multnomah  County  and  gave  satisfaction 
i%  that  office,  as  he  was  a  genial  fellow  and  a  well  trained  lawyer. 

Smith,  Grover  and  Page  were  in  partnership  early  in  the  sixties 
but  J.  S.  Smith  dropped  out  and  Grover  and  Page  continued  together 
until  Grover  was  elected  governor  in  1870.  Logan  was  in  partner- 
ship with  Farrar,  then  with  Friedenrich,  who  afterwards  was  city 
attorney  for  a  short  time;  then  after  remaining  alone  for  some  time, 
went  into  partnership  with  Shattuck  in  1868,  and  they  soon  after 
added  Killen  to  the  firm,  and  in  1871,  Logan  himself  dropped  out 
Holbrook  formed  no  partnerships.  W.  Lair  Hill  and  Marion  F. 
Mulkey  formed  a  partnership  in  1865  and  were  together  a  short  time; 
Hill  afterwards  united  with  C.  A.  Ball  as  Hill  &  Ball,  and  in  1872 
with  W.  W.  Thayer**  and  R.  Williams  as  Hill,  Thayer  &  Williams. 
Stout  and  Larrabee  and  Larrabee,  Stout  &  Upton,  were  quite  prom- 
inent Stout,  an  excellent  lawyer  and  a  consummate  leader  among 
men,  acquired  a  large  practice.  A.  E.  Wait  and  J.  K.  Kelly  were 
considered  very  able  men  and  remained  together  as  Wait  &  Kelly  for 
some  time. 

The  arrival  of  Ben  Holladay  in  Oregon  in  1868  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Bar  of  Portland.  The 
railroad  projects  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  were  languishing  and 

^  See  sketch  of  his  life,  in  biographical  portion  of  this  volnme. 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  335 


by  dint  of  the  free  use  of  men  and  money,  Holladay  soon  had 
control  of  the  Oregon  and  California,  and  the  Oregon  Central  roads. 
Mitchell  &  Dolph  became  the  attorneys  to  represent  his  vast  interests 
in  the  State.  They  were  young  men  of  ability  and  enterprise  and 
well  able  to  manage  any  business  confided  to  them,  and  in  a 
remarkably  short  time  acquired  a  large  practice  representing  the 
corporations  and  heavy  commercial  trade.  When  in  1876  this 
Holladay  management  of  the  railroads  came  to  an  end  and  the 
German  bondholders  took  possession  of  them,  Villard  was  put  in 
charge  and  the  firm  of  Mitchell  &  Dolph  was  continued  as  the 
attorneys.  In  1877,  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company  was 
absorbed  by  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company- and  Mitchell 
&  Dolph  became  its  attorneys.  Strong  practically  retiring  from 
business  at  this  time,  though  his  business  has  since  been  successfully 
carried  on  by  his  sons  Thomas  N.  and  Fred.  R.  Strong,  who  were 
for  some  time  associated  with  him  under  the  name  Wm.  Strong 
&  Sons.  From  the  inception  of  the  railroad  enterprises  in  1867, 
the  railroads  furnished  a  great  deal  of  important  business  for  the 
attorneys,  both  in  and  out  of  court,  and  other  corporation  busi- 
ness has  grown  in  volume  and  importance. 

Early  in  the  seventies,  other  firms  grew  into  prominence.  J.  W. 
Whalley  and  M.  W.  Fechheimer,  as  Whalley  &  Fechheimer,  succeeded 
to  a  large  commercial  business,  particularly  in  connection  with  the 
United  States  bankrupt  law.  W.  H.  Efiinger,  an  elegant  and  eloquent 
orator,  and  Richard  Williams,  who  had  lately  removed  from  Salem, 
won  a  large  damage  suit  at  The  Dalles  against  the  O.  S.  N.  Co. ,  and 
subsequently  each  acquired  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  Efiinger 
gave  little  attention  to  business  after  a  few  years  of  success,  and  finally 
in  1887  removed  to  Tacoma.  Williams,  on  the  other  hand,  associ- 
ated with  Thayer  as  Thayer  &  Williams  for  many  years,  and  later 
of  the  firm  of  Williams  &  Willis  and  R.  &  E.  B.  Williams,  has 
developed  with  his  years  and  still  holds  the  full  measure  of  the  honor 
and  success  his  earlier  practice  foreshadowed.  John  Catlin,  E.  A. 
Cronin,  Raleigh  Stott,  men  differing  in  character,  were  all  successful. 
When  Mitchell  was  elected  senator  in  1872,  the  finn  Dolph,  Bronaugh, 
Dolph  &  Simon,  was  organized   as  successors  to  Mitchell  &  Dolph, 

[22] 


336  History  of  Portland. 


consisting  of  J.  N.  Dolph,  Earl  C.  Bronaugh,  C.  A.  Dolph  and 
Joseph  Simon.  Among  the  younger  men  of  ability  of  this  period, 
and  who  still  sustain  the  reputation  they  gained  at  this  time  are  Geo. 
H.  Durham,  H.  H.  Northup,  H.  Y.  Thompson,  W.  B.  Gilbert  and 
H.  T.  Bingham.  Hill,  Durham  &  Thompson  were  together  for  a 
time  and  then  Williams,  Hill,  Durham,  Thompson  &  Mays  organized 
as  a  firm,  with  a  firm  name  only  equalled  in  length  by  the  firm  of 
later  times  consisting  of  Stott,  Waldo,  Smith,  Stott  &  Boise. 
Length  of  firm  name  seems  to  have  been  popular  with  the  Portland 
bar,  as  is  illustrated  in  the  modem  cases  of  Dolph,  Bellinger, 
Mallory  &  Si:non,  and  Whalley,  Bronaugh,  Northup  &  Deady,  and 
Mitchell,  McDougall,  Tanner  &  Bower.  Caples  &  Mulkey  and 
Northup  &  Gilbert  were  two  well  known  firms  for  many  years,  until 
the  one  was  dissolved  by  the  death  of  Mulkey  and  other  by  mutual 
consent.  Bellinger  was  associated  with  Burmester  for  some  time, 
and,  after  serving  a  time  upon  the  bench  as  Circuit  Judge,  succeed- 
ing Shattuck  in  September,  1878,  he  united  with  Gearin  as  Bellinger 
&  Gearin  and  later  joined  the  firm  mentioned  above,  while  Gearin 
and  Gilbert  formed  a  new  firm.  Killen  &  Moreland  in  1882, 
Mitchell  &  Dement,  Adams  &  Welty,  and  McDougall  &  Bower  in 
the  same  year,  and  later  Watson,  Hume  &  Watson,  Woodward  & 
Woodward,  Smith,  Cox  &  Teal,  Johnson,  McCown  &  Idleman,  are 
among  the  notable  associations.  Besides  these  there  are  many  of 
equal  prominence  who  have  either  fonned  no  partnerships  or  are 
better  known  aside  from  their  affiliations  of  that  kind,  a  separate 
enumeration  of  whom  would  extend  this  chapter  far  beyond  its  pre- 
scribed bounds.  No  attempt  has  been  made  in  referring  to  those  we 
have  mentioned  to  choose  between  men,  or  to  make  any  invidious 
selections,  but  our  aim  has  been  briefly  to  notice  in  a  general  way  the 
groups  into  which  the  bar  has  divided  itself  from  time  to  time.  The 
whole  number  of  lawyers  at  the  Portland  bar  in  1889,  was  122. 

Judge  E.  D.  Shattuck,  of  the  State  Circuit  Court  was  succeeded 
by  Judge  W.  W.  Upton,  in  1868.  He  held  the  office  until  in  turn 
succeeded  by  Judge  Shattuck  in  1874,  who  retired  1878.  In  that 
year  the  Legislature  reorganized  the  judicial  system  of  the  State  by 
pro\nding  for  the  election  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  337 

Circuit  Courts  in  separate  classes,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  Act,  the  Governor  appointed  three  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  one  of  whom,  J.  K.  Kelly,  was  from  Portland,  and 
another,  R.  P.  Boise,  had  formerly  resided  there,  the  third  was  P.  P. 
Prim,  of  Jacksonville.  C.  B.  Bellinger  was  appointed  to  succeed 
Shattuck  in  the  Fourth  Circuit.  The  Circuit  Judges  now  had  no 
connection  with  the  Supreme  Court  and  could  devote  their  attention 
to  the  business  in  their  circuits,  which,  particularly  in  Judge 
Bellinger's  district,  had  grown  to  such  proportions  as  to  tax  the 
capacity  of  a  single  judge  for  work.  The  Fourth  District  included 
the  counties  of  Multnomah,  Clackamas,  Washington,  Columbia  and 
Clatsop;  a  different  arrangement  was  made  in  the  year  1882,  by 
which  Multnomah  itself  constituted  the  Fourth  District.  Bellinger 
was  an  able  judge,  and  gave  universal  satisfaction.  He  was  prompt 
and  attentive  to  business  and  quick  to  perceive  and  apprehend. 
When  he  retired  in  1880  he  had  an  established  reputation  for  legal 
ability  that  soon  brought  about  him  his  old  clients  with  many  new 
ones,  so  that  he  has  had  a  growing  prosperity  and  has  maintained  a 
foremost  position  at  the  bar.  Raleigh  Stott,  who  had  been  District 
Attorney,  succeeded  him  as  judge.  He,  too,  proved  a  man  of  ability 
and  an  honorable  and  upright  judicial  officer.  The  growth  of  the 
community  and  the  increasing  business  of  the  Court,  kept  him 
constantly  occupied,  while  the  meager  salary  of  the  office  illy 
compensated  for  its  exactions.  He  resigned  in  1884,  and  the 
members  of  the  bar  presented  him  with  a  handsome  testimonial  of 
their  appreciation  of  his  merits.  On  the  petition  of  the  bar,  Seneca 
Smith  was  appointed  in  his  stead,  and  held  the  office  for  the 
remainder  of  the  term,  to  1886.  He  at  once  adopted  new  rules  for 
the  purposes  of  expediting  business,  and  devoted  unremitting  efforts 
to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  cases.  The  Legislature  of  1885 
relieved  him  by  dividing  the  Court  into  two  departments  and 
providing  for  the  election  of  another  Circuit  Judge  in  the  district. 
Judge  Loyal  B.  Steams,  of  the  County  Court,  was  appointed  to  the 
office  until  the  regular  election,  and  Julius  C.  Moreland  to  the 
vacancy  thus  created  in  the  County  Court.  At  the  election  of  1886, 
Steams  and  Shattuck  were  chosen  for  the  full  term  of  six  years  as 


338  History  of  Portland. 


Circuit  Judges,  and  John  Catlin  for  the  term  of  four  years,  as  County 
Judge.  Of  their  conduct  in  these  offices,  nothing  more  need  be  said 
than  that  they  have  faithfully  and  earnestly  devoted  themselves  to 
their  work,  and  have  fully  sustained  their  honorable  reputations 
previously  earned,  which  led  to  their  selection  for  the  important 
trust. 

Without  commenting  upon  individual  cases  of  public  interest  and 
of  historic  importance  that  have  come  before  the  Portland  Courts  for 
trial,  it  may  be  said  that  as  trade  and  population  have  developed, 
itigation  of  all  kinds  has  increased  and  Portland  have  furnished 
Inearly  one  half  of  the  business  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State 
and  the  greater  part  of  that  in  the  United  States  Courts.  The  cases 
of  the  United  States  against  Randall,  postmaster  of  Portland,  was 
watched  with  interest  by  Portland  people  and  the  public  took  sides 
for  or  against  the  defendant,  who  was  accused  of  embezzlement.  He 
was  finally  convicted,  but  still  his  friends  were  confident  that  he  was 
innocent  and  he  was  at  once  given  a  prominent  position  of  trust  in 
the  office  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company,  which  he  held 
for  some  years.  Pending  trial,  and  long  after,  the  newspapers  were 
full  of  the  case,  and  excitement  ran  high.  Strong  and  Logan,  who 
were  pitted  against  each  other  in  this  case,  had  a  spicy  newspaper 
correspondence  afterwards;  Strong  still  declaring  the  innocence  of 
his  client,  and  Logan  insisting  that  he  was  guilty.  The  latter 
quieted  his  opponent  with  his  last  contribution  by  his  sarcastic 
reference  to  the  feelings  that  must  rankle  in  his  breast  at  the  thought 
that  the  innocent  client  he  defended  was  suffering  the  pains  of 
conviction. 

Another  criminal  case  that  was  watched  with  unusal  interest, 
was  the  cases  against  Archie  Brown,  James  Johnson  and  Joseph 
Swards,  who,  on  the  23d  of  August  1878,  entered  the  pawnshop  of 
one  O'Shea,  locked  the  door  behind  them,  knocked  O' Shea  senseless, 
and  took  from  his  safe,  near  where  O^Shea  was  assaulted,  some 
articles  of  value.  They  were  seen  leaving  the  shop,  and  being 
closely  pursued  by  a  constable,  stopped  and  Brown  fired  at  him  but 
missed  him  and  killed  a  boy,  Louis  Joseph.     They  then   leaped  into 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  339 


a  wagon  standing  near  by  and  made  their  escape,  but  were  finally 
taken,  tried  and  convicted  of  murder  in  the  first  degree,  after  an 
exciting  trial,  and  were  finally  executed. 

The  most  remarkable  litigation,  however,  is  the  series  of  cases 
known  as  the  Holladay  cases.  Ben  Holladay,  whose  name  appears 
more  than  once  in  these  pages,  was  the  prince  of  borrowers,  and 
among  other  creditors  for  large  sums,  was  his  brother  Joseph.  The  two 
men  were  as  unlike  in  appearance  and  character  as  though  they 
were  of  different  ancestors;  Ben  being  a  high  liver,  a  spend-thrift,  a 
man  of  gigantic  schemes  and  boundless  ambition,  who  scattered  his 
own  money  and  the  money  of  every  one  on  which  he  could  lay 
hands  broadcast  in  support  of  his  extravagant  habits  and  his 
numerous  projects;  Joseph,  on  the  other  hand,  made  money  by  saving 
it  and  accumulating  interest.  He  had  no  projects,  no  enterprises,  no 
ambitions.  He  was  crafty,  stubborn  and  full  of  prejudices.  As 
early  as  1873,  Ben  began  to  make  conveyances  of  property  in  Oregon 
to  Joe  to  secure  him  for  money  borrowed  from  time  to  time,  and  in 
1876,  when  Ben  removed  from  Oregon  to  Washington  City,  Joe,  by 
assignments  of  stock  and  deeds  of  real  estate  absolute  upon  their 
face,  but  which  were  intended  as  mortgages,  had  title  to  all  that 
Ben  possessed.  Ben  came  back  from  Washington  in  1884?  and 
demanded  his  property  from  Joe,  professing  to  be  ready  to  pay  his 
claim.  Joe  then  set  up  a  claim  that  he  was  the  real  owner  of  the 
property;  that  the  conveyances  to  him  were  absolute,  and  not 
intended  as  mortgages.  Ben  began  suit  to  have  the  conveyances 
declared  mortgages,  and  to  redeem  the  property.  The  litigation 
lasted  three  years,  and  the  result  was  that  the  conveyances  were 
declared  mortgages,  and  the  amount  of  Joe's  claim  against  the  prop- 
erty was  fixed  at  $315,000.  In  the  meantime,  Ben's  other  creditors 
had  begun  suit  to  have  the  conveyances  to  Joe  set  aside  as  being  in 
fraud  of  their  rights.  During  the  litigation  between  Ben  and  Joe 
the  property  had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  After  the 
decree  was  made  in  the  Supreme  Court,  fixing  the  amount  of  Joe's 
lien  against  the  property,  and  ordering  that  the  property  be  sold  to 
pay  it,  Ben  and  Joe  made  an  agreement  subje<5l  to  ratification  by  the 
principal  creditors,  by  which  it  was   stipulated  that  Joe  would  post- 


340  History  of  Portland. 

pone  the  enforcement  of  his  decree  for  three  years,  and  as  part  of  his 
agreement  with  Ben,  he  released  from  his  lien  and  turned  over  to  a 
trustee,  for  a  number  of  pressing  creditors,  the  stock  of  the  Oregon 
Real  Estate  Company;  and  George  W.  Weidler,  as  such  trustee, 
assumed  charge  of  the  property  for  the  benefit  of  those  creditors. 
In  consideration  of  this  it  was  further  stipulated  that  Joe's  lien 
should  be  increased  to  $340,000,  on  account  of  some  claims  which 
the  Supreme  Court  had  allowed.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  Joe  and 
Geo.  W.  Weidler  should  be  made  receivers  of  the  property  in  place 
of  D.  P.  Thompson,  who  had  previously  been  acting  as  such,  and 
they  were  appointed  accordingly.  The  stock  of  t^e  Oregon  Real 
Estate  Company,  which  comprised  the  HoUaday  Addition  to  East 
Portland,  was  sold  and  paid  oflF  a  great  many  of  Ben  Holladay's 
debts,  all  in  fact  known  to  be  in  existence  at  the  time  the  property 
was  released  by  Joe,  and  including  lawyers'  fees  amounting  to 
considerably  over  $100,000.  The  agreement  extending  the  time 
before  enforcement  of  the  decree  to  three  years  also  provided  that 
Ben  might  redeem  the  several  portions  of  the  property  before  the 
expiration  of  that  time  upon  paying  oflF  stated  portions  of  the  debt  in 
accordance  with  an  agreed  schedule,  and  this  was  done  with  a 
portion  of  the  property,  by  selling  it  and  applying  the  price  on  the 
debt.  Ben  died  on  the  8th  day  of  July,  1887,  leaving  a  will  dated 
in  1875,  by  which  Joe  was  nominated  as  one  of  his  executors,  and 
he  being  the  only  one  named  residing  in  the  State  and  qualified  to 
act,  was  accordingly  appointed  by  the  County  Court.  A  case 
involving  Joe's  right  to  act  in  this  capacity  went  to  the  Supreme 
Court  and  was  decided  in  his  favor.  There  were  many  creditors 
insisting  upon  payment  of  their  claims,  but  the  property  was 
steadily  advancing  in  value  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  redeem  the 
property.  As  the  period  for  redemption  drew  to  a  close  Joe  was 
removed  from  the  executorship,  and  James  Steel  was  appointed 
administrator  of  the  estate.  This  was  also  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court  and  affirmed.  Esther  Holladay,  the  wife  of  Ben,  died  soon 
after  him,  leaving  a  will  under  which  Rufus  Ingalls  was  appointed 
executor,  and  also  providing  for  his  appointment  as  guardian  of  her 
children,  but  though  he  qualified  for  both  trusts,  he  was  subsequently 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  341 


removed  from  the  guardianship  on  the  ground  that  the  law  of 
Oregon  did  not  permit  the  appointment  of  a  testamentary  guardian 
by  a  mother.  Another  guardian  was  appointed  by  the  Court.  On 
the  expiration  of  the  three  years,  Joe  ordered  an  execution  out,  but 
recalled  it  before  the  sale.  Upon  a  showing  made  to  the  Circuit 
Court,  an  order  then  was  made  requiring  the  receivers  to  join  with 
the  administrator  of  Ben's  estate  in  making  a  sale  of  the 
mortgaged  property,  the  County  Court  having  already  directed  the 
administrator  to  take  that  step.  The  attempt  proved  abortive, 
however,  as  Joe  refused  to  sign  the  notice  of  sale.  After  fruitless 
attempts  to  obtain  his  acquiescence  and  co-operation,  a  warrant  was 
issued  for  his  arrest  for  contempt  and  he  was  brought  to  Portland, 
in  charge  of  an  officer,  from  the  seaside  where  he  had  been 
sojourning,  but  he  escaped  and  fled  to  Washington  and  then  to 
British  Columbia.  He  finally  returned  and  by  agreement  and 
consent  of  the  Court  a  nominal  fine  was  imposed  upon  him  and  he 
caused  execution  to  issue  upon  his  decree,  and  the  property  was 
finally  sold  at  sheriflPs  sale.  The  result  was  that  Joe  was  paid, 
principal  and  interest,  in  December,  1889,  after  five  years  of 
expensive  litigation,  and  a  large  amount  of  money  and  property  was 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  administrator  for  the  benefit  of  the  creditors 
of  the  estate.  Meantime,  innumerable  suits  by  creditors  and  others 
had  been  instituted,  and  the  dockets  of  all  the  Courts  have  been 
crowded  with  cases  connected  in  some  way  with  the  Holladay 
property.  A  fortune  has  been  spent  in  attorneys'  fees  and  Court 
expenses,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 

Another  famous  controversy  in  the  courts  was  known  as  the 
Goose  Hollow  War  in  the  newspapers,  and  involved  a  disputed  boun- 
dary line  between  two  Irish  families.  The  case  assumed  a  great 
importance  because  of  the  litigious  inclinations  of  the  parties,  which 
manifested  itself  in  suits  and  counter-suits  both  civil  and  criminal, 
until  the  whole  city  was  familiar  with  the  case.  The  Hollands, 
Patrick  and  Margeret,  who  were  parties  to  those  suits  have,  since 
the  boundary  line  was  settled,  found  other  subjects  for  litigation 
and  have  in  one  case  or  another,  employed  nearly  every  attorney  in 
Portland. 


342  History  of  Portland. 


History  is  best  written  from  a  distant  standpoint.  The  perspective 
afforded  by  the  lapse  of  years,  makes  it  possible  to  view  men  and 
events  objectively  and  to  avoid  many  of  the  difficulties  of  describing 
the  affairs  of  our  own  times.  But,  in  general,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  present  generation  at  the  Bench  and  Bar  at  Portland,  compares 
favorably  with  the  lawyers  of  other  cities  of  the  Union. 

In  point  of  morals,  notwithstanding  the  city  has  long  been  the 
representative  city  of  the  far  Northwest,  it  is  remarkable  how  few  of 
the  lawyers  have  failed  to  maintain  the  high  standard  of  the 
profession;  and  while  it  is  true,  perhaps,  that  the  average  western 
lawyer  is  less  profound  and  not  so  much  inclined  to  theoretic  analysis 
and  to  nice  discriminations  as  those  of  older  cities,  yet  for  ready 
perception  of  the  points  in  issue  in  their  cases,  they  are  second  to 
none.  A  feeling  of  good  fellowship  prevails — the  young  beginner 
and  the  new  comer  find  cordial  welcome.  The  contests  of  the  Court 
room,  however  warm  or  acrimonious,  are  forgotten  when  over. 

The  relations  of  the  Bench  with  the  Bar  have  moreover  always 
been  most  friendly  and  pleasant. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  attorneys  who  have  practiced  at  the 
Portland  Bar: 

v.  S.  Anderson,  J.  E.  Atwater,  Henr>'  Ach,  W.  H.  Adams,  G.G.  Ames,  G.  W. 
AUen,  E.  M.  Atkinson,  C.  Beal,  Patrick  Bull,  Robt.  E.  Bybee,  E.  C.  Bradshaw,  E.  C. 
Bronaugh,  Octavius  Bell,  C.  B.  Bellinger,  T.  Burmester,  C.  A.  Ball,  H.  T.  Bingham. 
C.  Buchanan,  J.  J.  Browne,  R.  A.  Bingham,  W.  S.  Beebe,  J.  M.  Blossom,  Jr.,  J.  Bow- 
er, W.  T.  Bumey,  J.  V.  Beach,  J.  Bentgen,  J.  J.  Ballery,  E.  W.  Bingham,  George  A. 
Brodie,J.  Bourne  Jr,  J.  Baldwin,  Alex.  Bernstein.L.  Burton,  C.  R.  Barry,  A.S.  Bennett, 
W.  L.  Boise,  George  A.  C.  Brady,  P.  J.  Bannon,  J.  S.  Beall,  J.  F.  Boothe,  B.  B.Bukman, 
M.  L.  Bergman,  Clarence  Cole,  H.  A.  Copeland.  W.  W.  Cotton,  W.  W.  Chapman, 
J.  Catlin,  J.  G.  Chapman,  E.  A.  Cronin,  C.  M.  Carter,  J.  F.  Caples,  Geo.  E.  Cole, 
Jno.  C.  Cartwright,  John  Creighton,  Arthur    Chritfield,   F.  Clamo,  B.  I.  Cohen,  Jas. 

A.  Campbell,  P.  O.  Chilstrom,  R.  D.  Coy,  C.J.Curtis,  Chas.  H.  Carey,  C.  H.  Carter. 
M.  R.  Chambers,  W.  H.  Chaney.  W.  H.  Clagett,  H,  M.  Cake.  F.  D.  Chamberlain. 
Raphael  Citron,  A.  R.  Coleman,  S.  W.  Condon,  l,.  B.  Cox,  G.  T.  Cromer,  Wm.  M. 
Cake,  Alex.  L.  Campbell,  J.  N.  Dolph,  Cyrus  A.  Dolph,  G.  H.  Durham,  O.  N.  Denny, 
W.  Dodge,  H.  C.  Dray,  Sidney  Dell,  B.  F.  Dennison,  R.  M.  Dement,  J.  Danziger,  W. 

B.  Daniels,  F.  V.  Drake.  E.  N.  Deady,  Paul  R.  Deady,  E.  J.  Dahms,  O.  E.  Doud,  C.  R. 
Darling,  B.  F.  Dowell,  J.  Frank  Davis,  John  Ditchbum,  D.  M.  Donaugh,  V.  DePui. 
James  M.  Davis,  A.  C.  Deupree,  M.  Elliott,  D.  M.  Edmunds,  W.  H.  Effinger,  W.  L. 
Evans,  \V.  M.  Evans,  A.  C.  Emmons,  R.  W.  Emmons,  R.  I.  Eaton,  H.  H.  Emmons. 
W.  W.  S.  Er)erle.  W.  H.  Farrar,  David  Fredenrich.  M.  W.  Fecheimer.  A.  French, 


The  Bench  and  Bar.  343 


M.  C.  Fitzgibbons,  A.  S.    Frank,    William   Foley,   A.  h.  Frazer,    Wm.  D.   Fenton, 
J.  C.  Flanders,  L.  F.  Grover,  A.  C.  Gibbs,  T.  J.  Geisler,  H.  A.  Gehr,  Jcrmes  Guthrie, 
C.  A.  Gardner,  Jos.  Gaston,  J.  Garwood,  D.  Goodsell,  W.  C.  Gaston,  W.  B.  Gilbert, 
O.  W.  Gardiner,  John  M.  Gearin,  M.  C.  George,  W.  M.   Gregory,  James  Gleason, 
Thos.   Gordon.   Hudson  Grant.  S.  H.    Green,  J.  F.  Grey,  W.  W.  Gibbs,  J.  A.  Gill, 
R.  R.  Giltner,  Jos.  S.  Gage.H.  W.  Hogue,  G.  F.  Holman,  E.  Hamilton,  E.  W.  Hod- 
^kinson,    Amory    Holbrook,    J.    J.  Hoffman,  W.    Lair  Hill,   R.    F.  Hensill,  D.  B. 
fiannah,  J.  J.  Henderson,  S.  Heulat,  O.  Humason,    Ellis   G.  Hughes,  I^.  H Dimes,  W. 
H.  Higby,  Enoch  Howe,  E.  D.  Ham,  F.  V.  Holman,  E.  T.  Howes,  C.  F.  Hyde,  C.  H. 
Hewitt,  M.  B.  Harrison,  V.  R.  Hyde,  C.  P.  Heald,  S.  R.  Harrington,  C.  R.  Holcomb, 
AV.  T.  Hume,  John  Hall,  F.  M.  Ish,  C.  M.  Idleman,  H.  D.  Johnson,  J.  W.  Johnson, 
Dewitt  C'  Jones,  W.  F.  Jones,  W.  C.  Johnson,  T.  E.  Johnston,  Henry  Jacobs,  S.  A. 
Johns,  Ira  Jones,  F.  B.  Jolly,  J.  K.  Kelly,  B.  Killen,   Peter  G.  Koch,  C.  M.  Kincaid, 
Fred.  h.  Keenan,  D.  P.  Kennedy,  W.  W.  Knott,  A.  T.  Lewis,  C.  E.  Lockwood,  Geo. 
W.  Lawson,  D.  Logan,  D.  W.  Lichenthaler,  C.  H.   Larabee,  A.  J.  Lawrence,  Lafay- 
ette Lane,  A.  L.  L  ovejoy,  C.  Lancaster,  M.  O.  Lownsdale,  Geo.  W.Lawson,  A.  Lenhart, 
S.  B.  Linthicum,  W.  M.  Locke,  A.  W.   Llewelyn,  Mar>'  A.  Leonard,  H.  J.  Moses, 
P.  A.  Marquam,  W.  L.   McEwan,  E.  W.  McGraw,  J.  H.  Mitchell,  M.  F.  Mulkey, 
L.  F.  Mosher,  J.   F.    McCoy,   S.   A.  Moreland,   O.  P.   Mason,   A.  J.  Moses,   F.   O. 
McCown,  I.  A.  Macrum,  Rufus   Mallory,   E.    Mendenhall,  J.  C.    Moreland,   C.  J. 
McDougal,    F.  Metzgar,  C.  F.  McCormac,  H.  E.   McGinn,  E.  W.  Morrison,  Pierce 
Mays,  Wirt  Minor,  R.  L.  McKee,  E.  H.  Merrill,  M.  C.  Munley,  Wm.  H.  Merrick,  W. 
Y.  Masters,   E.  J.  Mendenhall,  Newton  McCoy,  Frank  P.  McMullen,  U.  S.  G.  Mar- 
quam, R.  G.  Morrow,  Wallace  Mount,  J.  C  McCaffrey,  R.  D.  Murphy,  C.  W^  Miller, 
J.  T.  Milner,  W.  T.  Muir,  G.  G.  McGinn,   H.  H.  Northup,  B.  L.  Norden,  W.  S.  New- 
bury, H.  B.  Nicholas,  James  S.   Negley,  W.  L.  Nutting,  James  L.  Onderdonk.  Thos. 
O'Day,  E.  L.  Peet,  Harold   Pilkington,  W.   W.  Page,  Chas.  Parrish,  P.  D.  Parks,  S. 
Pennoyer,T.  W.  Pittenger,  C.  A.  Petrain,  O.  F.  Paxton,  A.  Paffenberger,  J.  N.  Pearcy. 
J.  M.  Pittenger,  J.  W.  Paddock,  L.  L.  Porter,  J.  H.  Reed,  E.  F.  Russell,  S.  W.  Rice, 
J.  W.  Robb,  G.   E.  Robinson,  J.   H.  Roberts,  J.  C.  S.  Richardson,  B.  Y.  Roe,  San- 
derson  Reed,  J.   S.  Smith,    Eugene   Semple,    W.    P.   Scott,    Alex     Sweek,     Wm. 
Strong,  George  V.  Smith,  Alanson  Smith,  J.  H.  Stinson,  L.  O.  Stearns,  H.  C.  Small, 
E.  D.  Shattuck,  J.  W.  Stevens,  Thos.  Smith,  P.  C.  Sullivan,  Walter  V.  Smith,  Raleigh 
Stott,  Joseph  Simon,  Fred.  R.  Strong,  T.  V.  Shoup,  Syl.  C.  Simpson,  T.  N.  Strong, 
Loyal  B.  Stearns,  H.  Suksdorf,  J.  R.  Stoddard,  A.  F.  Sears,  Jr.,  Seneca  Smith,  V.  K. 
Strode,  L.  Scott,  X.  N.  Steeves,  Milton  W.  Smith,  T.  J.  Smith,  T.  A.  Stephens,  J.  B. 
Scott,  Geo.  W.  Sproule,  S.  R.  Stott,  E.J.Searle,  F.  A.E.Starr,  J. vSilverstone,  N.D.Simon, 
Zara  Snow.Wm.E.  Showers,  James  Summers,  Sidney  Smith,  W.  F.  Trimble,  W.W. Thay- 
er, H.  Y.  Thompson,  A.  H.  Townsend,  Albert  H.  Tanner,  David  Turner,  — Todd,  Alfre<l 
Thompson,    J.    N.  Teal,  W.  E.  Thomas,  J.  B.  Thompson,  R.  H.   Thornton,  G.  H. 
Thurston,  Cornelius  Taylor,  Claude  Thayer,  W.  W.  Upton,  James  Upton,  C.  B.  Upton, 
J.  S.  M.  VanCleve,  George  H.  Williams,  A.  E.  Wait,  Leopold  Wolff,  James  A.  Way- 
mire,  J.  W.  Whalley,  Charles  Warren,  John  C.  Work,  John  B.  Waldo.  M.  vS.  Wliest,  R. 
Williams,  J.  H.  Woodward,  C.   H.  Woodward,  D.  W.  Welty,  Thornton  Williams.  P. 
L.  Willis,  C.  B.  Watson.  J.  R.  Wheat.  E.  B.  Watson,  A.  J.   Welch,  L.  H.  Wheeler,  T. 
Brook    A\Tiite,    C.   E.  S.    Wood,  John  K.   Wait,  J.   F.   Watson.  J.  D.  Wilcox.   E.  B. 
Williams,  George  L.  Woods,  Henr\'  Wagner.  T.  H.  Ward,  G.  W.  Yocuni  G.  D.  Young. 


344  History  of  Portland. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHURCHES,    BENEVOLENT  ORGANIZATIONS  AND    HOSPITALS. 

Methodist,  Catholic,  Congregational,  Episcopal,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  Jewish, 
Unitarian,  Lutheran,  German  Reformed  and  Christian  Churches — Ladies*  Relief 
Society — Childrens'  Home — German  Benevolent  Association — Boys  and  Girls  Aid 
Society — City  Board  of  Charities — Portland  Woman's  Union — Kindergarten  Associa- 
tion— Oregon  Humane  Society — Portland  Seaman's  Friend  Society — St.  Vincent's 
Hospital — Good  Samaritan  Hospital — Portland  Hospital. 

THE  advent  of  religious  teachers  in  this  portion  of  the  West  had 
an  important  bearing  upon  its  histon'  and  destiny.  Those  of 
the  Protestant  faith  became  prominent  factors  in  securing  American 
settlement  and  occupation  of  the  country  which  resulted  in  the 
acquisition  of  the  Territory'  of  Oregon  to  the  United  States.  The 
part  they  bore  in  the  long  struggle  for  possession  of  this  great 
domain — ^an  empire  within  itself — has  been  treated  of  in  preceding 
pages  and  needs  here  no  further  elaboration.  They  came  at  first 
solely  moved  by  religious  motives,  but  the  conditions  that  surrounded 
them  induced  them  to  play  a  part  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  their 
country.  Their  purely  religious  mission  became  in  the  progress  of 
events  a  semi-political  one — a  departure  entirely  excusable  on  the 
ground  of  patriotism,  good  morals  and  common  sense. 

No  organized  effort  was  made  to  christianize  the  Indians  of  the 
Columbia,  until  several  years  after  the  countr\'  had  been  visited  by 
American  explorers.  It  was  not  until  1832  that  the  missionary 
societies  of  the  East  concluded  to  send  religious  teachers  among  the 
Aborigines  of  the  Pacific  Slope.  The  matter  was  then  taken  hold 
of  by  the  Methodist  Board  of  Missions  and  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions,  a  societ>-  supported  by  the 
Congregational,  Presbyterian  and  Dutch  Reformed  denominations. 
The  Methodists  were  the  first  to  take  the  field.  Rev.  Jason  Lee  was 
given  direction  of  the  work,  and  associated  with  him  were  Rev. 
Daniel  Lee,  Cyrus  Shepard  and  P.  L.  Edwards.  This  missionary  party 
arrived  in  the  Willamette  Valley  in  1834,  and  established  a  mission 
station  ten  miles  below  the  present  cit>'  of  Salem.     Somewhat  briefly 


346  History  of  Portland. 


persons.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  J.  N.  Dennison.  Rev.  J.  W. 
Bushong  is  the  present  pastor.  The  church  building  is  located  on 
the  comer  of  Ninth  and  J  streets. 

Grace  M.  E.  Church  was  organized  in  April,  1884,  at  which  time 
several  member  withdrew  from  the  Taylor  street  church  to  perfe<5l  the 
organization.  Rev.  E.  W.  Caswell  was  assigned  to  the  new  scciet>' 
under  whose  labors  a  neat  chapel  was  built  at  the  comer  of  Eleventh 
and  Taylor  streets.  The  society  grew  rapidly  and  soon  numbered 
among  its  members  many  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Portland. 
The  quarters  first  ere<5led  soon  became  too  small  for  the  large  congre- 
gations which  gathered  at  the  chapel,  and  the  ere<ftion  of  the  present 
beautiful  church  edifice  on  the  comer  of  Tenth  and  Taylor  streets 
was  begun.  This  building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $55,000  and 
dedicated  on  December  15,  1889.  It  has  a  seating  capacity  of  780. 
In  general  archite<5lure  the  style  is  colonial.  The  main  tower  is 
principally  of  stone.  The  entrance  is  of  the  same  material  in  form 
of  an  arch  and  is  an  impressive  and  pleasing  piece  of  work.  While 
the  superstru<5lure  is  of  wood,  the  general  finish  and  appearance  is 
such  as  to  give  the  impression  of  a  stone  building  throughout 

Rev.  Ross  C.  Houghton,  D.  D.,  the  present  pastor,  succeeded 
Mr.  Caswell  in  0<5lober,  1887.  He  has  passed  many  years  in  the 
ministry;  has  traveled  extensively,  and  is  a  popular  author.  His 
ministration  has  given  great  satisfa<5lion  to  the  congregation. 
Although  this  church  has  had  an  existence  of  only  a  little  more  than 
five  years  it  stands  third  in  number  of  members  in  the  Oregon 
conference,  and  is  regarded  as  a  most  desirable  appointment 

The  Gennan  M.  E.  Church  was  organized  in  1880.  A  church 
edifice  has  since  been  ere<5led  at  the  comer  of  North  Eighth  and  D 
streets  where  services  are  conducted  in  the  German  language.  Rev. 
Frederick  Bohn  was  the  first  pastor.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  J. 
C.  Sinclair.  Rev.  Frederick  Bohn  again  became  pastor  in  1885, 
ser\'ing  until  1888,  when  Rev.  George  Hartung,  the  present  pastor, 
succeeded  him. 

The  Norwegian-Danish  M.  E.  Church  was  organized  in  Novem- 
ber, 1882,  by  Rev.  C.  J.  Larsen  with  fifteen  members.  At  that 
time  meetings  were  held  in  a  chapel  on  Third  street.     Great  interest 


Churches.  347 


was  awakened  by  these  services  and  but  a  short  time  elapsed  until  a 
lot  was  purchased  by  the  congregation  on  the  corner  of  Twelfth  and 
D  street,  where  a  neat  and  commodious  church  has  since  been  ere<5led. 
Rev.  C.  J.  Larson  still  officiates  as  pastor. 

The  Methodists  have  been  foremost  in  the  establishment  of 
mission  branches  of  this  denomination  in  the  vicinity  of  Portland 
during  recent  years. 

The  East  Portland  M.  E.  Church,  organized  in  October,  1887, 
with  a  new  house  of  worship  on  the  comer  of  Tenth  and  Adams 
streets,  dedicated  in  February,  1890,  is  the  outgrowth  of  their  work 
in  this  dire<ftion.  The  Albina  M.  E.  Church,  comer  of  Russell  and 
Kirby  street  is  also  of  recent  growth.  Both  of  these  churches  are 
presided  over  by  Rev.  G.  M.  Pierce,  under  whom  they  are  enjoying 
great  prosperity.  For  several  years  a  Chinese  mission  has  been 
sustained,  of  which  Rev.  Andrew  J.  Hanson  is  superintendent. 

The  Zion  M.  E.   Church  comer  of  Main  and   Eleventh  streets, 
was    built  in  1881,  and  is  a  house   of  worship   for  the  Africans  of 
Portland.     At  present  no  regular  pastor  is  stationed  over  this  congre- 
gation and  services  are  only  occasionally  held. 

In  membership  the  Methodists  outnumber  any  other  religious 
denomination  in  Portland  except  the  Catholics.  At  the  Annual 
State  Conference  of  1889,  the  number  of  members  belonging  to 
the  Taylor  Street,  St.  Paul's  and  Grace  churches  of  Portland;  the 
Centenary  and  Adam's  Street  churches,  of  East  Portlnnd,  and  the 
Albina  church  was  reported  as  1,340. 

The  Catholics  followed  the  Methodists  in  point  of  time  in  the 
establishment  of  churches  in  Oregon.  As  early  as  the  winter  of 
1839-40  they  ere<5led  a  church  at  Champoeg,  in  the  Willamette 
Valley,  although  for  some  years  previously  they  had  been  steadily 
making  converts  to  their  faith  among  the  Indians.  In  1838  Rev.  F. 
N.  Blanchet  and  Rev.  Modiste  Demers  were  appointed  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Quebec  as  missionaries  to  the  Pacific  coast  countrj',  the 
fonner  as  vicar-general.  For  four  years  they  toiled  alone  in  their 
mission  field  which  extended  from  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  between  the  California  boundary  and  the  northern  glacial 
sea.     They  were  then  joined  by  other  laborers  in  religious  work  and 


348  History  of  Portland. 


from  that  time  the  Catholic  faith  has  been  upheld  by  able  and 
conscientious  workers. 

The  first  movement  toward  the  erection  of  a  Catholic  chmch  in 
Portland  was  commenced  in  the  fall  of  1851,  at  which  time  Rev. 
James  Croke  was  authorized  by  Archbishop  Blanchet  to  solicit  dona- 
tions for  the  purpose.  About  $600  was  secured  through  subscrip- 
tions from  residents  of  Portland,  with  which  half  a  block  of  ground 
was  purchased  from  Capt  J.  H.  Couch,  somewhere  in  the  vicinit\' 
of  Sixth  and  D  streets,  and  the  building  commenced. 

During  the  erection  of  the  church,  the  few  Catholics  who  were 
then  in  Portland,  used  to  assemble  at  the  residences  of  Catholic 
families,  until  the  completion  of  the  little  sacrist>'  at  the  end  of  the 
church,  where  for  the  first  time  midnight  mass  was  celebrated  at 
Christmas,  1851.  By  Februar>',  1852,  the  work  was  sufficiently 
advanced  to  have  the  building  dedicated,  the  ser\nces  being  per- 
formed by  Archbishop  F.  N.  Blanchet,  assisted  by  Verj-  Rev.  J.  B. 
Brouillet,  Vicar-general  of  Nesqualy  and  Rev.  James  Croke,  pastor. 
The  edifice  itself  at  this  time  was  a  mere  shell,  the  inside  walls 
being  covered  with  cotton  cloth,  and  the  sanctuary  and  altar  with 
Chinese  matting. 

The  church  remained  on  the  original  site  until  1854,  when  it 
was  moved  to  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Cathedral  of  the  Immac- 
ulate Conception,  on  the  comer  of  Third  and  Stark  streets.  Here 
the  building  remained  for  the  next  ten  years  without  change.  When 
in  1862,  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  removed  from  Oregon  City  to 
Portland,  this  humble  church  became  the  pro-Cathedral.  In  October, 
1863,  Ver\'  Rev.  J.  F.  Fierens,  V.  G.,  was  appointed  to  take  charge 
of  the  pro-Cathedral.  By  this  time  the  congregation  had  so  increased 
as  to  require  a  larger  building.  Under  Vicar-general  Fierens,  two 
wings  were  added  to  the  main  building  which  were  completed  in  the 
fall  of  1864,  the  first  ser\'ice  in  the  enlarged  church  being  cele- 
brated on  Christmas  day  of  that  year.  Seven  years  later 
it  again  became  necessary-  to  enlarge  the  building  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  congregation.  This  was  accomplished  between  August 
and  October,  1871.  During  the  next  seven  years,  the  Catholic 
population  of  Portland  had  so  increased  that  it  was  found  necessary 


Churches.  349 


to  erect  a  larger  building.  The  old  edifice  was  removed  and  in  its 
place  was  built  the  present  Cathedral  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
It  is  a  Gothic  structure  fronting  on  Stark  street.  It  was  dedicated 
in  1882,  and  at  present  is  completed  with  the  exception  of  the  main 
tower.  Very  Rev.  J.  F.  Fierens,  V.  G.,  has  been  pastor  of  this 
church  since  1863,  but  for  several  years  past  he  has  had  from  one  to 
two  assistants.  The  present  assistants  are:  Rev.  Edward  O'Dea  and 
Rev.  J.    Northman. 

Since  1862  Portland  has  been  the  residence  of  the  Archbishop  of 
the  Diocese  of  Oregon.     Archbishop  Blanchet  continued  in  charge  of 
the  Diocese  until  his  death  in  1885,  when  the  Most  Rev.  Wm.  H. 
Gross  was  appointed. 

The  Cathedral  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  remained  the  only 
Catholic  house  of  worship  in  this  vicinity  until  1874,  when  St. 
Francis  Church  in  East  Portland  was  built.  On  January  9,  1882, 
this*church,  which  stood  on  the  corner  of  Eleventh  and  J  streets,  was 
blown  down  by  the  memorable  storm  of  that  date,  after  which  the 
present  edifice  was  built  on  the  same  site.  Rev.  L.  Verhaag  is  pastor 
of  this  church. 

The  next  Catholic  house  of  worship  erected  was  the  Church  of 
St  Lawrence,  on  the  corner  of  Third  and  Sherman  streets,  built  in 
1883.  In  1886  St.  Joseph  Church,  on  the  comer  of  Fourteenth  and 
C  streets,  was  built;  and  in  1888,  St.  Patrick's  on  S  street,  between 
Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  streets,  and  the  Church  of  the  Immacu- 
late Heart  of  Mary,  in  Albina.  In  the  Church  of  St.  Joseph  the 
services  are  conducted  in  the  German  language.  The  pastors  of  the 
churches  last  named  are  as  follows:  Church  of  St.  Lawrence,  Rev. 
B.  Orth;  St.  Patrick's,  Rev.  P.  Gibney;  Church  of  St.  Joseph,  Rev. 
Dr.  Albert  Sommer;  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary,  Rev. 
G.  B.  Van  Lin. 

According  to  the  best  authority  the  present  Catholic  population 
of  Portland  and  vicinity  is  between  7,000  and  8,000. 

The  first  Congregational  minister  in  Oregon  was  Rev.  Harvey 
Clark,  an  independent  missionary,  who  organized  a  church  in  Oregon 
City  in  1844.  In  1847  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
sent  Rev.  George  H.  Atkinson  and  wife  to  labor  in  Oregon.     In  the 


350  History  of  Portland. 

early  part  of  1848  Mr.  Atkinson  held  two  sen-ices  in  Portland,  one 
in  a  log  shingle  shop,  and  the  other  in  an  old  warehouse,  the 
congregation  crowding  in  among  bales  and  boxes  of  goods. 
Occasional  serxices  were  afterwards  held  bv  Mr.  Atkinson  and  Re\*s. 
Harx-ey  Clark  and  C.  Eells. 

In  November,  1849,  Rev.  Horace  Lyman  and  wife  arrived. 
Mr.  Lyman  had  been  sent  out  by  the  Home  Missionarj-  Society  in 
1847,  but  remained  at  San  Jose,  California,  one  year  engaged  in 
teaching.  After  his  arrival  in  Portland  he  at  once  began  the  work 
of  building  up  a  church.  In  1850,  one  of  the  town  proprietors,  D. 
H.  Lownsdale,  gave  the  ground  and  the  citizens  made  libera] 
donations  to  carr>'  out  the  project  With  this  assistance  Mr.  L>Tnan 
began  the  erection  of  a  church  building  at  the  South  end  of  Second 
street  Much  of  the  manual  labor  connected  with  the  task  was 
performed  by  this  zealous  minister,  and  so  hard  did  he  work  that  he 
fell  ill  from  over-ex srtion.  He  soon,  however,  rallied  and 
prosecuted  the  work  with  such  vigor  that  the  building  was  completed 
and  dedicated  June  15,  1851.  Revs.  George  H.  Atkinson,  J.  S. 
Griffin  and  Har\ey  Clark  assisted  Mr.  Lyman  in  the  dedication 
ceremonies.  The  building  w^as  32x48  feet  in  dimensions;  had  a 
belfr\'  and  a  small  spire  and  cost  $6,400.  Mr.  L>Tnan  was  pastor 
for  four  years  and  a  half  when  he  removed  to  Dallas.  For  a  year 
and  a  half  thereafter  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Atkinson  officiated  as  pastor  but 
continued  during  this  period  to  reside  at  Oregon  City.  In  November, 
1855,  Rev.  P.  B.  Chamberlain  was  installed  pastor.  During  his 
pastorate,  which  covered  a  period  of  over  five  years,  a  large  number 
of  the  congregation  withdrew  to  form  another  Presbyterian  Church, 
as  had  been  the  case  during  Mr.  Lyman's  pastorate,  but  both  move- 
ments were  unsuccessful.  When  Mr.  Chamberlain's  labors  closed, 
in  March,  1862,  the  church  was  in  a  ver\'  weak  condition,  and  for 
more  than  a  year  thereafter  was  without  a  settled  pastor. 

In  July,  1863,  Rev.  George  H.  Atkinson  became  pastor  and  under 
his  labors  many  were  added  to  the  church.  In  1870,  the  old  house 
of  worship  became  too  small  for  the  congregation  and  the  present 
church  building  on  the  comer  of  Second  and  Jefferson  streets  was 
begun.     It    was    finished  in  the  following  year  and  first  used  on 


ChurchEvS.  351 


August  6,  1871.  During  the  labors  of  Dr.  Atkinson,  which  con- 
tinued until  December,  1872,  the  church  made  substantial  progress 
and  was  placed  on  a  firm  basis. 

Dr.  Atkinson  was  followed  by  Rev.  J.  D.  Eaton,  who  remained 
imtil  May,  1876,  when  he  resigned  to  enter  another  field.  For  a 
year  and  a  half  thereafter  Rev.  J.  H.  A<5lon,  of  the  Methodist  church, 
supplied  the  pulpit.  In  April,  1877,  Rev.  J.  A.  Cruzan  became  pastor. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Frederick  R.  Marvin  in  1883,  who  remained 
three  years,  when  the  present  pastor.  Rev.  T.  E.  Clapp,  assumed 
charge  of  the  congregation. 

During  Dr.  Atkinson's  pastorate  Plymouth  Church  congregation 
was  organized,  in  1871,  and  soon  after  the  present  church  building 
on  the  comer  of  Fourteenth  and  E  streets  was  ere<5led.  For  some 
years  Dr.  Atkinson  officiated  at  both  churches,  but  in  1880  Rev.  E. 
P.  Baker  assumed  charge  of  the  Plymouth  congregation.  The  latter 
remained  but  a  short  time  and  since  that  time  the  following  pastors 
have  been  stationed  at  different  times  over  this  church:  Revs.  E.  R. 
Loomis,  George  H.  Lee,  George  H.  Atkinson  and  Ezra  Haskell. 
The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  C.  T.  Whitttlesey. 

The  Mount  Zion  Congregational  Church  was  also  established 
through  the  efforts  of  the  members  of  the  First  Church.  It  was 
organized  in  1879  and  during  its  early  existence  was  almost  wholly 
dependent  on  the  First  Church.  It  has  now  become  self-supporting 
and  for  several  years  has  been  presided  over  by  Rev.  A.  W.  Bowman. 

The  first  Episcopal  clergyman  who  came  to  Oregon  was  the  Rev. 
St.  M.  Fackler.  He  crossed  the  plains  in  the  year  1847,  in  search 
of  health.  The  first  services  of  the  church  of  which  we  have  any 
record  were  held  by  him  in  Oregon  City  in  1847.  His  health  con- 
tinuing poor,  however,  he  made  no  efforts  to  establish  anywhere  any 
stated  services  or  to  organize  a  parish. 

It  was  not  until  1851  that  any  definite  steps  were  taken  by  the 
church  in  the  East  to  send  a  missionary  to  Oregon.  In  April  of  that 
year  Rev.  William  Richmond,  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York,  was 
sent  to  Oregon  and  on  Sunday,  May  18,  together  with  Mr.  Fackler 
he  .held  serv^ices  in  the  Methodist  house  of  worship  in  Portland. 
Some   idea   of  the   newness   of  the   coimtry   and  of  the   hardships 

[as] 


352  History  of  Portland. 


endured  by  missionaries  at  that  time  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Richmond  shortly  after 
his  arrival  in  Portland:  '*I  occupy  a  room  in  a  shanty,  merely  clap- 
boards, quite  open  to  the  air;  with  a  rough,  unplaned,  ungrooved 
floor;  no  carpets,  no  plastering,  no  ceiling.  For  this  I  pay  twelve 
dollars  a  month,  three  dollars  (fifteen  was  the  price)  having  been 
deducted  on  account  of  my  mission.  I  also  do  my  own  cooking,  and 
gather  my  own  wood  out  of  the  forest  behind  me;  yet  my  expenses 
will  be  as  great  as  in  a  good  boarding  house  in  New  York." 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  first  service  in  Portland,  May  18,  1851, 
Mr.  Richmond  organized  Trinity  Parish,  it  being  the  first  parish 
organized  in  the  Diocese  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  From  that 
time  until  the  arrival  of  Rev.  John  McCarthy,  D.  D.,  of  the  Diocese 
of  New  York,  who  in  Jan.,  1853,  as  Chaplain  in  the  army,  came  to 
Fort  Vancouver,  Mr.  Fackler  at  stated  times  held  services  in 
Trinity  Parish.  There  were  only  about  two  or  three  families 
connected  with  the  church.  On  his  arrival  Dr.  McCarthy  was 
persuaded  to  take  charge  of  the  work  here  in  connection  with  his 
chaplaincy  at  Vancouver. 

In  October,  1853,  Rev.  Thomas  Fielding  Scott,  of  the  Diocese  of 
Georgia,  was  elected  Missionary  Bishop  of  Oregon  and  Washington, 
and  arrived  in  Portland  in  April,  1854,  to  enter  upon  his  new  field 
of  labor.  The  first  church  erected  in  Trinity  Parish  was  consecrated 
by  Bishop  Scott,  September  24,  1854.  It  stood  on  the  northwest 
comer  of  Third  and  Oak  streets  and  was  the  first  church  building  of 
this  denomination  consecrated  on  the  Pacific  Coast 

In  1867,  Trinity  Parish  bought  a  half  block  on  the  comer  of 
Sixth  and  Oak  streets,  upon  which  the  present  church  building  now 
stands.  The  comer  stone  of  this  building  was  laid  on  April  25, 
1872,  but  the  edifice  was  not  completed  until  the  following  year. 

Upon  the  creation  of  the  Diocese  of  Oregon  and  Washington, 
Portland  became  and  has  since  remained  the  headquarters  of  the 
Diocese.  Bishop  Scott,  although  his  labors  extended  over  a  vast 
field,  resided  at  Portland  and  did  much  to  strengthen  and  build  up 
Trinity  Parish.  He  died  in  New  York  City  in  1867,  whither  he  had 
gone  for  the  benefit  of  his  wife's  health,      His  genial  manners  and 


Churches.  353 


his  marked  ability,  as  a  preacher,  won  for  him  the  affection  and 
commanded  the  respect  of  all  who  had  ever  heard  him  preach,  or 
^who  had  been  personally  acquainted  with  him.  He  did  much 
for  the  church  during  its  darkest  days  in  this  portion  of  the  North- 
ixrest,  while  his  labors  in  behalf  of  education  have  since  borne  abundant 
fruit.  He  was  succeeded  as  Bishop  by  Rt.  Rev.  B.  Wistar  Morris, 
D.  D.,  in  June,  1869.  For  several  years  thereafter  the  Diocese 
continued  to  embrace  Oregon  and  Washington,  but  during  late  years 
Oregon  has  been  a  separate  Diocese,  over  which  Bishop  Morris  still 
presides. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  clergymen  who  have  officiated 
in  Trinity  Parish  from  time  to  time,  since  its  organization  to  the 
present  day:  1851  and  1856,  Rev.  William  Richmond,  Rev.  St  M. 
Fackler,  Rev.  John  McCarthy,  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  Fielding  Scott,  D.D., 
SLnd  Rev.  Johnston  McCormas;  1856,  the  Bishop,  Rev.  James  L.  Daly 
aud  Rev.  John  Sellwood;  1857  to  1860,  Rev.  John  Sellwood,  Rev. 
Carlton  P.  Maples  and  Rev.  Peter  E.  Hyland;  1861  to  1865,  Rev. 
Peter  E.  Hyland;  1866  to  1871,  Rev.  William  Story;  1871  to 
p>resent  time.  Rev.  R.  D.  Nevins,  Rev.  George  Burton,  Rev.  George 
I^.  Plummer,  Rev.  George  W.  Foote  and  Rev.  Thomas  L.  Cole, 
the  last  named  being  the  present  Rector. 

In  the  year  1863,  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  on  the  comer  of  Madison 

a.nd  Fourth  streets,    was   completed   and   opened   for  service,    thus 

a.fFording  two  places  where  Episcopal   services  were  conducted  in 

Portland.     It  was  projected  and  built  at   his  own  expense  by  Bishop 

Scott.     Rev.  John  Sellwood  was   the  first   Rector.     In   1870   Rev. 

John    Rosenberg  became    Rector    and   has  ever  since   most  ably 

discharged  the  duties   of  pastor.       On  June    1,    1882,  the   present 

church  building  on  the  comer  of  Jefferson  and   Fifth  streets   was 

consecrated. 

The  parish  connected  with  St.  Matthew's  Chapel  was  formed  in 
1885,  and  has  a  commodious  church  edifice  on  the  corner  of  First 
and  Caruthers  streets.  Rev.  B.  E.  Habersham  has  been  rector  ever 
since  the  parish  was  organized. 

Trinity  Mission  Chapel  is  of  recent  origin,  and  for  a  time  was 
under  the  charge  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,      A  chapel  has  been 


354  History  of  Portland. 


built  on  the  northeast  comer  of  Eighteenth   and  Q  streets.       For 
some  time  Rev.  Wm.  MacEwan  has  been  rector. 

St.  David's  Episcopal  Church  parish,  East  Portland,  was  formed 
in  1871,  and  in  December  of  that  year  the  first  services  were  held  by 
Rev.  J.  W.  Sellwood  in  the  present  church  building,  but  the  edifice 
was  not  completed  until  nearly  a  year  thereafter.  Rev.  C.  R.  Bonnell 
assumed  charge  of  the  congregation  in  1872  and  remained  about  a 
year.  For  a  time  Rev.  James  R.  W.  Sellwood  officiated.  He  was 
followed  in  1874  by  Rev.  Arthur  W.  Wrixon,  who  continued  as 
rector  for  seven  years,  when  Rev.  J.  W.  Sellwood^  took  charge  of  the 
work.  The  church  numbers  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  commu- 
nicants and  is  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

The  first  Baptist  church  on  the  Pacific  coast  was  organized  at 
West  Union,  Washington  county,  Oregon,  May  25,  1844.  Two 
years  later  the  first  Baptist  meeting  house  was  built  at  this  point. 
From  1844  to  1848,  Rev.  Vincent  Snelling,  Elders  Hezekiah  John- 
son, Erza  Fisher  and  Porter  ministered  to  the  congregation.  In 
1848  the  Willamette  Baptist  Association  was  organized,  at  w^hich 
time  there  were  six  churches  in  the  State. 

In  1850    the   first   steps   toward    the  organization  of  a    Baptist 
church  in  Portland,  were  taken.       In    this    year  Hezekiah  Johnson 
secured  from  Stephen  Coffin  the   donation  of  a  half  block,  comer  of 
Fourth  and  Alder  streets,  upon  which  the  First  Baptist  Church  now 
stands.      Five  years  later  a  church  organization  was   perfected  with 
ten  members.       Rev.  W.  F.  Boyakin  was  chosen  pastor  and  Josiah 
Failing  deacon.       The    church    was    unfortunate    in  the  choice  of  a 
pastor  and  in  1860  only  three  members  remained.       With  the  hope 
of  reviving  the  church,  the  Willamette  Association  appealed  to  the 
American  Baptist  Mission  Society  to  place  a  missionar>'  in  the  field. 
In  response  to  this   request,  Rev.  Samuel  Cornelius,  D.  D.,  was  sent 
to   labor   in    Portland.      He  arrived  in  June,  1860  and  on  the  first 
vSunday  in  July  preached  in  the  Methodist  church.       A    public  hall     X M'  I) 
on  First  street  was  afterward  secured   where  regular  meetings  were    - 
held  until  January,  1862,  when  the  basement  of  the  present  church  MrS^h 
was  so  far  completed  as  to  be  used  for  religious  services. 

^  Rev.  J.  W.  SeUwood  died  in  March,  1890. 


•  J 


^^e 


Churches.  355 

In  September,  1864,  Dr.  Cornelius  returned  to  the  east,  leaving 
a  membership  of  forty-nine  persons.  During  the  next  two  years 
the  church  was  without  a  pastor.  December  27,  1866,  Rev.  E.  C. 
Anderson  arrived  to  take  charge  of  the  church. 

March  9,  1867,  the  society  was  incorporated,  and  in  January, 
1870,  the  church  edifice  was  completed  and  dedicated.  Mr.  Ander- 
son completed  his  labors  in  December,  1870,  after  which  a  pastoral 
vacancy  of  nearly  eighteen  months  occured. 

On  the  second  Sunday  in  June,  1872,  Rev.  Henr\'  Medbur}' 
began  his  pastorate.  The  church  soon  after  became  self-supporting, 
and  under  Mr.  Medbury\s  guidance  the  first  mission  work  of  the 
church  was  began.  A  Sunday  School  was  organized  in  East 
Portland;  land  purchased  there  for  a  church  and  preaching  services 
^were  for  some  time  maintained  by  Rev.  Addison  Jones.  The 
!2VIission  school  in  Stephen's  Addition,  and  the  Chinese  Mission  were 
soon  after  founded. 

In  August,  1875,  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Medbury  closed  and  that 
of  Rev.  D.  J.  Pierce  began.  Failing  health  induced  Mr.  Pierce  to 
tender  his  resignation  in  June,  1877,  and  in  August  following,  Rev. 
.  S.  Coates  became  pastor.  The  latter  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  John 
.  Gray  in  December,  1880,  who  remained  for  three  years.  During 
Inis  pastorate  the  church  was  enlarged  and  refitted. 

In  May,  1884-,  Rev.  J.  Q.  A.  Henry  became  pastor,  and  during 
'the  four  years  of  his  pastorate  the  church  had  a  ver>-  prosperous 
j)eriod,  over  400  accessions  to  the  membership  being  made.  The 
j>resent  pastor.  Rev.  John  Gordon,  was  installed  in  October,  1888. 

The  First  Baptist  congregation  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  city, 

the  members  numbering  over  500.     Large  contributions  to  mission 

^work,  local  and  foreign  are  made,  while  ever>'  effort  put  forth  to 

establish  Baptist  churches  within,  or  near  the  vicinity  of  Portland, 

lias  been  liberally  sustained  by  :he  congregation.     In  1874,  a  Baptist 

Mission  School  was  founded  in  Stephen's  Addition,  East  Portland. 

This  was  the  first  attempt  at  home  mission  work  by  the  congregation. 

Four  years  later  twenty-two  members   from  the  First  Church  were 

dismissed  to  form  the   First  Baptist   Church  of  East  Portland,  and 

about  the  same  time  a  chapel  in  Stephen's  Addition  was  dedicated. 


356  History  of  Portland. 


The  Emanuel  Baptist  Church  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  Meade 
street  mission,  established  early  in  1884.  In  May,  1886,  a  chapel 
was  erected  on  the  comer  of  Second  and  Meade  streets,  where 
services  are  now  regularly  held  by  the  pastor.  Rev.  B.  F.  Rattray, 
who  in  1888  succeeded  Rev.  Frederick  Eason. 

The  First  ScandinaWan  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  1884, 
through  the  efforts  of  Rev.  Gustavus  Liljoroth.  Rev.  O.  O'Kerson 
became  pastor  in  1885,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  present  pastor. 
Rev.  Nicholas  Nayland,  in  1886.  Recently  a  new  church  building 
has  been  erected  by  this  congregation  at  109  North  Eleventh  street. 
North  Portland. 

Besides  the  churches  named,  the  Baptists  of  Portland  maintain 
missions  at  North  Portland  and  Albina. 

The  first  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  denomination  in  Oregon 
was  Lewis  Thompson,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  an  alumnus  of 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  who  came  to  the  Pacific  slope  in 
1846.  He  was  soon  after  joined  by  a  minister  from  Ohio,  Robert 
Robe,  who  with  E.  R.  Geary,  of  Lafayette,  formed  the  Presbytery  of 
Oregon  on  19th  of  November,  1851. 

In  1853  there  were  five  Presbyterian  ministers  in  Oregon,  the 
three  already  mentioned  and  J.  L.  Yantis  and  J.  A.  Hanna.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Presbyter>'  held  at  Portland  in  0<5lober  of  this  year, 
a  petition  from  a  number  of  persons  for  the  organization  of  a  church 
in  Portland  was  received  and  considered.  The  request  was  granted 
and  Rev.  J.  L.  Yantis,  D.  D.,  who  had  preached  here  for  some 
months  was  appointed  to  organize  the  proposed  church. 

Under  Dr.  Yantis'  efforts  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Port- 
land was  constituted  and  organized  Januar>'  1,  1854,  with  twelve 
members  and  the  ele<5lion  of  Wm.  P.  Abrams  and  James  McKeon  as 
elders.  Dr.  Yantis  was  assisted  in  the  work  by  Rev.  George  F. 
Whitworth,  who  had  recently  arrived  in  Oregon  and  who  supplied 
the  Portland  church  for  two  months. 

On  May  1,  1854,  Dr.  Yantis  reported  the  organization  and  the 
church  was  taken  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery.  When  the 
church  was  organized  it  was  expelled  that  Dr.  Yantis  would  be  its 
permanent  pastor,  but  he  divided  his   time  between   the   Portland 


J 


Churches.  357 


church  and  the  church  at  Calipooia,  his  previous  charge,  in  Linn 
county,  eighty  miles  from  Portland,  whither  he  journeyed  on  horse- 
back twice  each  month,  until  an  affliction  of  the  eyes  compelled  him 
to  give  up  the  Portland  work.  After  this  the  church  was  only 
occasionally  supplied,  until  June  4,  1860,  when  Philip  S.  CaflFrey,  a 
recent  graduate  of  Princeton,  became  stated  supply.  Mr.  Caf&ey 
continued  his  ministerial  work  in  Portland  until  January  1,  1867, 
when  failing  health  caused  him  to  resign.  During  this  period,  in 
the  summer  of  1862,  the  lots  on  the  corner  of  Third  and  Washington 
streets  were  purchased  for  $1,500,  upon  which  a  church  building 
was  eredled  at  a  cost  of  about  $20,000,  being  dedicated  on  May  22, 
1864,  the  dedication  sermon  being  preached  by  Rev.  George  H. 
Atkinson. 

On  Odlober  23,  1865,  the  society  was  duly  incorporated  as  **The 
First  Presbyterian  Church  and  Society  of  the  City  of  Portland,''  by 
Messrs.  W.  S.  Ladd,  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  O.  P.  S.  Plummer,  J.  D.  Hol- 
man  and  M.  B.  Millard.  The  value  of  the  property  then  owned  by 
the  society  was  $25,000. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Caffrey's  labors,  the  church  remained  for 
nearly  two  years  without  a  pastor.  Rev.  A.  L.  Lindsley,  D.  D.  was 
extended  a  call  in  August,  1867,  which  he  finally  accepted  and  was 
installed  April  25,  1869,  as  the  first  regular  pastor  of  the  church. 
At  this  time  there  were  only  eighty-seven  members,  but  under  Dr. 
Lindsley's  ministry  the  church  rapidly  grew  in  influence  and  mem- 
bers. He  was  especially  a<5live  in  mission  work  among  the  Indians  of 
the  Northwest,  aiding  in  establishing  missions  among  the  Alaskans, 
Nez  Perces,  Puyallups,  Umatillas,  Spokanes  and  others.  His  pastorate 
continued  for  over  eighteen  years  and  during  this  period  he  organized 
twenty-one  churches  and  dedicated  twenty-two,  while  the  gifts  of  the 
church  for  all  purposes  amounted  to  over  $240,000.  His  ele<5lion  to 
the  chair  of  Practical  Theology  in  the  San  Francisco  Seminary  led 
to  his  resignation  as  pastor  in  November,  1886. 

In  January,  1886,  the  old  church  property  was  sold  at  public 
auction  for  $68,000  and  the  erection  of  a  new  church  on  the  quarter 
block  on  the  corner  of  Alder  and  Tenth  streets,  which  had  been 
purchased  in  1883,  was  commenced.     The  chapel  of  this  church  has 


358  History  of  Portland. 


been  completed  and  the  main  building  will  soon  be  finished.  It  is  a 
magnificent  stone  structure,  the  total  cost  of  which,  including  furnish- 
ings, will  be  about  $125,000.  Dr.  Lindsley's  resignation  and  removal 
to  California  left  the  church  without  a  pastor,  and  so  it  continued 
until  Januar>',  1888,  when  a  unanimous  call  was  extended  to  Rev. 
Arthur  J.  Brown,  of  Oak  Park,  Illinois.  Mr.  Brown  accepted  the 
pastorate,  and  on  May  9,  1888,  was  duly  installed. 

This  church  now  numbers  over  400  members  and  is  in  a  most 
flourishing  condition.  For  many  years  it  was  the  only  Presbyterian 
church  in  Portland  and  vicinity,  but  when  it  became  apparent  that 
other  churches  were  necessary,  some  of  its  members  withdrew  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  new  organizations.  Where  recently  but  one 
Presbyterian  Church  existed,  eight  are  now  doing  eflFective  work, 
and  to  this  development  the  old  church  has  been  able  to  contribute 
to  a  considerable  extent,  in  both  membership  and  means.  The 
Portland  Seaman's  Friend  Society,  and  the  Bethany  Missioi),  the 
latter  organized  in  August,  1889,  are  also  largely  sustained  by  the 
F'irst  Presbyterian  Church.  The  officers  of  the  church  are  as  follows: 
Ruling  Elders,  Royal  K.  Warren,  William  B.  Gilbert,  Stephen  P.  Lee, 
Edward  Quackenbush,  Alfred  Stowell,  William  M.  Ladd;  Trustees, 
Henry  W.  Corbett,  Thomas  N.  Strong,  William  S.  Ladd,  Donald 
Macleay  and  Dr.  George  M.  Wells. 

Calvary  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  February,  1882, 
by  some  fifty  members  who  withdrew  from  the  First  Presbyterian 
Cliurch,  since  which  time  it  has  been  maintained  independently  of 
the  parent  church,  and  the  '* Board  of  Home  Missions.''  The  first 
officers  elected  were:  George  J.  Ainsworth,  H.  C.  Coleman,  John 
Honeyman,  Wesley  Jackson,  William  Wadhams,  and  Dr.  Curtis 
C.  Strong,  Elders,  and  Henr\-  J.  Corbett,  treasurer.  On  July  1, 
1882,  Rev.  Edward  Turnbull  Lee  became  pastor.  Soon  after  Mr 
Lee  began  his  labors  a  lot  was  purchased  on  the  comer  of  Clay  and 
Ninth  streets  and  on  this  site  the  corner  stone  of  the  present  church 
buildin^i^  was  laid  September  11,  1882,  Dr.  Lindsley  of  the  First 
Church  delivering  the  address.  The  building  was  completed  in 
about  a  year's  time,  and  cost  $35,000.  It  is  a  neat  gothic  structure^ 
having  an  auditorium,   pastor's  study,  chapel  and  Sabbath  school 


Churches.  359 


room  on  one  floor.  The  seating  capacity  of  the  auditorium  is  500,  and 
the  chapel,  300.  A  little  to  the  North  of  the  church  building  is  the 
church  parsonage,  which  is  owned  by  the  church  and  occupied  by 
the  pastor.  Mr.  Lee  resigned  in  1887,  and  was  succeeded  by  the 
present  pastor,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Landon.  This  church  is  in  a  thriving 
and  growing  condition  and  is  doing  an  excellent  work. 

St.  John's  Presbyterian  Church  in  North  Portland  is  the  out- 
growth of  the  mission  labors  of  Rev.  R.  J.  McLaughlin,  who  was 
sent  to  this  field  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions  in 
1881.  His  labors,  however,  were  largely  sustained  by  the  First 
Presbyterian  congregation.  A  Sabbath  School  was  first  organized 
at  the  Couch  Engine  Room  on  G  street  about  the  middle  of  August, 
1883,  while  preaching  services  were  held  every  Sabbath  evening  at 
Watson's  Hall,  comer  of  Sixteenth  and  T  streets.  A  short  time 
after  the  mission  was  opened  two  lots  on  the  corner  of  Sixteenth  and 
M  streets  were  donated  by  Mrs.  J.  H.  Couch,  and  upon  them  in  1884 
the  present  church  edifice  was  built.  The  congregation  was  organized 
in  November,  1884,  some  thirteen  of  the  members  of  the  First 
church  withdrawing  from  that  body  to  complete  the  organization. 
Mr.  McLaughlin  was  succeeded  as  pastor  in  1888  by  Rev.  J.  V. 
Milligan,  who  still  presides  over  the  congregation. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  April,  1884, 
and  has  a  suitable  church  building  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Sixth 
and  Montgomery  streets.  Rev.  Wm.  R.  Stevenson  very  acceptably 
labored  in  the  establishment  of  the  church  and  for  four  years 
continued  as  pastor.  He  was  followed  in.  1888  by  the  present  pastor. 
Rev.  Wm.  W.  Logan. 

The  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  1887,  and  is 
located  in  South  Portland,  on  South  First  street,  between  Grover 
and  Gibbs  streets.  Rev.  Thomas  Boyd  has  been  pastor  since  the 
formation  of  the  church. 

The  Chinese  Mission  maintained  by  the  Presbyterians  of  the 
city  has  been  in  existence  for  several  years.  Rev.  Wm.  S.  Holt  is 
the  missionary-  in  this  field  of  work. 

In  response  to  a  call  issued  to  the  Israelites  residing  in  Portland, 
a  meeting  was  held  at  the  National  Hotel  Sunday,  May  2,  1858,  for 


360  History  of  Portlaxd. 


the  purpose  of  organizing  a  Jewish  congregation.  Eight  gentlemen 
assembled;  M.  Mansfield,  Jacob  Mayer,  Samuel  Lev>%  DaWd  Simon, 
L.  Cohen,  S.  M.  Lyon,  and  B.  Simon.  One  week  later. 
May  9,  1858,  the  gentlemen  named  and  H.  F.  Bloch,  Leopold 
Mayer,  Abraham  Frank  and  J.  Mecholup  completed  the  organization 
of  Beth  Israel  congregation,  at  which  time  the  following  officers 
were  elected:  Leopold  Mayer,  President;  M.  Mansfield,  Vice  Presi- 
dent; Abraham  Frank,  Treasurer  and  B.  Simon,  Secretary'. 

Burke's  Hall  was  secured  as  the  place  of  worship  and  Rev.  S. 
M.  Laski  was  engaged  as  Reader.  The  congregation  rapidly 
increased  in  members  and  the  erection  of  a  Sx'nagogue  was  soon 
discussed.  In  October,  1859,  a  lot  on  the  comer  of  Fifth  and  Oak 
streets  was  purchased.  On  May  12,  1861,  the  comer  stone  of  the 
Synagogue  was  laid,  and  in  August  following  the  building  was  com- 
pleted and  consecrated.  In  May,  1861,  Rev.  H.  Bories  was  chosen 
minister,  remaining  in  charge  of  Beth  Israel  until  July,  1863,  when 
Rev.  Dr.  Julius  Eckman  was  elected  the  first  Rabbi  of  the  congre- 
gation« 

The  Synagogue  was  enlarged  in  1865  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  congregation,  and  for  more  than  two  decades  thereafter  was 
used  for  religious  purposes.  In  the  meantime  the  congregation  had 
grown  so  large  that  it  illy  answered  for  a  house  of  worship.  The 
erection  of  a  more  suitable  building  was  periodically  discussed,  but 
no  decisive  action  was  taken  until  Col.  L.  Fleischner  took  the  mat- 
ter in  hand  and  in  response  to  his  efforts  the  necessarv'  steps  were 
taken  which  led  to  the  erection  of  the  present  Synagogue.  He  was 
ably  assisted  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Bloch,  who  had  been  elected  Rabbi  in 
October,  1883. 

In  May,  1887,  the  necessar>'  ground  was  secured  at  the  comer  of 
Tenth  and  Main  streets.  Plans  for  a  Synagogue  drawn  by  Williams 
&  Smith  were  accepted  and  on  Januar\'  8,  1888,  work  was  com- 
menced. The  building,  costing  $70,000  was  completed  and  dedi- 
cated on  Januarj'  2,  1889.  In  exterior  dimensions  the  structure  is 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  by  fifty-eight;  the  two  ornamental 
towers  being  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  from  the  street  to  the 
apex.     The  basement  is  of  stone  and  brick  and  divided  into  school 


Churches.  361 


and  meeting  room.  The  superstructure  is  of  wood.  With  the  gal- 
lery the  auditorium  will  seat  seven  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 

The  congregation  now  numbers  one  hundred  and  fifty  male 
members.  The  present  officers  are:  S.  Blumauer,  President;  J. 
Kaufman,  Vice  President;  N.  Baum,  Treasurer;  Sol  Friedenthal, 
Secretary.  Following  are  the  names  of  those  who  have  served  as 
Readers  and  Rabbis  of  the  congregation:  Rev.  S.  M.  Larki,  Rev. 
H.  Biers,  Rev.  H.  Bories,  Rev.  Dr.  Julius  Eckman,  Rev.  Dr. 
Isaac  Schwab,  Rev.  M.  May,  Rev.  Alexander  Rosenspitz  and  the 
present  Rabbi,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Bloch. 

The  Jewish  congregation  of  Ohavi  Sholem  was  organized  in 
1872  by  Dr.  Julius  Eckman,  and  has  a  Synagogue  on  Sixth  street 
between  Oak  and  Pine  streets.  Since  that  time  Revs.  Mellis,  Rob- 
ert Abraham,  I.  Kaiser  and  A.  W.  Edelman,have  officiated  as  Readers. 
The  present  Reader  is  Rev.  Robert  Abrahamson.  The  congregation 
numbers  fifty  members. 

Prior  to  the  year  1866  there  was  no  Unitarian  church  in  Portland. 
There  were  four  or  five  individuals  and  a  few  families  who  cherished 
a  faith  in  the  principles  of  liberal  Christianity,  a  term  which  has 
come  to  cover  not  only  Unitarians  and  Universalists,  but  all  who, 
holding  to  the  essential  principles  of  Christianity,  have  felt 
dissatisfied  with  the  exclusiveness,  dogmatism  or  formalism,  which 
the  traditions  of  men  have  added  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel- 
Thomas  Starr  King  had  visited  the  country,  but  chiefly  as  a  le<5lurer. 
We  are  told  that  he  preached  in  the  State  one  or  two,  times.  His 
name  will  always  be  identified  with  that  of  the  Unitarian  church 
upon  this  whole  coast.  In  the  year  above  mentioned,  three  individ- 
uals united  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Horatio  Stebbins,  pastor  of  the  church 
in  San  Francisco,  inviting  him  to  make  a  visit  to  Oregon  and  preach 
in  Portland,  with  a  view  to  find  out  whether  it  were  best  to  found  a 
liberal  church  in  Portland.  Mr.  Stebbin's  visit  created  a  profound 
feeling  in  the  community.  He  preached  three  Sundays,  and  was 
heard  by  large  numbers  of  every  class  and  name.  The  result  was  a 
permanent  organization,  and  the  adoption  of  a  constitution,  which 
was  signed  by  twenty-three  persons.  On  the  30th  of  June  the  church 
was  duly  inc5orporated  by  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  as  corporators. 


362  History  of  Portland. 


A  sum  of  money  was  subscribed  toward  obtaining  a  minister  from 
the  East,  and  by  various  agencies  a  sufficient  sum  was  obtained,  even 
before  a  pastor  was  secured,  to  purchase  two  lots  and  ertA  the  present 
building  on  the  comer  of  Yamhill  and  Seventh  streets — ^thc  land 
costing  $2,000,  and  the  building  the  same  sum.  In  the  fiall  of  '67, 
Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot,  then  settled  in  St.  Louis,  was  invited,  through 
the  American  Unitarian  Association,  to  take  charge  of  this,  the  most 
distant  of  the  churches  in  the  countr>'.  Starting  from  St.  Louis  the 
11th  of  November,  the  pastor  and  his  family  arrived  in  Portland  by 
way  of  the  Isthmus  and  San  Francisco,  the  day  before  Christmas. 
On  the  last  Sunday  of  the  year  the  church  was  dedicated,  the 
services  being  conducted  by  three  of  the  ministers  of  the  place — 
Methodist,  Baptist  and  Presbyterian.  Since  that  time  services  have 
been  condudled  without  any  interruption,  to  the  present  time.  Rev. 
Dr.  Eliot  has  been  the  minister  for  twenty-two  years — the  longest 
protestant  pastorate  in  the  city  and  during  that  time  has  officiated  at 
500  funerals,  440  weddings  and  488  baptismal  services.  The  church 
now  numbers  two  hundred  communicants,  and  has  a  strong  constitu- 
ency and  parish  additional.  Its  pastoral  and  charitable  work  has 
always  been  large,  in  proportion  to  the  age  and  strength  of  the 
church;  the  expenses,  usually  about  $3,500  a  year,  are  paid  by 
voluntary'  subscription.  A  charitable  fund,  amounting  to  $300  a 
year,  is  fonned  by  collections  upon  the  first  Sunday  of  each  month. 
The  Sunday  School  now  numbers  about  one  hundred  and  fiftj' 
scholars  and  twenty-two  teachers,  and  is  full  of  earnestness  and  life 
and  the  congregations  are  always  large,  frequently  filling  the  church 
to  its  utmost  capacity.  Its  members  are  in  the  main  influential  in 
the  community,  and  among  the  foremost  in  the  city's  public  enter- 
prises and  charities.  The  business  of  the  society  is  conducted  by  a 
board  of  nine  trustees — three  retiring  by  expiration  of  their  term, 
and  three  chosen  ever\'  year. 

In  the  year  1878-79,  the  present  edifice  on  the  old  site,  was 
completed  at  a  cost  of  $20,000.  The  former  church  building  is 
now  the  chapel  and  Sunday  School  room.  In  addition  to  the 
Christian  Union,  above  named,  there  are  connected  with  the  church 
a  ^Tostoffice  Mission''  for  disseminating  religious  literature,  and  the 


Churches.  363 


W.  G.  Eliot  Fraternity  of  Young  People.  The  society  also  supports 
a  Mission  Sunday  School  in  South  Portland  with  ten  teachers  and 
sixty  scholars. 

The  Unitarian  Church  of  America,  originating  in  the  New 
England  Controversy  of  1820-30,  is  a  small,  loosely  organized  but 
powerful  body,  identified  everywhere  with  intellectual  freedom,  the 
progress  of  science,  and  spiritual  religion.  It  is  a  church  eminent 
for  philanthropy  and  great  scholarship,  and  numbers  among  its 
members,  numbers  of  the  leading  authors  and  reformers  of  the  age. 
The  German  Lutheran  Church  was  organized  in  1868  by  Rev.  H. 
Meyers.  Services  were  first  held  in  Trinity  Methodist  Church.  The 
first  officers  were:  F.  T.  Lauterwau§ser  and  John  A.  Fisher,  Elders; 
C.  H.  Meussdorffer  and  Henry  Lansen,  Deacons.  The  present  house 
of  worship,  corner  of  Fifth  and  Taylor,  was  completed  in  1870.  It 
has  a  seating  capacity  of  five  hundred.  The  following  have  served 
as  pastors:  Revs.  H.  Meyers,  C.  S.  Spricher,  Henry  Gans,  G.  P. 
Weaver  and  A.  Meyers.      Rev.  Henry  Doering  is  the  present  pastor. 

The  Swedish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Immanuel  Church  began  its 
existence  in  1883  with  Rev.  John  W.  Skans  as  pastor,  who  has 
continued  in  that  relation  ever  since.  A  neat  church  building  has 
been  erected  on  B  street,  between  Ninth  and  Tenth  streets. 

The  Norwegian-Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  was 
organized  in  1886.  Rev.  John  Tackle  continued  as  pastor  for  one 
year,  since  which  the  church  has  been  without  a  pastor. 

The  English  Lutheran  Congregation  was  organized  in  1888. 
Services  are  held  every  Sunday  by  the  pastor.  Rev.  M.  L.  Sweizig  in 
Central  Hall.     The  erection  of  a  church  edifice  is  contemplated. 

The  First  ( rerman  Evangelical  Reformed  Church  was  organized  in 
1874,  by  Rev.  John  Gantenbein.  A  few  years  later  the  present  church 
building  on  the  comer  of  Ninth  and  Stark  streets  was  erected.  The 
services  are  conducted  in  the  Gennan  language,  and  the  church  is  in 
a  prosperous  condition.  Mr.  Gantenbein  is  still  pastor  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  church  is  largely  due  to  his  labors. 

The  First  Christian  Church  was  organized  in  Februar>',  1870. 
For  several  years  services  were  held  in  Nonpareil  Hall,  comer  of 
First  and   Madison  streets.      In  1881,  a  lot  was  purchased  on  the 


364  History  of  Portland. 


comer  of  East  Park  and  Columbia  and  during  the  same  year  the 
present  house  of  worship  was  built.  The  following  pastors  have 
served  this  church:  C.  Sharp  jr,  B.  Wolverton,  Henr>'  Shader  and 
Clark  Davis.  At  present  the  congregation  have  no  regularly  stationed 
pastor. 

The  society  of  the  First  German  Evangelical  Church  was  formed 
in  1878.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  H.  W.  Axthelm  under  whom 
the  present  house  of  worship,  on  the  Northeast  comer  of  Eighth 
and  Clay  streets,  was  built  in  1880.  Rev.  Charles  Wachlte  succeeded 
Mr.  Axthelm  in  1883.  He  remained  two  years  when  Rev.  Adam 
Schlenck  was  chosen  pastor.  The  present  pastor  Rev.  Herman 
Schuknecht  began  his  pastorate  in  1888. 

BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES. 

During  the  earlier  years  of  Portland's  histor>',  the  poor  of  the 
city  were  cared  for  by  the  generosity  of  individual  citizens  or  through 
the  efforts  of  relief  societies  connected  with  the  various  churches. 
As  the  city  grew  in  population  more  systematic  methods  for  dealing 
with  want  and  destitution  became  necessarv.  In  obedience  to  this 
demand  the  Ladies  Relief  Society — the  first  organization  to  take  up 
the  work  independently  of  the  religious  denominations  of  the  cit>' — 
came  into  existence.  This  society  was  formed  in  March,  1867,  Mrs. 
G.  H.  Atkinson,  Mrs.  E.  Ainsworth,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  Mrs.  M. 
S.  Burrell,  Mrs.  J.  H.  Couch,  Mrs.  J.  B.  Congle,  Mrs.  T.  L.  Eliot, 
Mrs.  Thos.  Frazer,  Mrs.  A.  Holbrook,  Mrs  C.  H.  Lewis,  Mrs. 
Donald  Macleay,  Mrs.  S.  G.  Reed  and  others  being  among  the 
original  members. 

After  four  years'  work  among  the  poor  of  the  city,  the  necessity 
of  providing  a  '^Home*'  where  the  forsaken  and  neglected  children 
of  the  city  could  be  kept  and  cared  for  became  apparent  to  the 
members  of  the  society.  To  attain  this  object,  the  ladies  secured 
the  co-operation  of  W.  S.  Ladd,  Henry  Failing,  David  C.  Lewis, 
Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot  and  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  who  in  July,  1871,  under  the 
laws  of  Oregon,  became  a  corporate  body  and  the  original  trustees 
of  the  corporation  known  as  **The  Home.''  Soon  after  the  incor- 
poration was  secured  the  society  and  board  of  trustees  purchased 


Benevolent  Societies.  365 


two  lots  and  a  small  house  on  the  comer  of  F  and  Fourteenth 
streets  for  $2,000,  twelve  gentlemen  contributing  $100  each 
toward  the  purchase,  which  with  the  money  at  that  time  in  the 
hands  of  the  society,  left  a  surplus  of  $200  after  paying  for  the 
property.  A  few  months  later,  a  sum  of  $3,000  was  secured  for 
building  a  '*Home,''  which  was  immediately  begun,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1872,  formally  opened  under  the  charge  of  Miss  E.  Davison 
as  matron.  Here  for  twelve  years  the  society  did  a  grand  work,  the 
'*Home''  being  constantly  filled  with  children  who  were  provided 
with  comfortable  quarters  and  pleasant  surroundings. 

As  the  city  increased  in  population,  the  building  became  too 
small  for  the  purpose,  and  in  response  to  the  appeals  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society  for  enlarged  quarters  and  a  site  further  out  of 
town,  Henry  Villard,  early  in  1883,  donated  to  the  society  a  block 
of  land  in  South  Portland,  bounded  by  Gaines,  Lane,  Corbett  and 
Water  streets.  Upon  this  land,  admirably  situated  for  the  purpose, 
a  three-story  building,  108x58  feet  in  dimensions,  has  been  erected, 
which  was  opened  in  November,  1884.  It  is  a  handsome  and  impos- 
ing structure,  and  furnished  with  every  facility  for  the  comfort  and 
health  of  its  inmates.  Since  it  was  opened,  the  average  number  of 
children  maintained  has  been  eighty.  Girls  from  three  to  twelve 
and  boys  from  three  to  ten  years  are  received.  They  are  provided 
with  comfortable  clothing,  plain  but  plentiful  food,  surrounded  with 
good  moral  influences,  and  from  the  time  they  arrive  at  the  legal 
school  age  until  they  leave  the  institution,  attend  the  public  schools. 
When  they  attain  the  age  they  are  to  leave  the  **Home,''  in  most 
cases  they  are  adopted  into  families  or  provided  with  situations  where 
they  can  earn  their  own  living. 

During  recent  years,  the  State  Legislature  has  annually  appro- 
priated a  certain  sum  to  be  expended  in  maintaining  the  **Home.'* 
Last  year  (1889),  $5,000  was  received  from  this  source,  but  outside 
of  the  aid  it  receives  from  the  legislature  and  from  an  endowment 
fund  of  $13,680,  it  is  entirely  supported  by  voluntary  contributions. 

In  September,  1889,  a  hospital  building  costing  $3,000,  was 
completed  on  the  block  occupied  by  the  Home.  It  is  to  be  princi- 
pally used  for  the  treatment  of  contagious  diseases. 


366  History  of  Portland. 


Mrs.G.  P.  F.  Wood  has  held  the  position  of  Matron  of  the  Home 
since  February,  1879.  She  has  proven  a  most  earnest  worker  and 
well  qualified  for  a  most  tr\'ing  position.  Under  her  care  the  chil- 
dren receive  judicious  training,  and  are  surrounded  by  influences 
well  calculated  to  leave  a  lasting  impress  for  good.  Among  others 
who  are  especially  deserving  of  praise  for  their  work  in  behalf  of 
**The  Home,''  are  Drs.  Ziba  B.,  Ammi  S.  and  Clarence  L.  Nichols, 
who  for  the  past  seven  years  have  gratuitously  tendered  their  pro- 
fessional services  to  the  inmates.  During  this  period  but  one  death 
has  occurred  among  them,  a  fact  due  largely  to  their  skill  and 
faithfulness. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  of  *^The  Home''  is  composed  of  W.  S. 
Ladd,  Henry  Failing,  H.  W.  Corbett,  Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot  and  Wm. 
Wadhams.  W.  S.  Ladd  is  President  of  the  Board;  Henry  Failing, 
Treasurer  and  Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot,  Secretary.  The  officers  of  the 
Ladies'  Relief  Society,  to  whom,  in  connection  with  the  officers  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  the  care  and  management  of  **The  Home"  is 
entrusted,  are:  Mrs.  Amory  Holbrook,  president;  Mrs.  H.  F. 
Suksdorf,  vice  president;  Mrs.  Theodore  Wygant,  treasurer;  Mrs.  C.  F. 
Rockwell,  secretary;  Mrs.  H.  Thielsen,  Mrs.  B.  Goldsmith,  Mrs. 
H.  W.  Corbett,  Mrs.  F.  Alleyne  Beck,  Mrs.  W.  W.  Spaulding, 
Mrs.  T.  B.  Merry,  Mrs.  Eugene  D.  White,  Mrs.  C.  F.  Rockwell,  Mrs. 
J.  B.  Congle,  Mrs.  D.  P.  Thompson  and  Mrs.  Geo.  T.  Myers, 
advisory  committee. 

The  German  Benevolent  Association  is  one  of  the  oldest 
charitable  organizations  in  the  city.  It  was  formed  in  1869,  mainly 
through  the  efforts  of  Christian  H.  Muessdorffer,  one  of  Portland's 
most  successful  German  merchants.  Among  its  first  officers  were: 
Henry  Saxer,  president;  Charles  Burckhardt,  treasurer;  Dr.  Charles 
Schumacher,  secretary  and  0.  H.  Muessdorffer,  chairman  of  the 
board  of  trustees.  To  render  aid  to  destitute  Germans  who  come  to 
Portland  is  the  object  of  the  society,  and  during  the  years  of  its 
existence  it  has  been  the  means  of  rendering  timely  aid  to  many 
worthy  emigrants.  The  society  has  a  hospital  fund  of  more  than 
$20,000,  and  in  the  near  future  intends  to  erect  and  maintain  a 
hospital,  ground  for  which  has  already  been  purchased.     The   work 


Benevolent  Societies.  367 


of  the  society  is  carried  on  with  the  money  received  from  monthly 
membership  dnes.  The  present  officers  are:  John  Wagner, 
president;  C.  Caesar,  vice  president;  C.  Von  Wurtzengerode,  secretary 
and  agent;  Frank  Dekum,  treasurer;  C.  H.  Muessdorffer,  L.  Levy 
and  D.  W.  Hoelbing,  trustees. 

Among  the  most  practical  charitable  organizations  of  Portland 
should  rank  the  Boys  and  Girls  Aid  Society.  The  good  accom- 
plished by  a  similar  society  in  California  induced  a  number  of  our 
citizens  to  unite  in  perfecting  an  organization  here.  Prominent 
among  those  who  aided  in  the  preliminary  work  and  who  has  ever 
since  been  a  most  valuable  friend  of  the  society,  is  Rev.  T.  h. 
Eliot,  a  prominent  figure  in  charitable  and  philanthropic  work 
during  his  many  years  of  residence  in  our  city.  An  organization 
was  perfected  in  July,  1885,  at  which  time  the  following  officers 
were  chosen:  H.  W-  Corbett,  president;  F.  E  Beach,  secretary;  h- 
L.  Hawkins,  treasurer;  W.  S.  Ladd,  H.  W.  Corbett,  P.  F.  Keen,  h  L. 
Hawkins,  Helen  F.  Spaulding,  W.  B.  Gilbert,  F.  E-  Beach  and  I.  F. 
Powers,  trustees.- 

The  object  of  the  society  is  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
homeless,  neglected  and  abused  children  of  the  State,  using  such 
means  as  are  strictly  non-sectarian  in  character.  It  began  work 
under  the  provision  of  an  act  passed  by  the  State  Legislature  in 
February,  1885,  called  *^\n  Act  for  suspension  of  judgment  against 
minors,  and  for  commitment  to  the  care  of  certain  charitable 
corporations. ' '  Under  the  provisions  of  this  act  it  receives  **juvenile 
oflfenders,^^  by  legal  commitment  or  otherwise,  who  are  in  danger  of 
being  imprisoned;  provides  for  such  until  suitable  homes  or  employ- 
ment and  oversight  are  found  for  them,  and  continues  a  systematic 
attention  to  their  treatment  and  condition. 

In  1887  a  special  officer  of  the  city  police  was  detailed  to  the 
services  of  the  society.  He  investigates  cases,  visits  families,  attends 
to  all  reports  at  the  station  regarding  boys,  attends  the  courts 
whenever  boys  or  girls  are  on  trial,  looks  after  the  children  in  the 
streets,  keeps  a  record  of  the  cases  and  carries  out  in  general  the 
work  as  directed  by  the  officers  of  the  society. 


368  History  of  Portland. 

The  society  has  been  instrumental  in  securing  from  the  legislature 
the  passage  of  several  bills  aiming  to  improve  the  moral  and  physical 
condition  of  the  young,  such  as  the  act  restraining  the  sale  of  tobacco 
and  cigarettes  to  minors,  and  also  the  bill  above  referred  to 
empowering  courts  to  transfer  to  charitable  institutions  the  guardian- 
ship of  minors  on  proof  of  sufficient  cause. 

Among  those  who  have  been  especiaily  active  in  carrying  on  the 
work  of  the  society  is  Ira  F.  Powers,  the  acting  superintendent  of 
the  executive  committee,  who  from  the  start  has  been  a  zealous 
worker,  and  whose  earnest  and  self-sacrificing  labors  have  gained 
for  the  organization  such  a  strong  hold  on  the  confidence  of  the 
public.  F.  E.  Beach  has  been  secretary  from  the  beginning,  and 
also  a  valuable  co-worker  in  the  cause,  while  Rev.  T.  L.  Eliot,  who 
may  be  termed  the  founder  of  the  society,  has  been  a  constant 
source  of  good  advice  and  in  many  ways  one  of  its  most  earnest  and 
detennined  advocates. 

During  1889  the  society  was  the  recipient  of  $40,000  by  the 
will  of  Miss  Ella  M.  Smith.  This  fund  is  to  be  invested  and  only 
the  proceeds  to  be  used.  The  members  intend  in  the  near  future  to 
erect  a  receiving  home,  and  with  the  endowment  the  society  has 
already  received,  it  will  be  possible  to  make  the  institution  largely 
self-supporting. 

The  present  officers  are  :  H.  W.  Corbett,  president;  F.  E.  Beach, 
secretar}-;  L.  L.  Hawkins,  treasurer;  Ira  F.  Powers,  H.  W.  Corbett, 
J.  A.  Strowbridge,  D.  Solis  Cohen,  L.  L.  Hawkins,  W.  B.  Gilbert, 
F.  E.  Beach,  I.  W.  Pratt,  Helen  F.  Spaulding,  trustees;  Ira.  F. 
Powers,  W.  B.  Gilbert  and  Helen  F.  Spaulding,  executive 
committee. 

For  a  number  of  years  those  interested  in  benevolent  work  in 
Portland  felt  the  necessity  of  a  better  organization — sl  more  systematic 
method  of  dispensing  alms.  Wm.  G.  Steel  and  a  number  of  others^ 
connected  with  the  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  at  last  took  the  matter  in  hand  and  with  the 
hearty  co-operation  of  many  others  who  had  been  prominent 
workers  in  the  cause  of  organized  charity,  secured-  in  Februar)*, 
1889,  the  organization  of  the  City  Board  of  Charities. 


Benevolent  Societies.  369 


^  This  society,  while  it  does  not  directly  dispense  alms  in  any  form, 
aims  to  be  a  center  of  inter-communication  between  the  various 
churches  and  charitable  agencies  in  the  city;  to  foster  harmonious 
co-operation  between  them;  to  furnish  them  with  trustworthy 
information,  and  to  prevent  the  waste  and  misuse  of  charitable  funds. 
It  investigates  cases  of  all  applioants  for  relief  which  are  referred  to 
the  society  for  inquiry;  obtains  from  proper  charities  and  charitable 
individuals  suitable  and  adequate  relief  for  deserving  cases;  procures 
work  for  poor  persons  in  need  who  are  capable  of  being  wholly  or 
partially  self-supporting,  and  represses  mendicancy  by  public 
exposure  and  prosecution  of  imposters.  It  co-operates  with  all 
similar  societies  and  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  city,  county 
and  State  in  all  proper  efforts  to  discover,  suppress  and  punish 
vagabondism. 

The  society  is  composed  of  the  mayor  and  chief  of  police  of  the 
city;  annual  members  who  pay  a  certain  sum  to  the  society  annually, 
and  life  members,  who  subscribe  one  hundred  dollars.  Its  manage- 
ment is  vested  in  seven  directors,  of  whom  the  mayor  is  ex-ofRcio  a 
member. 

At  the  close  of  its  first  year's  existence  the  society  had  disbursed 
nearly  $3,000,  and  had  investigated  the  cases  of  nearly  1,200  appli- 
cants for  aid,  while  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
value  of  the  work  actually  accomplished  in  coping  with  the  evils  of 
vagabondism  and  in  protecting  the  public  from  unworthy  claimants 
for  charity.  By  its  work  the  society  has  demonstrated  its  usefulness 
and  its  strong  claim  for  support. 

Mr.  W.  G.  Steel  was  the  first  secretary-  of  the  society,  rendering 
faithful  and  judicious  service  until  his  business  interests  compelled 
him  to  give  up  the  work.  With  this  exception  there  has  been  no 
change  in  the  original  officers.  Thos.  N.  Strong  is  president;  Geo. 
H.  Williams,  vice-president;  W.  R.  Walpole,  secretary;  Charles  E. 
Ladd,  treasurer;  C.  J.  Chamberlain,  assistant  secretary;  Thomas  N. 
Strong,  Charles  E.  Ladd,  J.  C.  Flanders,  George  H.  Williams,  Ross 
C.  Houghton,  John  Klosterman  and  Mayor  Van  B.  DeLashmutt, 
board  of  directors. 


370  History  of  Portland. 


The  Portland  Womans'  Union,  a  charitable  and  benevolent  society, 
incorporated  0<5lober  21,  1887,  early  in  the  following  year  opened  a 
boarding  house  for  self-supporting  girls,  at  308  F  street  in  the  build- 
ing formerly  occupied  by  the  Woman's  Relief  Society  as  a  Children's 
Home.  It  is  designed  to  offer  a  home  to  women  who  come  to  the 
city  strangers  in  search  of  employment  or  their  general  interest, 
unable  to  pay  high  hotel  rates  and  ignorant  as  to  >yhere  they  may 
obtain  respe(5lable  lodging  places  within  their  means.  The  lowest 
possible  rate  for  board  and  lodging  is  charged,  compatible  with 
making  the  institution  as  nearly  self-supporting  as  possible,  but  any 
woman  of  respe<5lable  chara<5ler  without  means  and  without  employ- 
ment can  have  a  home  until  employment  is  obtained,  or  she  is 
otherwise  provided  for.  Accommodations  are  provided  for  twenty, 
and  ever  since  the  house  was  opened  the  full  number  for  which  room 
is  provided,  has  found  shelter  and  a  home  within  its  walls. 

The  officers  of  the  Union  are:  Mrs.  Rosa  F.  Burrell,  president; 
Mrs.  H.  J.  Corbett,  first  vice-president;  Mrs.  D.  P.  Thompson, 
second  vice-president;  Mrs.  C.  W.  Knowles,  recording  secretary'; 
Miss  H.  E.  Failing,  corresponding  secretary;  Mrs.  F.  Eggert, 
treasurer. 

The  Refuge  Home,  an  institution  intended  to  afford  shelter  and 
protedlion  to  girls  and  women  who  wish  to  return  to  the*  paths  of 
virtue,  was  established  in  January,  1889,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  Temporary  quarters  have 
been  secured,  corner  of  Second  and  Columbia  streets.  The  legisla- 
ture of  1889  appropriated  $5,000  to  be  used  in  carr\'ing  on  the  work 
and  with  this  fund  and  voluntary  contributions  it  is  confidentlv  felt 
that  the  undertaking  will  be  enabled  to  accomplish  much  good. 
The  board  of  managers  is  composed  of  Mrs.  Anna  R.  Riggs,  presi- 
dent; Mrs.  Amos,  vice-president;  Mrs.  M.  J.  Townsend,  corresponding 
secretary;  Mrs.  R.  M.  Robb,  recording  secretary;  Mrs.  E.  Dalglei.sh, 
treasurer.      Mrs.  N.  S.  Keasey  is  manager. 

The  Portland  Free  Kindergarten  Associatiation  was  organized  in 
November,  1884,  at  which  time  the  following  officers  were  chosen: 
Mrs.  J.  F.  Watson,  president;  Col.  John  McCraken,  vice  president; 
Mrs.  Richard  Hoyt,  secretary  and  J.    K.    Gill,    treasurer.     The  first 


Benevolent  Societies.  371 


school  was  opened  in  November,  1884  in  the  old  engine  house  on 
G  street,  which  has  since  been  maintained  and  is  known  as  Kinder- 
garten No.  1.  The  object  of  the  association  is  to  furnish  free 
instruction  to  children  under  six  years  of  age  whose  parents  cannot 
aflford  to  pay  for  their  tuition.  In  September,  1885,  Kindergarten 
No.  2,  located  corner  of  Meade  and  Second  streets,  was  opened,  and 
in  January,  1886,  Kindergarten  No.  3  was  opened  in  Watson's 
addition  on  Seventeeth  street.  At  these  three  schools  an  average 
attendance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  children  is  maintained,  who 
receive  the  now  well  recognized  benefits  of  the  Kindergarten 
methods  of  instruction.  The  work  of  the  association  is  carried  on 
under  the  direction  of  the  following  officers:  Mrs.  C.  E.  Sitton, 
president;  O.  F.  Paxton,  vice  president;  Miss  Clara  Northrup, 
secretary ; J.  E.  Davis, treasurer;  Mrs.  Caroline  Dunlap,  superintendent. 

The  foregoing  described  charitable  and  benevolent  institutions  by 
no  means  includes  all  of  the  organizations  which  exist  in  our  city. 
We  have  merely  attempted  to  give  brief  accounts  of  some  of  the 
more  prominent  institutions,  with  no  intention  to  ignore  the  praise- 
worthy efforts  of  many  noble  hearted  and  generous  minded  men  and 
women  connected  with  organizations  of  less  magnitude,  but  not  less 
entitled  to  honor.  When  it  is  understood  that  the  institutions  that 
dispense  charity,  in  one  form  or  another  in  the  city  of  Portland 
to-day,  exceed  seventy  in  number,  and  that  most  of  them  are 
similar  in  character  and  aim,  it  will  be  seen  that  even  an  enumeration 
would  be  unnecessary. 

The  aggregate  yearly  amount  paid  out  for  charity  in  our  city  by 
individuals,  the  county  and  charitable  organizations,  it  is  impossible 
to  approximate  with  any  degree  of  accuracy,  but  in  the  judgment  of 
one  long  identified  with  the  work  in  this  line,  it  has  been  estimated 
to  reach  the  sum  of  from  $75,000  to  $120,000. 

The  members  of  the  Catholic  church  of  Portland,  as  those  of  the 
same  faith  in  every  part  of  the  globe,  have  always  been  foremost  in 
deeds  of  charity  and  benevolence.  Among  the  earliest  organized 
efforts  may  be  mentioned  St.  Ann's  Catholic  institution  for  the  care 
of  poor  and  sick  ladies,  with  Mrs.  J.  O'Connor,  president;  Mrs.  E. 
H.  Freeman,  vice-president;  Mrs.    M.   Steffin,  treasurer,  and  Mrs.  I. 


372  History  of  Portland. 


Lawler,  secretan-.  St.  Man'\s  Association,  having  for  its  objedl  the 
care  of  orphans  and  destitute  children,  is  also  deserving  of  honorable 
mention.  It  is  governed  by  the  Supreme  Council  of  St  Mar>-'s 
Home  Association,  composed  of  John  O'Connor,  John  Donnerberg, 
Luke  Morgan,  John  Barrett,  F.  Dresser  and  James  Foley.  St 
Vincent  de  Paul  Society  is  another  worthy  Catholic  organization. 
The  care  of  the  poor  and  procuring  employment  for  those  out  of 
work  are  its  main  objects.  D.  F.  Campbell  is  president;  M.  G. 
Munly,  vice-president;  P.  J.  Colman,  secretary  and  F.  Dresser, 
treasurer. 

The  British  Benevolent  Society  was  founded  in  1872,  by  John 
Wilson,  the  British  consul  at  Portland,  who  preceded  the  present 
incumbent,  James  Laidlaw.  Its  objects  are  to  relieve  sick  or 
destitute  persons  who  are  members  or  eligible  to  membership.  Such 
relief  is  restricted  to  those  who  are  or  have  been  British  subjects. 
James  Laidlaw  is  president;  John  B.  Wraugham,  secretar\';  Dr.  K.  A. 
J.  Mackenzie  and  John  Cran  constitute  the  board  of  relief.  Similar  in 
their  aims  are  the  Danish  Aid  Society  and  the  Guiseppi  Society 
(Italian).  Of  the  fonner,  H.  I.  Larsen  is  president  and  C.  Hansen, 
secretar\',  and  of  the  latter,  Paul  Sabati  is  president  and  A.  Froulana, 
secretarv'. 

The  Hebrew  Benevolent  Association  is  the  oldest  charitable 
organization  sustained  w^holly  by  the  Jewish  population  of  Portland. 
Its  officers  are:  Louis  Fleischner,  president;  L.  H.  Lewis,  vice-presi- 
dent; Ben.  Selling,  treasurer;  B.  I.  Cohen,  secretar\*. 

Besides  the  organizations  already  named  there  are  the  various 
societies  connected  with  the  several  churches  of  the  city  which  are 
important  factors  in  the  charity  work  of  the  city.  These,  wdth  the 
organizations  already  named,  together  with  the  Ladies  Relief  Corps 
of  the  G.  A.  R.  and  the  many  secret  orders  which  care  for  and  con- 
tribute support  to  sick  and  destitute  members  and  their  families, 
constitute  the  main  agencies  at  work  in  relieving  the  poor  and  caring 
for  the  destitute  sick  of  Portland. 

The  first  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  in 
the  State  of  Oregon,  was  incorporated  in  1872,  by  B.  Goldsmith, 
Henr>'  Failing,  W.  S.   Ladd,  J.  R.   Cardwell,  Wm.  Wadhams,  T.  L. 


Benevolent  Societies.  373 


Eliot,  J.  H.  Woodward,  James  Steel,  and  W.  T.  Shanahan,  of 
Portland;  Mr.  B.  Goldsmith  being  elected  as  the  first  president  of 
the  society.  The  organization  entered  upon  the  work  with  many 
obstacles  in  its  path.  Such  as  questioned  authority  to  interfere  in 
behalf  of  unprotected  children  and  dumb  brutes;  also,  meagrenessof 
statutor\'  provisions,  and  a  prevailing  belief  among  a  certain  class 
of  persons  that  children  and  animals  possessed  no  rights  which  they 
were  bound  to  respect. 

However,  the  foundation  of  the  society  had  been  laid,  and 
through  help  of  the  City  Council,  new  ordinances  were  passed  which 
assisted  local  work,  and  coupled  with  the  ever  outspoken  sentiment 
of  the  Daily  Oregonian  in  behalf  of  humane  principles,  the  efforts  of 
the  society  were  encouraged.  Prevention  of  Cruelty  was  its  first  aim, 
and  punishing  offenders  the  alternative.  But  an  educational 
sentiment  seemed  also  to  demand  notice;  therefore,  in  February, 
1882,  the  society  was  re-organized  and  re-incorporated  under  the  title 
it  now  bears,  the  **Oregon  Humane  Society."  This  name  gave 
a  broader  significence  and  extended  the  work  among  unprotected 
children,  and  all  harmless  living  creatures.  Hon.  D.  P.  Thompson 
was  elected  president  of  the  new  organization.  In  1883  the  public 
schools  became  interested  in  humane  education,  and  as  an  incentive 
to  the  effort,  Mr.  W.  T.  Shanahan,  the  corresponding  secretary  of 
society,  inaugurated  the  prize  system,  by  offering  a  framed  engraving 
of  Pharoah's  Horses  for  the  best  essay  on  kindness  to  animals,  which 
was  won  by  Miss  Susie  Vetter,  a  pupil  of  the  Portland  High  School. 
So  marked  was  the  beneficial  effect  of  awarding  prizes  for  meritorious 
compositions  that  the  following  year  at  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  society  a  number  of  prizes  were  offered,  graded  as  first,  second 
and  third  prizes,  and  presented  to  the  fortunate  competitors  of  the 
public  schools.  The  anniversary  meetings  of  this  society  have  now 
become  a  permanent  institution  of  our  city,  and  crowded  houses 
attest  the  great  interest  taken  in  humane  education.  In  1884  the 
City  Council  detailed  a  police  officer  to  act  as  agent  of  the  society, 
but  his  jurisdiction  was  only  within  the  city  limits,  and  the  necessity 
of  ample  State  laws  now  forced  itself  upon  the  leaders  of  the  work. 
Therefore,  in  1885,  the  Humane  Society  carefully  prepared  a  bill 


„.  PORT'-'''*!:,- — — Tu  B««. 


N 


t\ie  society  a  ,^te  ts  ^^d  t*  S  ^^,ot,  ^ 

tU^V  ^°  nte  sectetat>-;.^etv  are-  ?^^t^  ;taty,  ^^^3,^^;  spec^a^ 
Se  oft-  °^:S  ot  ^^^  rStes^^'teSv-^  >""  ,^en- 

*'  -V  .^r^^'-'^rS"'  '""C  "^«»^  'T«^  ^  :i 

^^'^VotV  society  o«  vtded  ongv«a^  QuacVet^       ^^ 

^"^^wtna\otga«^^^;  gent^ettvet^v.^e president,         ^    o^^     ^ 

'''^XS-eXfareoftbe      ^^.^^^  ^f  ^^d  tV^e  d^«^^" 

«  of  s^'^^  ?  A\tetatttte- 


Benevolent  Societies.  375 


The  Seamen's  Friend  Societies  originated  some  sixty  years   ago, 
and  now  they  exist  in   nearly   every   prominent   port  in  the  world. 
Their  object  everywhere  is  to  improve  the  character  of  seamen  and 
thus  to  secure  greater  safety  and  efficiency  in  the  Marine   service. 
The  progress  has  been  slow,  and  yet  so  marked   that   brutality   on 
shipboard  is  now  the  exception,  rather  than  the   rule.       Among   the 
most  influential  of  all    agencies  in  this  direction,  is   the  ** American 
Seamen's  Friend  Society,   of  New   York,"  which  numbers  among 
its  directors  and  promoters,  retired  shipmasters,  philanthropists  and 
capitalists,  who   withhold   neither  time,  service    nor   money  in   the 
accomplishment   of  their  purposes.       Of  this  society,  our  Portland 
organization  is  auxilliary,  and  here,  as  everywhere,  the  contention  is 
against  the  very  powers  of  darkness,  for,  the  world  over,  the  foes  of 
**poor  Jack"  are  relentlessly  cruel;  cupidity  and  greed  are  their  chief 
characteristics,  and  to  these  the  sailor  boys,   through   innocence  or 
passion,  fall  an  easy  prey.     The  Portland  Society  has  had  the  sym-  ' 
pathy  and  support  of  our  citizens  from  the  first  and  it  has   steadily  ( 
pursued   its  object  under  inadequate   laws  and   difficult   of  enforce- 
ment.    For  three  years  past,   comparatively  few  abuses  have  been  * 
perpetrated  in  Portland,  the  **crimps"  confining  their  efforts  chiefly 
to  Astoria,  where  they  have  less  opposition  and  more  encouragement 
than  in  Portland.       The  law  passed  by  our  last   legislature,  through 
the  combined  efforts  of  the  Portland  Board  of  Trade  and  this  society, 
had  a  most   salutary   influence.      The   previous   average   charge  of 
about   $87.50   per  man,    advance    wages  and    blood   money,    was 
reduced  to  as  low  as  $30  to  $40,  and  many   sailors  shipped  without 
any  advance  at  all.     The  usefulness  of  this  society  has  been  greatly 
impaired  the  past  year  because  deprived   of  the  use   of  its  **Home," 
having  therefore  no  accommodations  for  watermen. 

Its  present  Board  of  Directors  consists  of  E.  Quackenbush, 
President;  Geo.  H.  Chance,  Vice  President;  James  Laidlaw,  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer;  W.  S.  Ladd,  H.  W.  Corbett,  W.  S.  Sibson,  R. 
K.  Warren,  J.  K.  Gill,  J.  Thorbum  Ross,  A.  W.  Stowell,  Donald 
Macleay,  W.  J.  Burns,  W.  B.  Gilbert  and  James  Steel. 

The  n^ecessity  for  this  society  is  only  too  manifest.  Its  success 
fully  justifies  its  existence.      Its  mission  will  not  be   accomplished 


376  History  of  Portland. 


so  long  as  there  are  **thugs''  in  our  port  who  perpetrate  the  prac- 
tices of  a  **  Barbar\'  coast."  And  in  the  Society's  support  our 
sympathy  and  efforts  should  be  both  hearty  and  vigorous. 

HOSPITAI^ 

Portland  is  at  present  only  moderately  well  provided  with 
hospitals  for  the  care  and  treatment  of  the  sick  and  injured,  but 
when  those  now  in  existence  shall  have  been  enlarged  and  new 
quarters  erected,  such  as  are  now  in  course  of  construction,  ever>* 
facility,  such  as  the  size  and  rapidly  increasing  population  of  the  city 
demand,  w^ill  be  offered. 

St.  Vincent's  Hospital,  the  first  not  only  in  Portland,  but  in  the 
State,  owe  its  origin  to  the  labors  of  Rev.  J.  F.  Fierens,  vicar-general 
of  the  Catholic  Diocese  of  Oregon,  and  the  members  of  St  Vincent 
de  Paul  Society.  The  citizens  of  Portland,  irrespective  of  religion 
or  creed,  generously  supported  the  movement,  and  in  July,  1875,  the 
present  building  on  Eleventh  Street,  between  M  and  N  streets,  was 
completed.  The  first  patient  admitted  was  an  injured  chinaman, 
who  received  from  the  Sisters  of  St.  Vincent,  who  have  ever  since 
had  charge  of  the  hospital,  ever\'  attention  in  their  power,  and  from 
that  day  to  the  present  the  doors  of  this  institution  have  been  opened 
to  receive,  nurse  and  administer  surgical  and  medical  aid  to  the  poor 
in  the  spirit  of  that  true  charity  which  knows  neither  race  nor  creed, 
neither  color  or  nationality.  From  the  time  it  was  opened  to  the 
present,  12,262  patients  have  been  admitted,  and  at  the  present  time 
there  are  180  patients  under  treatment.  The  demands  upon  the 
hospital  have  for  some  time  been  greater  than  the  capacitj-  of  the 
building  would  admit,  and  about  three  years  ago  the  Sisters  under- 
took the  task  of  securing  funds  to  erect  a  larger  building.  They  have 
been  successful,  and  during  the  present  year  (1890),  they  hope  to 
complete  a  new  hospital  building  on  a  five  acre  tract  on  the  west 
side  of  the  foot  hills.  Work  has  alreadv  been  commenced  and  a 
commodious  stnicture  combining  all  the  modern  improvements  and 
conveniences  in  carrying  on  the  work  of  a  hospital,  will,  at  an  early 
day,  be  placed  at  their  disposal.  Twelve  Sisters  have  the  manage- 
ment of  the  hospital,  who  are  assisted  by  a  number  of  nurses  and 


Hospitals.  377 

stewards,  A  majority  of  the  patients  received  are  objects  of  charity, 
while  those  who  are  able,  pay  for  the  treatment  received  and  medical 
services  rendered.     Sister  Mary  Theresa  is  superintendent. 

The  staff  of  physicians  comprise  Drs.  Henry  E.  and  Wm.  Jones, 
J.  Bell,  A.  D.  Bevan,  K.  A.  J.  Mackenzie,  G.  W.  Wells,  Joseph 
Holt,  O.  S.  Binswinger,  and  F.  B.  Eaton  and  Richard  Nunn  as 
oculists. 

The  Good  Samaritan  Hospital  was  opened  in  October,  1875.  It 
was  founded  by  Rt.  Rev.  B.  Wistar  Morris,  bishop  of  Oregon  and 
has  since  been  largely  sustained  by  his  personal  labors  in  its  behalf. 
It  is  located  on  the  corner  of  Twenty-first  and  L  streets,  a  high  and 
healthful  situation.  Ever  since  it  was  opened  it  has  been  taxed  to 
the  utmost  of  its  capacity.  Last  year  (1889)  extensions  were  made 
to  the  original  building  and  accommodations  are  now  afforded  to 
seventy-five  patients,  but  even  with  the  increased  room,  the  hospital 
is  usually  full  of  patients  and  at  times  applications  for  admission  are 
denied  because  of  lack  of  accommodations.  It  is  supported  by  the 
income  from  nine  endowed  beds;  revenue  from  pay  patients  and  vol- 
untary contributions.  Deserving  poor  are  received  as  free  patients, 
when  properly  recommended  and  in  accordance  with  the  capacit)'  of 
the  hospital.  For  the  fifteen  months  ending  September  1, 1889,  708 
were  treated;  of  this  number,  145  were  free  or  charity  patients  and 
563  were  paying  patients.  The  medical  staff  is  composed  of  Drs. 
Curtis  C.  Strong,  Holt  C.  Wilson,  Wm*  H.  Saylor,  Andrew  J.  Giesy 
and  Andrew  C.  Pan  ton.  Mrs.  Emma  J.  Wakeman  is  superintendent; 
Mrs.  Ruth  E.  Campbell,  assistant;  Rev.  W.  L.  MacEwan,  chaplain, 
and  Gen.  Joseph  H.  Eaton,  treasurer. 

The  Portland  Hospital  is  a  Methodist  institution  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Columbia,  Puget  Sound  and  Idaho  conferences. 
Its  inception  was  due  to  Dr.  W.  H.  Watkins,  Dr.  E.  P.  Fraser,  Dr. 
Geo.  H.  Chance,  Dr.  James  Browne  and  a  number  of  others 
connected  with  the  three  Methodist  conferences  named.  Articles  of 
incorporation  were  secured  in  1887,  and  in  August  of  the  following 
year  practical  hospital  work  was  begun  in  the  Mariners'  Home, 
corner  of  D  and  Third  street,  which  was  leased  for  a  period  of  one 
year.     During  the  first  year  of  its  existence  more  than  three  hundred 


378  History  of  Portland. 

patients  have  been  treated.  Poor  patients  received  aid  at  an  expense 
of  more  than  Si, 500,  while  nearly  $1,800  was  received  by  the 
hospital  for  this  kind  of  work  by  donations  from  various  congrega- 
tions within  the  bonnds  of  patronizing  conferences.  Cash  received 
from  patients  amounted  to  S6,268,  while  the  running  expenses  of 
the  hospital  has  been  about  S800  per  month.  The  success  of  the 
institution  has  more  than  met  the  expectation  of  its  originators,  and 
plans  are  now  underway  to  enlarge  the  facilities  for  carr\'ing  on  the 
work.  Five  and  one  quarter  acres  of  land  have  been  purchased  in 
Sunnyside  addition  to  East  Portland,  upon  which  to  erect  suitable 
buildings  for  hospitable  purposes.  James  Abraham,  from  whom  the 
land  was  purchased,  generously  donated  $10,000  on  the  purchase 
price,  while  John  Kenworthy  and  George  \V.  Staver  each  gave 
$1,000  toward  the  erection  of  the  building,  work  upon  which  is 
now  under  w^av.  It  will  be  a  three  stor\*  structure,  70x112  feet  in 
dimension    and    will    cost   about    $30,000. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Portland  Hospital  is  composed  of 
twenty-six  members,  nineteen  of  whom  are  residents  of  Portland, 
the  remaining  seven  being  representatives  from  the  Idaho  and  Puget 
Sound  conferences.  The  Portland  members  are:  G.  W.  Staver,  Dr. 
Geo.  H.  Chance,  Dr.  R.  P.  Fraser,  Dr.  James  Browne,  Dr.  R.  Kelly, 
Dr.  A.  S.  Nichols,  Dr.  C.  H.  Hall,  Dr.  R.  Glisan,  \V.  C.  Noon,  J. 
K.  Gill,  Rev.  I.  D.  Driver,  Rev.  A.  Rummer,  Rev.  R.  C.  Houghton, 
W.  H.  Scott,  W.  S.  Ladd,  H.  \V.  Corbett,  John  Kenworthy,  J.  A. 
Strowbridge  and  Rev.  \V.  S.  Harrington.  George  W.  Staver  is 
president  of  the  board;  John  Kenworthy,  vice  president;  \V.  S. 
Ladd,  treasurer  and  D.  F.  Clarke,  secretar\'.  The  medical  staff  is 
composed  of  Dr.  E.  P.  Fraser,  Dr.  \V  E.  Rinehardt,  Dr.  Richmond 
Kellv,  Dr.  F.  O.  Cauthorne  and   Dr,  \V.  B  Watkins. 


Educational  Institutions.  379 


CHAPTER    XIIL 

EDUCATIONAL   INSTITUTIONS. 

First  Schools  in  Portland  and  their  Conductors — Early  Advocates  of  Free  Schools 
— Growth  and  Development  of  the  System — Central  School — Park  School — Harrison 
Street  School — Atkinson  School — High  School— Couch  and  Failing  Schools — Course 
of  Study  Pursued  in  Public  Schools— Plan  and  System  of  Management — Names  of 
Teachers — City  School  Officers  from  1856  to  1890— Portland  Academy  and  Female 
Institute — St.  Mary's  Academy  -Bishop  Scott  Academy— St.  Helan's  Hall— St. 
Michael's  College — Independent  German  School — Intemationnl  Academy — Medical 
Colleges — Business  Colleges. 

THE  first  school  of  any  kind  in  Portland  was  opened  in  the  fall  of 
1847,  by  Dr.  Ralph  Wilcox,  one  of  the  very  first  settlers  of 
the  city,  whose  connections  with  the  pioneer  days  has  elsewhere  been 
referred  ;to.  His  school  was  conducted  in  a  house  erected  by  Mr. 
McNemee  at  the  foot  of  Taylor  street.  It  had  a  very  brief  existence, 
but  several  who  are  still  living  in  Portland  were  pupils  in  this 
primitive  hall  of  learning. 

In  February,  IS^S,  Thomas  Carter  and  family  reached  Portland. 
In  April  or  May  of  that  year  Miss  Julia  Carter  (Mrs.  Joseph  S. 
Smith),  opened  a  school  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  corner  of  Second  and 
Stark  streets.  She  taught  but  one  quarter,  and  most  of  her  pupils 
had  previously  attended  Dr.  Wilcox's  school. 

In  the  winter  of  IS^S  and  '49,  Aaron  J.  Hyde  taught  a  school 
in  what  was  for 'years  known  as  the  **  Cooper  Shop.''  This  cooper 
shop  was  the  only  public  hall  in  the  town  for  some  time.  It 
was  located  on  the  west  side  of  First  street,  bet\veen  Morrison  and 
Yamhill  streets,  on  a  lot  which  it  was  commonly  reported  a  former 
owner  had  bought  for  the  consideration  of  **  two  pups."  Mr.  Hyde 
served  in  the  Mexican  war;  came  to  California  in  the  spring  of  1847, 
thence  to  Oregon;  married  a  Miss  Whitley,  of  Polk  County,  settled 
on  a  donation  land  claim  about  four  miles  southwest  of  Linn  County, 
where  he  died  in  1859. 

Previous  to  the  passage  of  the  act  organizing  the  Territory  of 
Oregon,  August  13,  1848,  Congress  had  reserved  the  sixteenth 
section  of  each  tovynship  for  educational  purposes.      In  framing  the 


380  History  of  Portland. 


acl  for  the  creation  of  Oregon  Territorx',  Hon.  J.  Quinn  Thornton 
added  the  thirty-sixth  section.  This  departnre  from  the  precedent 
in  this  regard  provoked  much  opposition  in  Congress,  but  by  the 
persistent  labors  of  Mr.  Thornton,  and  other  liberal  minded  legis- 
lators, this  munificent  addition  to  our  educational  resources  was 
secured.  Not  only  have  the  public  schools  of  Oregon  received  the 
benefits  of  this  wise  enactment,  but  those  of  every  State  and  Territor\* 
since  organized  have  been  thus  endowed. 

Rev.  George  H.  Atkinson  was  among  the  first  to  agitate  the 
subject  of  free  schools  in  Oregon  after  the  establishment  of  the 
territorial  government,  and  to  him  our  city  and  county  schools  are 
greatly  indebted.  He  came  to  Oregon  especially  charged  with  the 
educational  interest  of  the  Territory,  arriving  in  Portland  in  June, 
1848.  He  brought  with  him  a  quantity  of  school  books  of  the 
latest  and  best  authors,  and  afterwards  imported  a  large  supply. 
For  many  years  a  resident  of  Portland  he  was  ever  active  in 
behalf  of  her  educational  interests,  and  in  recognition  of  his  services, 
it  has  recently  been  decided  to  bestow  his  name  on  one  of  the  public 
schools. 

Rev.  Horace  Lyman,  late  of  the  Pacific  University,  followed  Mr. 
Hyde  as  a  school  teacher  in  Portland.  He  opened  a  school  late  in 
December,  1849,  in  a  frame  structure  built  by  Col.  Wm.  King  for 
church  and  school  purposes.  It  was  located  on  the  west  side  of 
First  street,  second  door  north  of  Oak.  On  this  building  was  placed 
a  bell  which  now  hangs  in  the  steeple  of  the  Taylor  Street  M.  E. 
Church.  Dr.  Lyman  taught  three  months  and  had  about  forty 
scholars. 

In  April,  1850,  Cyrus  A.  Reed  opened  a  school  in  the  *'school 
house.''  He  taught  for  three  months  and  had  an  average  of  sixty- 
two  pupils. 

The  next  teacher  was  Delos  Jefferson,  now  a  fanner  of  Marion 
county.  He  began  in  August,  1850  and  continued  for  three  months. 
Following  Mr.  Jefferson  came  Rev.  N.  Doane,  then  as  now,  a  min- 
ister of  the  M.  K.  Church.  He  taught  nine  months,  beginning 
about  December  1,  1850. 


Educational  Institutions.  381 

All  of  the  schools  so  far  mentioned,  were  private,  and  sustained 
by  tuition  fees.  Ten  dollars  per  quarter  for  pupils  was  the  usual 
rate,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Doane's  school.  The  latter  received 
some  pecuniary  assistance  from  the  M.  E.  Missionary  Fund. 

The  establishment  of  a  public  free  school,  had  however  been  dis- 
cussed. Rev.  H.  Lyman,  Anthony  L.  Davis,*  Col.  Wm.  King  and 
others,  made  strenuous  and  continued  eflForts  to  organize  a  school 
district  under  the  territorial  law.  In  the  midst  of  much  opposition 
on  the  part  of  those  who  had  no  children  of  their  own  to  educate, 
and  of  others  who  had  personal  interests  in  building  up  private  and 
denominational  schools,  success  was  finally  attained,  but  the  precise 
date  when  an  organization  was  perfected  we  have  been  unable  to 
learn.  The  first  evidence  that  an  organization  had  been  completed, 
is  furnished  in  the  Oregonian  of  December  6,  1851,  when  a  **Free 
SchooP'  is  advertised.  The  board  of  directors  consisted  of  Anthonv 
L.  Davis,  Alonzo  Leland  and  Reuben  P.  Boise.  This  board 
announced  that  John  T.  Outhouse  would  begin  a  school  in  the 
school  house,  next  door  to  the  **City  Hotel''  on  Monday,  December 
15,1851.  **  Books  to  be  used:  Sander's  Reader,  Goodrich's  Geog- 
raphy, Thompson's  Arithmetic  and  Bullion's  Grammar." 

Mr.  Outhouse,  then  about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  a  native  of 
New  Brunswick,  tauglit  continuously,  with  the  usual  vacations, 
until  March,  1853.  He  is  now  living  at  Union,  Oregon,  and  is  still 
engaged  in  teaching.  He  began  with  twenty  scholars,  and  so  large 
had  his  school  become  in  the  fall  of  1852,  that  an  assistant  was 
deemed  necessary.  He  was  paid,  most  of  the  time,  at  the  rate  of 
$100  per  month  from  the  county  school  fund,  Portland,  at  this 
time,  paying  two-thirds  of  his  salary*. 

Among  the  arrivals  in  Portland,  in  September,  1852,  was  a  young 
woman  from  Massachusetts — Miss  Abigal  M.  Clark  (Mrs.  Byron  P. 
Cardwell).     Miss  Clarke  taught  a  few  weeks  in  the    Portland  Acad- 

^  Anthony  L.  Davis,  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  zealous  advocates  of  Portland's 
free  school  system,  came  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  Indiana,  to  Portland,  in  1850.  He 
served  a  term  in  the  State  Legislature  of  Indiana  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Port- 
land was  elected  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  servinj^  in  that  capacity  for  several  years. 
He  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  held  in  nmch  esteem.  He  died  in  Portland  in 
1866. 


382  History  of  Portland. 


emv   and   Female  Seminar\%  then  in  its  second  vear  and  under  the 

^  *  rf 

management  of  a  Mr.  Buchanan.  This  engagement  was  not 
congenial  and  she  soon  after  accepted  an  offer  to  enter  the  public 
schools. 

From  an  editorial  in  the  Oregonian^  Nox-ember  20,  1852,  it 
appears  that  **at  a  recent  meeting  (first  Friday  of  November K  the 
citizens  voted  SI, 600  to  support  a  free  school.'' 

A  notice  a  few  days  later,  signed  by  Anthony  L.  Davis,  Benj. 
Stark  and  A.  Leland,  announces  the  opening  of  a  school  on 
Mondav,  December  6,  1852.  Mr.  Outhouse  is  named  as  teacher  in 
the  '^school  house/'  and  Miss  A.  M.  Clarke,  as  teacher  of  the 
primary  classes  on  First  street,  between  Taylor  and  Salmon,  where 
she  had  an  average  daily  attendance  of  over  ninety  pupils. 

After   Mr.  Outhouse   closed   his   work.    Miss  Clarke   continued 
opening  her  school   in  the  same  house,  near  Taylor  street,  March, 
1853.     She  taught  until  midsummer  of  the  same  year,   and  then 
accepted  a  position  in  an  academy  at  Oregon  City,  then  under  the  care 
of  E.  D.  Shattuck,  now  Circuit  Judge  and  residing  at   Portland. 

With  the  labors  of  Miss  Clarke,  the  regular  work  of  the  free 
schools  seems  to  have  been  for  a  time  discontinued.  Private  schools 
were  opening  and  closing  ever>'  few  weeks.  The  **acadeniy"  \4-as 
flourishing  under  Rev.  C.  S.  Kingsley.  General  apathv  in 
reference  to  public  schools  prevailed.  Over  a  year  elapsed  after  the 
closing  of  Miss  Clark's  term  before  any  movement  was  made 
toward  reviving  the  free  schools.  The  newspapers  made  no  mention 
of  the  regular  annual  meeting  in  November,  1853.  August  11, 
1854-,  Col.  J.  M.  Keeler,  then  county  superintendent,  announces  that 
he  is  ready  to  organize  school  districts. 

During  the  fall  of  1854-,  Thomas  Frazar  began  the  agitation  of 
the  school  question.  He  had  printed,  at  his  own  expense,  notices  for 
a  school  meeting.  He  posted  these  notices,  and  after  failing  five 
times  in  succession  to  secure  a  quorum  to  do  busines,  he  succeeded  in 
the  sixth  attempt,  and  as  a  result,  there  appeared  in  the  Oregoaian  of 
December  7,  1854,  the  following  ''call:" 

'*\Ve,  the  undersigned,  legal  voters  of  the  Portland  school 
(li.;tricl,  deeming  it  important  that  distrcl  officers  should  be  appointed 


EDUCATIONAL  Institutions.  383 

and  our  public  schools  re-organized,  hereby  annex  our  names  to  a 
call  for  a  special  meeting  of  the  legal  voters  in  this  district  to  con- 
vene at  the  school  house  on  First  street,  on  Monday  evening, 
December  18,  1854,  at  half  past  six  o'clock,  then  and  there  to  elect, 
1 — A  chairman  and  secretary  of  said  meeting;  2 — A  board  of  three 
school  directors;  3 — A  district  clerk;  and  to  transact  such  other 
business,  etc.  Thomas  Frazar,  Josiah  Failing,  H.  W.  Corbett,  W. 
S.  Ladd,  P,  Raleigh,  L.  Limerick,  D.  Abrams,  T.  N.  Lakin,  A.  D. 
Shelby,  Anthony  L.  Davis.*' 

At  this  meeting  Thomas  Frazar,  W.  S.  Ladd  and  Shubrick 
Norris  were  elected  a  board  of  directors. 

In  December,  1855,  Multnomah  pounty  was  organized,  and  in 
January,  following,  L.  Limerick  was  appointed  county  school  super- 
intendent. Horace  Lyman  and  J.  M.  Keeler,  had  previously 
served  as  county  superintendents  when  this  city  was  included  in 
Washington  county. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  L.  Limerick  taught  the  first  school  under 
this  organization.  Prior  to  this  time,  it  appears  that  the  city  had 
been  divided  into  two  districts,  with  Morrison  street  as  the  line — 
north  was  district  No.  1  and  south,  district  No.  2.  The  board  in  the 
south  district  consisted  of  Wm.  Patton,  Col.  Wm.  King  and  E.  M. 
Burton.  When  this  organization  was  effected  it  is  impossible  to 
ascertain.  It  had,  however,  a  legal  existence  during  the  incumbency 
of  L.  Limerick  as  county  superintendent,  as  a  description  of  its 
metes  and  bounds  is  found  in  Mr.  Limerick's  writing.  In  the  fall 
of  1855,  J.  M.  Keeler,  just  from  Forest  Grove — Tualatin  Academy — 
taught  the  district  school  in  this  district,  in  the  two-story  house  still 
standing  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Jefferson  and  Second  streets. 
He  continued  here  for  six  months  and  in  April,  1856,  the  district 
was  again  merged  into  No.  1. 

July  7,  1855,  Messrs.  Frazar,  Ladd  and  Norris  advertised  for  a 
^'competent  person  to  take  charge  of  the  Public  school  in  District 
No.  1.  A  young  lawyer,  Mr.  Sylvester  Pennoyer,  had  lately  arrived 
in  Portland.  He  had  gone  from  New  York  to  Puget  Sound  to 
practice  law.  Becoming  discouraged  with  the  prospect,  he  sold  his 
library  and  started  for  home.    He  saw  the  advertisement  and  at  once 


384  History  of  Portland. 


sought  an  interview  with  Mr,  Frazar.  The  result  was  that  he  was 
employed  and  taught  for  six  months  in  the  **School  House.'*  This, 
we  believe,  ended  Mr,  Pennoyer's  career  as  a  pedagogue.  He 
subsequently  embarked  in  business;  has  been  a  successful  merchant; 
a  prominent  figure  in  politics  and  at  present  is  Governor  of  Oregon, 
For  over  two  years  after  the  close  of  Mr.  Pennoyer's  school,  no 
record  has  been  found  that  gives  any  definite  information  concerning 
the  public  schools  of  the  city.  No  one  seems  to  have  been  directly 
employed  by  the  board  to  teach  until  school  was  opened,  May  17, 
1858,  in  the  New  Central   School. 

CENTRAL  SCHOOL. 

After  the  consolidation  of  the  two  districts,  in  1856,  Col.  J.  M. 
Keeler  became  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  immediate  erection  of  a 
suitable  school  building.  At  a  meeting  of  the  taxpayers,  May  12, 
1856,  to  discuss  this  project,  J.  Failing,  H.  W.  Davis,  Wm.  Beck, 
S.  Coffin  and  A.  M.  Starr  were  appointed 'a  committee  to  ascertain 
the  cost  of  different  sites  for  school  grounds.  The  committee 
reported  in  favor  of  the  James  Field^s  block.  No.  179,  (where  the 
Portland  Hotel  now  stands),  which  was  purchased  at  a  cost  of  $1,000. 
On  this  site  a  school  house  known  as  Central  School  was  erected,  at 
a  cost  of  about  $6,000.  Here  school  was  first  opened  May  17, 1858, 
with  L.  L.  Terwilliger,  principal  and  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Hensill  and 
Owen  Connelly,  assistants.  Up  to  July  23d  of  that  year,  two 
hiuidred  and  eighty  pupils  had  been  enrolled.  Of  this  number  but 
two  resided  west  of  Seventh  street.  Mr.  Terwilliger  was  principal 
for  two  and  a  quarter  years;  August,  1860,  Rev.  George  C.  Chandler, 
one  year;  July  22,  1861,  G.  F.  Boynton,  nine  months;  April  30, 
1862,  O.  S.  Frambes,  one  year;  March  23,  1863,  John  McBride, 
nine  months;  January  11,  1864,  E.  P.  Bebee,  one  and  a  half  years; 
August,  1865,  O.  S.  Frambes,  three  years;  September,  1868,  J.  W. 
Johnson,  nine  months  (transferred  to  High  School  April*  26,  1869); 
April,  1869,  R.  K.  Warren,  two  and  a  quarter  years;  September, 
1871,  J.  M.  Williamson,  three  years;  September,  1874,  A.  J. 
Anderson,  two  years;  September,  1876,  T.  H.  Crawford  one 
year;     September,     1877,     S.    W.     King,     three     years;    Septem- 


Educational  Institutions.  385 


ber,  1880,  C.  W.  Roby,  five  years.  In  1883  the  board  of 
directors  sold  the  block  upon  which  the  Central  School  stood  to  the 
Northern  Pacific  Terminal  Company  for  $75,000  on  the  guarantee 
that  a  hotel  should  be  built  upon  the  block  within  a  reasonable  time. 
According  to  the  terms  of  the  sale  the  school  building  was  to  remain 
the  property  of  the  district,  but  was  to  be  removed  from  the  grounds. 
This  was  done  a  short  time  thereafter,  the  building  being  moved  to 
a  block  immediately  north  of  the  old  site,  owned  by  Hon.  P.  A. 
Marquam,  and  was  here  occupied  for  school  purposes  until  the  close 
of  the  school  year  in  1885,  when  the  Park  school  building  was 
sufiiciently  enlarged  to  accommodate  all  the  scholars  in  the  district. 

PARK     SCHOOL. 

In  1878  the  city  had  grown  to  such  proportions  that  an  additional 
school  became  necessary.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  taxpayers, 
Charles  Hodge,  Lloyd  Brooke  and  Frank  Dekum  were  appointed 
a  committee  to  select  a  site.  This  committee  recommended  the 
purchase  of  block  223,  known  as  the  Harker  Block,  for  the  sum 
of  $12,000.  The  report  was  adopted  and  the  board  of  directors  were 
authorized  to  purchase  the  land  and  proceed  with  the  eredlion  of  a 
building.  It  was  completed  in  the  tall  of  1879,  and,  including  an 
additional  room  in  the  basement  for  a  High  School  Laboratory,  its 
total  cost  to  date  is  $31,000.  It  is  a  twelve-room,  two  story  wooden 
building  with  basement.  It  was  first  occupied  by  the  High  School 
and  eight  classes  of  the  Harrison  Street  School,  which  were 
temporarily  accommodated  while  the  new  Harrison  Street  School 
was  being  erecfled. 

In  September,  1885,  the  Park  School  was  opened  as  a  regular 
grammar  and  primary  school,  with  C.  W.  Roby  as  principal.  Mr. 
Roby  soon  after  resigned  to  accept  the  position  of  postmaster  of 
Portland,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Frank  Rigler,  who  remained 
until  1889,  when  T.  H.  Crawford  became  principal.  Twelve 
assistant  teachers  are  employed. 

HARRISON   STREET   SCHOOL. 

Stephen  Coffin,  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Portland,  donated 
to  the  city  the  north  half  of  block  134,  between  Second  and  Third 


386  History  of  Portland. 


streets,  to  be  used  for  school  purposes.  In  Januar\%  1865,  this  site 
was  exchanged  for  the  north  half  of  block  160,  on  Harrison  street 
between  Fifth  and  Sixth  streets.  On  this  ground  a  school  house  was 
erected,  in  1866,  at  a  cost  of  $9,941.  In  this  building,  known  as  the 
Harrison  Street  School,  school  was  convened  January  22,  1866,  with 
R.  K.  Warren,  principal  and  Miss  M.  X.  Tower,  Miss  V.  P. 
Stephens  and  Miss  M.  Kelly,  assistants.  For  the  first  quarter  of  the 
school  year  there  were  enrolled  286  pupils. 

In  1871  an  extension  to  the  building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$4,995.  Six  years  later  two  more  extensions  were  added  at  a  cost  of 
$5,840.  The  entire  structure  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  Thursday 
momin;^  May  29,  1879,  but  was  rebuilt  the  same  year  at  a  cost 
of  $21,800.  September  6,  1887,  the  new  building  was  partially 
destroyed  by  fire.  Contracts  were  soon  after  let  for  rebuilding,  and 
in  January,  1888,  the  present  structure  was  completed. 

Mr.  Warren  was  succeeded  as  principal  in  1867,  by  J.  P.  Garlick, 
who  remained  one  year  and  for  a  short  period  thereafter  Mr.  Warren 
again  held  the  position.  In  April,  1869,  I.  W.  Pratt  became 
principal,  a  post  he  has  ever  since  most  ably  filled. 

.\TKIXSON    SCHOOL. 

The  crowded  condition  of  the  public  schools  in  1866  made  the 
erection  of  another  building  a  necessity,  and  the  board  of  directors 
decided  to  establish  a  school  iu  the  north  part  of  the  city.  A  block 
was  purchased  in  Couch's  addition  on  the  west  side  of  North 
Tenth  street,  between  C  and  D  streets.  Here,  in  the  summer  of 
1867,  a  seven  room  building  was  erected,  costing  over  $12,000. 
School  was  opened  in  February,  1868  with,  G.  S.  Pershin  as 
principal,  and  Misses  E.  J.  Way,  A.  S.  Northrup  and  Carrie  L.  Polk, 
as  assistants.  During  the  first  quarters  there  were  enrolled  216  pupils. 
In  1877  two  wings  were  added  to  the  building  at  a  cost  of  $4,121 
and  in  1888,  on  the  same  block,  a  two-story,  four-room  building  was 
erected,  costing  $8,4-19. 

G.  S.  Pershin  was  principal  two  and  a  half  years;  T.  H.  Craw- 
ford, two  years;  S.  W.  King,  one  year;  W.  W,  Freeman,  thr^  years; 


Educational  Institutions.  387 

R.  K.  Warren,  one  year;  E.  E.  Chapman,  one  year;  Miss  Ella  C. 
Sabin,  eleven  years.  Miss  Ruth  E.  Rounds,  the  present  principal, 
began  work  here  in  1888.     She  is  assisted  by  fifteen  teachers. 

** Atkinson' '  school  was  named  in  honor  of  the  late  Rev.  George 
H.  Atkinson.     It  was  for  several  years  known  as  the  North  school. 

HIGH   vSCHOOL. 

This  department  of  the  school  system  of  Portland  was  instituted 
in  1869.  On  April  26,  of  that  year,  the  plan  took  definite  shape  and 
a  High  school  was  organized  with  quarters  on  the  second  floor  of  the 
North  school  building,  with  J.  W.  Johnson  as  principal  and  Miss  M. 
N.  Tower  (Mrs.  F.  K.  Arnold),  as  assistant.  In  December,  1873, 
this  department  was  transferred  to  the  second  story,  north  wing,  of 
the  Central  building  and  in  October,  1874,  it  was  removed  to  the 
second  floor  of  the  new  addition.  In  September,  1879,  it  was  moved 
to  the  second  floor  of  the  Park  school.  Here  it  was  conducted  until 
the  completion  of  the  present  High  School  building. 

This  building  was  begun  in  1883  and  finished  in  1885.  It  is  a 
brick  structure  and  located  on  a  block  bounded  by  Twelfth,  Morrison, 
Lownsdale  and  Alder  streets.  The  style  is  what  is  known  as  the 
Transition  or  Semi-Norman,  which  prevailed  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  II  and  Richard  I.  Architecturally  it  presents  a  most  pleasing 
appearance,  while  for  the  purposes  intended  it  is  one  of  the  best 
arranged  buildings  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

It  is  140x200,  in  dimensions,  and  the  main  building  is  three 
stories,  besides  a  basement  and  attic  in  height,  while  two  towers  adorn 
the  front  of  the  building,  one  168  and  the  other  140  feet  in  height 
On  the  first  floor  are  six  class  rooms,  one  recitation  room  and  a 
library;  on  the  second  floor  six  class  rooms,  a  recitation  room, 
museum,  High  school  library,  superintendent's  and  princi pal's  offices; 
on  the  third  floor  two  class  rooms,  art  room,  model  room,  laboratory 
dressing  room  and  assembly  hall.  The  basement  story  is  divided 
into  four  play  rooms.  The  principle,  upon  which  light,  ventilation 
and  heating  are  secured,  is  such  as  is  approved  by  the  best  authorities 
on  such  matters,  and  it  is  believed  the  building,  in  these  regards,  is  as 
nearly  perfe6l  as  any  school  strudlure  in  the  country. 


388  History  of  Portland. 

The  building  was  projected  under  the  directorship  of  John  Wilson, 
Charles  Hodge  and  William  Wadhams,  in  March,  1883.  Mr.  Hodge 
dying  March  30,  1883,  James  Steel  was  elected  to  fill  the  unexpired 
term  of  one  year.  William  Stokes  was  employed  as  architect,  under 
whose  direction  the  entire  work  was  designed  and  completed.  The 
cost  of  the  block  was  S30,000  and  the  building  over  5130,000. 
i:^  At  the  close  of  the  first  terra  of  the  High  school  in  1869,  Miss 
Tower  resigned  and  Miss  M.  M.  Morrison  filled  her  place  until 
November,  1869,  when  Miss  M.  A.  Hodgdon  was  elected  first 
assistant.  Mr.  Johnson's  acknowledged  ability  and  earnestness, 
supplemented  by  Miss  Hodgdon' s  efficiency  and  long  experience  in 
teaching,  laid  the  foundation  for  a  higher  education  which  had  long 
been  demanded  by  the  intelligent  people  of  Portland.  In  1872, 
Alexander  Meacham  was  elected  the  first  teacher  of  French,  and  in 
1874,  Rev.  John  Rosenberg  was  elected  as  special  teacher  of  German. 

The  first  regular  examination  by  a  board  of  examiners  for  pro- 
motion to  the  High  school,  was  held  on  the  20th  day  of  September, 
1873.  Thirteen  pupils  were  examined,  eleven  of  whom  were 
members  of  the  North  school — the  other  two  being  members  of  a 
private  school. 

In  1876,  137  pupils  were  enrolled  at  the  High  school,  and  Rev. 
T.  L.  Eliot,  then  county  school  superintendent,  says  in  his  report  for 
the  year:  *'Tlie  High  school  is  constantly  increasing  in  members  and 
influence  for  good  in  the  community.  Tlie  country  is  beginning  to 
look  at  its  scholars  as  prospective  teachers — a  thorough  education 
and  culture  are  imparted,  and  full  opportunity  is  here  given  to  young 
men  and  women  to  fit  themselves  for  the  business  of  life.'' 

Mr.  Johnson  was  succeeded  as  principal,  in  1886,  by  A.  J. 
Anderson,  who  retained  the  position  for  one  year,  when  R.  K. 
Warren  was  chosen.  Mr.  Warren  remained  until  1888,  when  Miss 
Ella  C.  Sabin  was  elected  to  the  dual  position  of  city  superintendent 
and  principal  of  the  High  school.  Miss  Sabin  has  since  most  ably 
filled  both  positions.  She  has  been  intimately  identified  with  the 
cause  of  popular  education  in  this  city  and  State  for  over  fifteen  years 
and  in  great  measure  the  present  gratifying  success  of  the  public 
schools  of  Portland,  is  due  to  her  excellent  management 


Educational  Institutions.  389 


Miss  Sabin  is  assisted  in  the  management  of  the  High  School  by 
the  following  corps  of  teachers:  Mr.  L.  F.  Henderson,  principal's 
assistant;  Miss  H.  F.  Spalding,  Miss  Christina  MacConnell,  Mrs. 
Alice  C.  Gove,  Mrs.  Margaret  Allen,  Mr.  Calvin  U.  Gantenbein  and 
Miss  Lillian  E.  Pool. 

COUCH    AND   FAILING   SCHOOLS. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  taxpayers,  held  March  6,  1882,  the 
board  of  directors  were  authorized  to  purchase  two  blocks  for  school 
purposes— one  in  the  northern  and  the  other  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  city  and  to  erect  on  each  a  school  building.  The  board  bought 
block  159,  Couch's  addition,  and  block  55,  Caruther's  addition.  On 
the  last  named  block  a  two-story,  wooden  building,  of  twelve  rooms, 
was  completed  in  October,  1883,  at  a  cost  of  $38,800,  upon  which 
was  bestowed  the  name  of  the  Failing  school,  in  honor  of  Josiah 
Failing.  The  building  in  the  Couch  addition,  an  exact  counterpart 
of  the  Failing  school,  was  completed  in  1884.  The  latter  was 
named  in  honor  of  Capt.  John  H.  Couch,  who,  with  Josiah  Failing, 
was  a  member  of  the  first  board  of  directors  after  the  re-organization 
of  the  district  in  1856. 

Miss  Anna  M.  Burnham  has  been  principal  of  the  Failing  schrol 
ever  since  its  organization  and  is  assisted  by  fourteen  assistant 
teachers.  Miss  Georgia  L.  Parker  was  principal  of  the  Couch  school 
for  one  year,  since  which  Justus  Burnham  has  held  the  position. 
Thirteen  assistant  teachers  are  employed. 

The  Lownsdale  Primary  is  a  separate  department  of  the  Portland 
school  system,  but  at  present  occupies  quarters  in  the  High  School 
building.  Miss  Carrie  Packard  is  principal.  Six  subordinate 
teachers  are  employed. 

Since  September,  1886,  a  school  has  been  maintained  on  Portland 
Heights,  known  as  the  Ainsworth  School,  named  in  honor  of  Capt. 
J.  C.  Ainsworth,  a  former  director.  Miss  Marian  S.  Clarke  is 
principal. 

The  school  buildings  possessed  by  the  district  are  not  only  well 
adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  built,  but  those 
constructed  within  the  past   few   years  add  greatly  to  the  architect- 


3ftf>  History  of  Portland. 


aral  appearance  of  the  city.  They  ntiinber,  including  the  High 
School,  six,  five  of  which  have  twelve  rooms  each,  while  the 
seatin;;^  capacity  of  all  the  public  schoob  is  4,300.  Upon  these 
buildings  the  district  has  expended  over  $250,000.  The  propert)' 
of  the  district  comprises  five  and  one-half  blocks  of  ground,  while 
the  buildings  thereon  and  their  contents  are  \'alued  at  $375,000. 

There  are  three  departments  in  the  scheme  of  the  public  schools 
— Primary ,  f>rammar  and  High.  The  Primar\'  is  divided  into  four 
grafles,  each  requiring  one  year  to  complete.  The  Grammar 
department  has  the  same  number  of  grades,  requiring  four  years  to 
complete.  The  High  school  course  requires  three  and  four  years 
wf>rk,  according  to  the  course  pursued.  The  English  or  general 
course  can  be  completed  in  three  years,  while  the  classical  requires 
four  vears. 

The  studies  pursued  in  the  Primary-  and  Grammar  department  are 
similar  to  those  commonly  taught  in  such  schools.  The  High 
schof>I  has  a  liberal  course  of  study,  consisting  of  higher  mathe- 
matics, the  Natural  Sciences,  Latin,  German,  Mental  Philosophy, 
Political  Economy,  Rhetoric,  English  Literature,  General  History, 
Elrxrution  and  Con.stitutional  Government. 

Xincty-five  teachers  are  employed  in  the  public  schools,  exclusive 
of  the  superintendent  The  present  annual  cost  of  maintaining  this 
corps  of  employes  is  about  580,000. 

Following  is  a  complete  list  of  teachers  in  ser\'ice  at  the  close  of 
the  school  year  in  June,  1889. 

Miss  Klla  C.  Sabin.  city  Supcrintendeut  and  Principal  of  the  High  School;  Miss 
ICllen  C.  Turner,  teacher  of  Drawinj^;  Miss  Ella  E.  Mitchell,  teacher  of  Vocal  Music; 
Mrs.  Margaret  Allen,  Miss  Tillie  C.  Amos,  Mrs.  A.  B.  Anderson,  Miss  Jessie  Ander- 
^m,  Mrs.  M.  L.  Aram,  Miss  A.  L.  Atwood.  Mrs.  Isabel  Baker,  Miss  M.  S.  Barlow, 
Mrs.  I-:.  I'.  HerKtr.  Miss  Belle  Bitely,  Miss  E.  L.  Bridjjefonl.  Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Buck, 
Miss  A.  M.  Humham,  Mrs.  Jennie  Bumham,  Mr.  Justus  Bumham,  Miss  Emma 
HutU-r,  Miss  L.  Buckenmeyer,  Miss  Lulu  Campion,  Miss  Jennie  Caples,  Miss  M.  S. 
Clarke.  Miss  Kate  M.  Colburn,  Miss  Myra  J.  Cooper,  Mr.  T.  H.  Crawford,  Miss  E. 
H.  CrrK*kliani,  Miss  A.  J.  Davey,  Miss  Cora  David,  Miss  Josie  Davis,  Miss  H.  A. 
I)avidson,  Miss  E.  1*\  Davison,  Miss  A.  G.  DeLin,  Miss  A.  h.  Dimick.  Miss  lone 
Dunlap.  Mr.  C.  I'.  Oantenbein.  Mrs.  May  Garman,  Mrs.  A.  C.  Gove,  Miss  Alice 
A.  (iove,  Miss  Minnie  Ciray,  Miss  Nettie  Gray,  Mrs.  C.  E.  Greene,  Mrs.  V.  F.  Good- 
win, Miss  Sarah  D.  Marker,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Harker,  Mr.  L.  F.  Henderson,  Miss  Mary 
C.  Hill,  Miss  IClsie  Hoyt,  Miss  A.  C.  Jennings,  Miss  Jennie  E.  Jones,  Miss  Blanche  R. 


Educational  Institutions. 


391 


Kahn,  Miss  Kate  Kingsley,  Miss  Auiia  E.  Knox,  Miss  Auua  M.  Knapp,  Miss  Sophia 
Lawrence,  Miss  C.  F.  Lamberson,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Leisk,  Miss  C.  M.  Lindsay,  Miss  C. 
Mac  Connell,  Miss  Lnella  Maxwell,  Miss  Lucy  S.  Merwin,  Miss  Mary  McCarthy, 
Miss  E.  J.  Mclntyre,  Mrs.  E.  W.  McKenzie,  Miss  Minnie  Michener,  Miss  Mary  N. 
Millard,  Mrs.  E.  D.  Miller,  Miss  Bertha  Moore,  Miss  Eugenia  Morse,  Miss  Clara 
Mundt,  Miss*  Alice  Parrish,  Miss  F.  Plummer,  Miss  Lillian  E.  Pool,  Miss  M.  L. 
Powell,  Mr.  I.  W.  Pratt,  Miss  Eva  S.  Rice,  Miss  E.  G.  Robinson,  Miss  R.  E.  Rounds, 
Miss  H.  A.  Salisbury',  Miss  T.  Schermerhom,  Miss  Kate  L.  Shuck,  Mrs.  C.  R.  Simp- 
son, Miss  M.  J.  Smith,  Miss  Josie  Southard,  Miss  H.  F.  Spalding,  Miss  Mary 
Spaulding,  Miss  Ida  Springstead,  Miss  H.  C.  Stewart,  Miss  L.  C.  Stout,  Mrs.  N.  E. 
Swope,  Miss  Mina  Tregellas,  Miss  Edith  Van  Vleet,  Miss  Kate  Wallace,  Miss  Bessie 
Wilson,  Miss  Margaret  Wilson,  Mrs.  Eva  D.  Wills,  Mrs.  A.  J.  White. 

Of  the  above,  Mr.  I.  W.  Pratt,  has  been  employed  in  the  public 
schools  for  twenty  years,  while  Mr.  T.  W.  Crawford  and  Miss  Ella 
C.  Sabin  have  been  in  continuous  service  for  a  period  of  fifteen  years, 
and  Miss  A.  L.  Atwood,  Miss  A.  M.  Burnham,  Miss  Jennie  Caples, 
Miss  A.  L.  Dimick,  Mrs.  A.  C.  Gove,  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Harker,  Mr. 
L.  F.  Henderson,  Miss  C.  MacConnell,  Miss  M.  L.  Powell,  Miss  R. 
E.  Rounds,  Miss  H.  F.  Spalding,  and  Miss  Ellen  C.  Turner,  have 
been  employed  for  more  than  ten  years. 

The  first  Superintendent  of  the  city  schools  was  S.  W.  King, 
who  was  appointed  in  1873.  He  was  succeeded  by  T.  M.  Crawford, 
in  1878,  who  served  until  the  appointment  of  Miss  Ella  C.  Sabin, 
in  1888. 

The  growth  of  Portland  during  the  past  few  years  is  perhaps  as 
clearly  indexed  by  the  growth  of  the  common  schools  as  by  any 
other  means.  From  the  time  the  public  school  system  had  attained 
sufficient  importance  to  be  placed  under  the  control  of  a  city  super- 
intendent, the  number  of  pupils  who  have  received  instruction  at  the 
public  schools,  has  increased  from  year  to  year.  The  following  table 
will  show  the  number  of  pupils  enrolled  each  year  since  that  time  : 


Year  ending. 

Number 

Year  ending, 

Number 

June 

Registered. 

June 
1882 

Registered. 

1874 

1600 

3130 

1875 

1700 

1883 

3483 

1876 

1870 

1884 

3864 

1877 

2085 

1885 

3978 

1878 

2332 

1886 

4066 

1879 

2447 

1887 

4132 

1880 

2513 

1888 

4289 

1881 

2894 

1889 

4562 

392  Hlstory  of  Portland. 


The  gain  in  the  total  number  of  pupils  registered  since  1874,  a 
period  of  fifteen  years,  has  been  2,962,  which  is  a  total  gain  of 
nearly  200  per  cent  in  considerably  less  than  a  score  of  years. 
It  will  also  be  seen  that  the  number  registered  in  1889,  above  that 
of  the  previous  year,  is  greater  than  it  has  been  any  year  since  1884, 
showing  that  the  growth  of  the  schools  has  corresponded  to  the 
increase  in  population,  and  the  material  prosperity  of  the  city. 

While  the  material  resources  of  the  cit>-  have  been  developed,  its 
commercial  interests  carefully  consulted  and  its  transportation 
facilities  largely  increased,  the  education  of  its  future  citizens  has  not 
been  neglected.  During  the  last  ten  years  more  than  $1,000,000 
have  been  expended  by  the  taxpayers  of  the  city  in  the  cause  of 
popular  education.  In  1880  the  sum  of  S43, 862.03  was  paid  out 
for  maintenance  of  schools;  in  1881,  S68,589.07;  1882,  $118,- 
105.56;  1883,  $160,097.92;  1884,  $150,150.42;  1885,  $128^- 
551.07;  1886,  $129,362.20;  1887,  $94,765.07;  1888,  $139,- 
593.02;  1889,  $135,347.51,  and  for  1890  it  is  estimated  that 
$154,530.00  will  be  required.  These  large  sums  have  been 
judiciously  used  and  have  made  possible  a  system  of  free  schools  such 
as  affords  pupils  an  opportunity  for  a  good  practical  education  not 
surpa.ssed  by  any  city  in  the  land. 

Under  the  laws  of  Oregon  the  public  schools  of  Portland  are  not 
under  municipal  control,  the  city  government  having  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  city  schools.  The  school  district  is  a 
separate  corporation,  although  the  territorial  limits  of  the  distridl  are 
identical  with  tlio.se  of  the  city.  All  matters  pertaining  to  the 
sc1kx;1s  are  primarily  decided,  not  by  the  general  voters  but  by  the 
taxpayers,  and  women  as  well  as  men  have  a  vote  here.  The 
schools  are  under  the  management  of  a  board  of  five  directors, 
chosen  by  the  taxpayers,  one  being  elected  each  year  to  serve  five 
years.  The  amount  of  money  to  support  the  schools  is  raised  by 
such  tax  on  the  property  of  the  school  district  as  may  be  voted  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  taxpayers  held  in  March. 

The  district  has  been  most  fortunate  in  the  selection  of  its  school 
officers.  Since  the  organization  of  the  free  school  system,  the  board 
of  directors  has  been  composed  of  Portland's  most  progressive  and 


Educational  Institutions. 


393 


public  spirited  citizens  who  have  generously  devoted  their  time  and 
attention  to  the  cause  of  popular  education.  A  complete  list  of  those 
who  have  served  the  city  in  this  capacity  since  the  organization  of 
the  distridl,  in  1856,  is  herewith  appended,  it  being  eminently  fit 
that  the  names  of  these  laborers  in  behalf  of  the  public  weal  should 
be  preserved : 


TKAB. 


MKMBKB8  OF  THE  BOARD. 


1856  Wm.  Weatherford,  J.  Failing,  Alexander  Campbell*. 

1857  Wm.  Weatherford,  J.  Failing,  John  H.  Couch 

1858  J.  D.  Holman,  J.  Failing,  E.  D.  Shattuck 

1859  J.  D.  Holman,  J.  Failing,  E.  D.  Shattuck   

1860  J.  D.  Holman,  J.  Failing,  E.  D.  Shattuck 

1861  J.  D.  Holman,  J.  Failing,  E   D.  Shattuck 

1862  Wm.  Weatherford,  T.  J.  Holmes,  A.  C.  R.  Shaw*  . . 

1863  S.  J.  McCormick,  T.  J.  Holmes,  Wm.  R.  King* 

1864  S.  J.  McCormick,  T.  J.  Holmes,  Josiah  Failing 

1865  W.  S.  Ladd,  T.  J.  Holmes,  Josiah  Failing 

1866  W.  S.  Ladd,  E.  D.  Shattuck,  Josiah  Failing 

1867  W.  S.  Ladd,  E.  D.  Shattuck,*  Josiah  Failing* 

1868' A.  L.  Lovejoy,  R.  Glisan,*  A.  P.  Dennison 

1869  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  E.  D.  Shattuck,  Wm.  Wadhams 

1870  A.  L.  Lovejoy,  E.  D.  Shattuck,*  J.    N.  Dolph 

187lij.  A.  Chapman,  A.  P.  Dennison,*  J.   N.  Dolph 

1872!j.  S.  Giltner,  J.  G.  Glenn,  J.  N.  Dolph* 

1873  J.  S.  Giltner,  J.  G.  Glenn,  J.  C.  Ainsworth 

1874  A.  H.  Morgan,  J.  G.  Glenn.  J.  C.  Ainsworth 

1875  A.  H.  Morgan,  W.  S.  Ladd,  J.  C.  Ainsworth 

1876|A.  H.  Morgan,  W.  S.  Ladd,  J.  C.  Ainsworth 

1877:A.  H.  Morgan,  W.  S.  Ladd,*  J.  C.  Ainsworth 

1878  A.  H.  Morgan,  H.  H.  Northup,  J.  C.  Ainsworth. 


OLEBK. 


A.  H.  Morgan,  H.  H.  Northup,  Wm.  Wadhams 

John  Wilson,  H.  H.  Northup,  Wm.  Wadhams 

John  Wilson,  Charles  Hodge,  Wm.  Wadhams 


1879 
1880 
1881 
1882lJohn  Wilson,  Charles  Hodge.J  Wm.  Wadhams 

1883  John  Wilson,  James  Steel, ^Wm.  Wadhams,  N.  Versteeg,  P. 

Wasserman 

1884  John  Wilson,  C.  H.  Dodd,  Wm.  Wadhams,  N.  Versteeg,  P. 

Wasserman 

1885  John  Wilson,  C.  H.  Dodd,  D.  P.  Thompson,  N.  Versteeg,  P. 

Wasserman 

1886John  Wilson,  C.  H.  Dodd,  D.  P.  Thompson,  G  H.  Durham, 

P.  Wasserman 

1887John  Wilson,  C  H.  Dodd,  D.  P.  Thompson,  G.  H.  Durham, 

f       W.  M.  Ladd   

1888,L.  Therkelson,  C.  H.  Dodd,  D.  P.  Thompson,  G.  H.  Durham, 

W.  M.  Ladd 

1889  L.  Therkelson,    M.    C.   Gsorge,    D.   P.    Thompson,    G.    H. 
I         Durham,  W.  M.  Ladd 


Thomas  J.  Holmes. 
Thomas  J.  Holmes. 
J.  M.  Breck.* 
J.  M.  Breck. 
■J.  F.  McCoy.* 
William  Grooms. 
L.  M.  Parrish. 
O.  Risley.* 
L.  M.  Parrish. 
L.  M.  Parrish. 
L.  M.  Parrish. 
L.  M.  Parrish. 
J.  F.  McCoy. 
E.  Quackenbush. 
R.  Weeks. 
R.  J.  Ladd. 
R.  J.  Ladd. 
R.  J.  lyadd. 
J.  D.  Holman. 
G.  W.  Murray. 
G.  W.  Murray. 
G.  W.  Murray.! 
D.  W.  Williams. 
D.  W.  Williams. 
D.  W.  Williams. 
D.  W.  Williams. 
Wm.  Church  jr. 


Wm.  Church  jr. 
Wm.  Church  jr. 
T.  T.  Struble. 


T.  T.  Struble. 


Fred  A.  Daly 
H.  S.  AUen. 


H.  S.  Allen. 


*  Resigned  before  expiration  of  term. 

t  G.  W.  Murray   resigned   in  September,  1877.     E.    Arnold   was  appointed   his 


394  History  ok  Portland. 

Besides  the  public  schools  mentioned  in  the  foregoing,  Portland 
offers  many  advantages  in  the  way  of  private  and  special  schools  for 
those  who  prefer  them.  Among  the  first  of  the  private  schools  which 
assumed  any  magnitude  was  the  Portland  Academy  and  Female 
Institute,  which  was  opened  in  1850,  by  Mr.  Buchanan.  In  1852,  C. 
S.  Kingsley  and  wife  assumed  its  control  and  managed  it  for  several 
years.  It  was  located  on  Seventh  street  between  Columbia  and 
Jefferson  streets.  In  1862,  Rev.  D.  E.  Blain  was  principal  and  Miss 
S.  A.  Cornell,  preceptress,'  at  which  time  there  were  seventy-five 
pupils  in  attendance.  Two  years  later,  O.  S.  Frambes  became 
principal;  Mrs.  S.  E.  PVambes,  preceptress,  and  J.  G.  Deardorf  and 
Miss  Mar\'  McGee,  assistant  teachers.  For  some  vears  after  it 
maintained  a  high  rank  as  an  educational  institution,  but  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  public  school  system  finally  usurped  the  field 
and  it  ceased  to  exist  in  1878. 

St.  Mary's  Academy,  the  oldest  private  school  in  Portland,  was 
founded,  in  1859,  by  the  Sisters  of  the  Most  Holy  Names  of  Jesus 
and  Mar>',  from  Montreal,  Canada,  who  at  the  same  time  established 
a  convent  of  their  order.  They  opened  a  day  and  boarding  school  in 
a  small  wooden  building  on  Fourth  street,  between  Mill  and  Market 
streets.  The  school  has  had  a  prosperous  career,  and  a  large  three- 
story  brick  building  has  recently  been  completed  at  a  cost  of  $40,000 
to  meet  the  demand  of  the  rapidly  growing  patronage  it  enjoys.  At 
present  twenty  teachers  are  employed  in  instructing  the  250  pupils 

successor.  Mr.  Arnolci  died  in  February.  1878,  and  I).  W.  WiUiams  was  appointed  to 
the  vacancy.     Mr.  Williams  was  regularly  elected  the  first  time  in  April,  1878. 

X  Charles  Hodge  died  March  30,  1SS3.  James  Steel  was  elected  to  the  vacancy 
at  a  special  election,  Apr.  24-,  1883. 

Of  the  thirty-three  persons,  including  the  present  board,  who  have  sen-ed  as 
school  directors  during  these  thirty -three  years,  the  following  are  dead:  Wm.  Weath- 
erford,  Josiah  ladling,  Alexander  Campbell,  John.  II.  Couch.  J.  D.  Holman,  Thos.  J. 
Holmes,  A.  L.  I^vejoy,  J.  A.  Chapman,  John  G.  Glenn  and  Charles  Hodge. 

Prior  to  April,  1863  the  entire  board  was  elected  annually. 

In  October.  1862,  the  school  law  was  amended,  making  a  term  of  a  director  three 
years.  In  October.  18S2.  an  act  was  passed  constituting  cities  of  10,0DD  inhabitants 
one  school  district— increasing  the  number  of  directors  to  five  and  extending  the  term 
to  five  years. 

In  1878  the  time  for  holding  school  elections  was  changed  from  April  to  March. 


Educational  Institutions.  395 


who  are  receiving  their  education  at  this  institution.  All  of  the 
common  English  branches  are  taught,  besides  Latin,  German  and 
French.  Rev.  Mother  Mar>'  Justina  is  provincial  superior  and  Sister 
Marv  Patrick  is  directress  of  studies. 

It  would  be  almost  impossible  to  give  even  a  list  of  the  numerous 
private  schools  which,  for  a  time,  flourished  in  Portland.  Among 
the  earliest,  not  before  mentioned,  were  those  conducted  by  Rev.  P. 
Machen,  J.  McBride  and  J.  H.  Stinson.  For  a  time  the  congre- 
gation of  Beth  Israel  maintained  a  Hebrew  school,  on  the  comer  of 
Fifth  and  Oak  streets.  It  was  under  the  supervision  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Eckman  as  principal  and  Rev.  H.  Bories  and  Geo.  F.  Boynton, 
teachers.  The  directors  were:  H.  F.  Bloch,  N.  Werthermer  and 
S.  Blumauer. 

Among  the  most  successful  of  the  private  schools  of  Portland 
is  the  Bishop  Scott  Academy,  which  owes  its  origin  to  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church.  As  far  back  as  the  year  1854, 
a  long  time  ago  in  this  country,  a  committee  was  appointed  by 
Bishop  Thomas  F.  Scott,  to  secure  property  for  a  school,  to  be 
conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Portland  Episcopal  Church,  in 
the  then  Territory  of  Oregon.  The  site  selected  was  a  tract  of  land 
near  Oswego.  Trinity  school  was  finally  opened  in  the  spring  of 
1856,  with  Mr.  Bernard  Cornelius  as  principal.  It  had  a  precarious 
existence  for  a  number  of  years,  sometimes  being  closed  for  a  year  at  a 
time,  and  closed  pennanently  in  1865.  Such  names  as  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Fackler,  the  Rev.  John  W.  Sellwood,  and  Mr.  Hodgkinson  are  to 
be  found  on  the  records  of  the  school,  as  having  been  in  charge  at 
various  times.  After  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Morris  upon  his  field  ol 
labor,  in  June,  1869,  he  took  steps  to  establish  a  school  for  boys  in 
the  then  jurisdiction  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  He  chose  Portland 
as  the  site  of  the  institution,  which  he  named — in  honor  of, his 
predecessor — The  Bishop  Scott  Grammar  and  Divinity  School.  The 
very  first  money  e\'er  received  by  Bishop  Morris  for  this  purpose 
came  from  some  little  boys  at  the  llry  School,  Pennsylvania.  They 
saved  their  spending  money  during  Lent,  and  sciit  an  offering  of 
$50  to  the  Bishop  of  Oregon,  for  a  school  for  boys.  One  of  those 
little   benefactors,  now  a   busy  man,  recently  visited   Portland,  and 


396  History  of  Portland. 


manifested  awann  interest  in  the  academy  which  he  had  aided,  as  a 
child.  Two  double  blocks  in  the  pleasantest  part  of  the  city  were 
next  given  for  school  purposes  by  Captain  Flanders  and  Mrs. 
Caroline  Couch;  and  the  corner  stone  of  the  Bishop  Scott  Grammar 
School  was  laid  on  the  5th  of  July,  1870,  by  Bishop  Morris,  assisted 
by  several  of  the  clergy.  The  grounds  at  that  time  were  away  out  in 
the  woods  in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  and  it  required  great  faith  in 
the  development  of  the  country  and  the  town  to  establish  a  school 
at  that  time  and  place.  With  indomitable  perseverance,  however, 
it  was  built  and  opened  for  business  on  September  6,  1870,  under 
Prof.  Chas.  H.  Allen.  The  chapel  of  the  school  was  named  St. 
Timothy's.  The  property  at  Oswego  was  sold  for  about  $5, 000,  and 
held  as  the  beginning  of  an  endowment  for  the  Bishop  Scott 
Grammar  School.  The  school  was  successful  from  the  verv 
beginning  under  the  wise  management  of  Prof.  Allen.  It  continued 
with  varvinsr  success  until  it  was  overcome  bv  misfortune  in  the 
burning  of  the  building  on  November  8,  1877.  A  large  amount  of 
church  property  was  destroyed  and  the  school  received  a  severe  set 
back.  With  his  remarkable  energ\*,  however,  Bishop  Morris  set  to 
work  immediately  towards  re-building  the  institution,  and  the  corner 
stone  of  the  present  building  was  laid  June  6,  1878.  School  was 
re-opcned  September  3d,  of  that  year,  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  J.  W. 
Hill  as  head  master,  who  has  been  at  his  post  up  to  the  present 
writing.  In  1887,  the  armory  was  built  and  military  discipline  was 
introduced;  the  name  of  the  school  changed  to  Bishop  Scott 
Academy,  the  whole  school  re-organized  and  the  institution  entered 
upon  a  new  era  of  usefulness.  During  1888  and  1889,  about 
$15,000  were  expended  on  pennanent  improvements  on  the  school 
property,  consisting  of  a  wing  on  the  north  side,  practically  more 
than  doubling  the  capacity  of  the  institution.  For  a  number  of 
years  past  the  school  has  been  on  a  substantial  basis  and  has  met 
with  all  the  success  its  friends  could  wish  for.  It  has  grown  to  be  an 
institution  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word.  The  course  of  study 
is  varied  to  meet  the  requirements  of  any  class  of  students.  The 
historv  of  the  school  is  closclv  interwoven  with  that  of  verv  manv 
families.      Its  graduates  and  former  pupils  are  now  to  be  found  all 


Educational  Institutions.  397 


over  our  Northwest.  The  influence  for  good  that  it  has  upon  the 
young  of  the  Northwest  is  beyond  calculation.  Its  present  svccess 
IS  very  gratifying  to  all  interested  in  the  cause  of  Christian 
education. 

St  Helen's  Hall,  a  school  for  girls,  was  founded  by  the  Rt.  Rev. 
B.  Wistar  Morris,  D.  D.,  the  present  bishop  of  Oregon.  Immediately 
upon  his  election  as  missionary  bishop  in  1868,  he  conceived  the  plan 
of  establishing  a  girPs  school  of  a  high  order,  in  which  religious  and 
secular  education  should  go  hand  in  hand.  In  this  undertaking  he 
sought  and  obtained  the  co-operation  of  the  sisters  of  his  wife,  the 
Misses  Rodney,  of  Delaware,  all  graduates  of  St  Mary's  Hall, 
Burlington,   N.  J.,  and  teachers  of  reputation  in  the  east. 

Bishop  Morris  soon  bought  from  Mrs.  Scott,  the  widow  of  his 
predecessor,  a  desirable  site  for  the  girl's  school  near  the  Plaza.  The 
funds  necessary  for  this  purchase  were  furnished  by  Mr.  John  D. 
Wolfe,  of  New  York,  a  noble  churchman,  who  did  the  like  for  many 
other  church  schools  in  our  countrv. 

The  school  opened  September  6th,  1869,  in  the  building  then 
known  as  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  standing  at  the  southwest  corner  of 
Fourth  and  Madison  streets.  There  were  fifty  pupils  on  the  opening 
day.  By  November  1,  the  number  had  increased  to  eighty  and  the 
principals,  finding  that  they  had  more  than  they  could  do,  called 
Miss  Atkinson,  now  Mrs.  F.  M.  Warren,  Jr.,  to  share  their  duties. 
Since  then,  the  Misses  Rodney  have  constantly  taught  in  the  school 
and  continued  to  dire(5l  it,  having  had  a  gradually  increasing  corps  of 
able  assistants.  Of  them,  Miss  Lydia  H.  Blackler  and  Mrs.  Mary 
B.  Clopton  may  be  especially  mentioned,  both  having  been  ver\' 
efficient  in  their  departments;  the  one  giving  thirteen  years  of  service 
and  the  other  ten.  Miss  Rachel  W.  Morris,  the  very  capable  and 
energetic  sister  of  the  bishop,  had  much  to  do  with  the  planing  of 
the  building  and  the  organizing  of  the  domestic  department;  and 
Mrs.  Morris,  the  bishop's  wife,  in  the  twelve  years  of  her  residence 
in  the  school,  was  also  a  zealous  worker  in  behalf  of  the  school. 

The  main  dwelling,  which  was  to  be  occupied  by  the  bishop's 
family  and  the  boarding  department  of  the  school,  was  not  finished 
till  November  27,  1869.     The  funds  necessary  for  this  building  and 


398  History  of  Portland. 


for  the  various  additions  made  to  it,  all  came  from  friends  of  the 
church  in  the  East,  except  the  sum  of  $5,000,  which  was  advanced 
by  some  citizens  of  Portland,  to  be  repaid  to  them  in  scholarships. 

The  school  had  grown  so  large  by  Christmas,  that  the  recitation 
rooins  were  too  small  and  too  few.  The  chapel  was  accordingly 
moved  to  an  adjoining  lot,  purchased  of  Mr.  Charles  Holman.  The 
building  was  then  enlarged.  As  the  school  continued  to  grow,  other 
additions  were  made  to  the  dwelling  house. 

The  name  '*St.  Helen's  Hall"  was  given  by  two  of  the  charter 
members  of  the  faculty;  one  wishing  to  honor  the  memor>'  of  St. 
Helena,  mother  of  Constantine,  the  other  having  in  mind  that 
''snowy  cone''  of  Oregon,  Mount  St.  Helens,  which  seems  to  keep 
watch  as  a  sentinel  over  Portland.  In  1880,  the  new  chapel  of  the 
school  was  begun.  It  stands  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  and  JeflFerson 
streets.  It  is  a  beautiful  building,  adorned  with  windows  of 
stained  glass,  many  of  which  are  memorials  of  the  departed.  One 
of  them  was  erected  by  several  young  men  in  memor\^  of  Henrj' 
Rodney  Morris,  the  eldest  son  of  Bishop  Morris,  who,  when  not  quite 
nineteen  years  old,  gave  up  his  life  in  an  attempt  to  save  the  lives  of 
two  workmen. 

The  domestic  arrangements  of  this  school  are  those  of  a  home 
Very  earnest  attention  is  given  to  the  health  of  the  pupils.  To  this 
end,  calisthenics  form  a  part  of  the  daily  exercise,  as  well  as 
walking. 

The  course  of  study  is  high.  It  may  be  either  regular  or  special. 
It  is  quite  abreast  of  the  demands  of  the  times  and  the  improved 
conditions  of  societv. 

The  school  has  an  extensive  library  and  an  herbarium  of  great 
value,  as  well  as  a  fine  collection  of  shells,  some  from  abroad,  and 
many  from  the  rivers  and  coast  of  Oregon.  The  instruction  given  is 
after  the  best  methods  in  all  departments,  and  so  it  has  ever  been. 
The  German  School  of  Music  has  always  been  the  standard,  in  the 
musical  department;  and  both  this  and  the  art  department  have  more 
than  a  local  reputation.  Good  English  is  cultivated,  both  in  speak- 
ing and  writing.  The  pupils  are  drawn  from  Oregon,  Washington, 
Idaho,  Montana,  .\laska,  California  and  Honolulu. 


Educational  Institutions.  399 


In  view  of  the  probable  extension  of  the  business  portion  of 
Portland  into  the  quarter  in  which  the  Hall  stands,  Bishop  Morris, 
several  years  ago,  secured  a  beautiful  block  of  ground  on  the  western 
outskirts  of  the  city,  near  the  Park;  and  there  the  school  will  shortly 
be  removed.  This  change  has  been  hastened  by  the  action  of  the 
city  council,  in  selecting  the  present  site  of  the  school  as  that  of  the 
new  city  hall.  A  fifie  new  brick  building  will  soon  be  erected,  and 
there  it  .is  expected  that  St.  Helen's  Hall  will  begin  its  next  year. 
The  grounds  of  the  new  home  will  be  even  more  ample  than  those 
of  the  present  one,  and  the  magnificent  view  of  river  and  mountain 
will  be  unobstructed. 

Doubtless  the  twenty  years  of  successful  management  by  the 
same  rector  and  principals  have  much  to  do  with  the  present  standing 
of  the  school.  That  it  will  continue  to  be  a  blessing  to  the  State  of 
Oregon  seems  to  be  assured.  Probably  2,000  girls  have  received 
instruction  at  this  institution,  while  62  have  graduated.  The  latter 
have  formed  themselves  into  a  society  of  graduates  and  from  time  to 
time  do  some  deed  of  kindness  to  their  Alma  Mater  which 
strengthens  the  bonds  that  already  unite  them  to  her. 

St.  Michael's  College  was  opened  August  28,  1871.  It  was 
founded  by  Very  Rev.  John  F.  Fierens,  Vicar  General,  with  Rev.  A. 
J.  Glorieux  (now  Bishop  of  Idaho),  as  first  principal.  In  February, 
1886,  the  college  was  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools,  who  still  continue  its  management.  The  object 
of  the  college  is  to  give  a  Christian  education  to  Catholic  youths, 
but  those  of  other  denominations  are  received  without  any  interfer- 
ence whatever  with  religious  opinions.  The  course  of  study  is 
divided  into  four  departments,  viz:  Preparatory,  Intermediate,  Com- 
mercial and  Collegiate,  the  latter  includes  Algebra,  Geometr)',  Trig- 
onometry, Surveying  and  Navigation,  Rhetoric,  English  Composi- 
tion and  Christian  Ethics.  The  present  number  of  students  is  two 
hundred. 

St  Joseph's  Parochial  School  for  boys,  was  established  in  1868. 
It  is  a  Catholic  institution  and  is  conducted  in  the  basement  of  St. 
Joseph's  German  Catholic  church,  corner  of  Fourteenth  and  O 
streets.    Miss  Kolkmann  is  principal  and  Miss  Orth  assistant  teacher. 


1 


400  History  of  Portland. 


The  Independent  German  School,  comer  of  Morrison  and  Ninth 
streets  was  established  in  1970  by  a  society  composed  of  some  of 
Portland's  most  progressive  citizens  for   the  purpose  of  pro\ading  a 
school  where  both   the  English  and   German  languages  could   It 
faithfully  taught  without  any  religious  basis.      It  is  supported  by 
voluntar>'    contributions  and   tuition   fees.      Frederick    Beecher  is 
principal. 

The  International  Academy,  comer  of  Ninth  and  Stark  streets, 
was  started  in  1875  by  Rev.  John  Gantenbein,  pastor  of  the  First 
Evangelical  Reformed  Church,  as  director,  and  his  daughters  as 
teachers.     Gennan  and  English  are  taught 

Portland  has  two  medical  collies.  The  older  of  these  institu- 
tions, the  Medical  College  of  the  Willamette  Universit>',  was 
removed  from  Salem  to  Portland  in  1878.  For  several  years  a 
building  on  the  east  side  of  Fourth  street  between  Morrison  and 
Yamhill,  was  used  for  college  purposes,  but  in  1885  a  new  coU^ne 
building  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $25,000,  on  the  comer  of 
Fourteenth  and  C  streets,  capable  of  accommodating  two  hundred 
students.  The  faculty  in  1878  was  composed  of  L.  L.  Rowland,  M. 
D.,  emeritus  Professor  of  physiology  and  microscopy;  A.  Sharpies, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  principles  and  practice  of  surgery;  D.  Payton, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  psychology  and  psychological  medicine;  W.  H. 
Watkins,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  theory  and  practice  of  medicine;  R. 
Glisan,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  obstetrics;  P.  Harvey,  M.  D.  Professor  of 
diseases  of  women  and  children;  O.  P.  S.  Plummer,  M.  D.,  Professor 
of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics  and  Dean  of  the  faculty;  S.  E. 
Josephi,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  geni to-urinary  and  surgical  anatomy;  R. 
O.  Rex,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  organic  and  inorganic  chemistry; 
Matthew  P.  Deady,  Professor  of  medical  jurisprudence;  E.  P.  Frazer, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  hygiene  and  dermatology;  H.  C.  Wilson,  M.  D., 
Professor  of  eye,  ear  and  throat;  R.  H.  Alden,  M.  D.,  Demonstrator 
of  anatomy.  The  present  faculty  is  composed  of  E.  P.  Frazer,  M. 
D.,  Professor  of  diseases  of  women  and  children  and  Dean  of  the 
faculty;  C.  H.  Hall,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  theory  and  practice  of 
medicine;  James  Browne,  M.  D.,  Professorof  physiology  and  hygiene; 
Richmond  Kelly,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  obstetrics;  W.   E.   Rinehart, 


Educational  Institutions.  401 


M.  D.,  Professor  of  anatomy;  J.  J.  Fisher,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics;  H.  S.  Kilboume,  M.  D.,  United 
States  army,  Professor  of  surgery ;  Alois  Sommer,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
chemistry;  D.  H.  Rand,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  geni to-urinary  anatomy; 
W.  B.  Watkins,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  eye  and  ear;  M.  C.  George, 
Professor  of  medical  jurisprudence;  George  H.  Chance,  Professor  of 
dental  pathology:  D.  H.  Rand,  M.  D.,  physician  to  out  door 
department  and  free  dispensary;  W.  E.  Carll,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
practical  and  surgical  anatomy. 

The  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of  Oregon  was 
established  in  Portland  1887,  and  at  the  present  time  the  college  is 
located  in  the  Good  Samaritan  Hospital,  comer  of  Twenty-first  and 
L  streets.  The  faculty  is  composed  of  Hon.  Matthew  P.  Deady,  L. 
L.  D. ,  president  of  the  Board  of  Regents  and  Professor  of  medical 
jurisprudence;  S.  E.  Josephi,  M.  D.,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  and 
Professor  of  obstetrics  and  psychological  medicine;  Curtis  C.  Strong, 
M.  D.,  secretary  of  the  faculty  and  Professor  of  gynaecology  and 
clinical  obstetrics;  Holt  C.  Wilson,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the 
principles  and  practice  of  surgery  and  clinical  surgery;  Otto  S. 
Binswanger,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  chemistry  and  toxicology;  K.  A.  J. 
Mackenzie,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  theory  and  practice  of  clinical 
medicine;  A.  C.  Panton,  M.  D.  Professor  of  general  and  descriptive 
anatomy;  J.  F.  Bell,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  materia  medica  and 
therapeutics  and  microscopy;  M.  A.  Flinn,  M.  D.,  Professor  of 
physiology;  G.  M.  Wells,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  diseases  of  children; 
Henry  E.Jones,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  gynaecology;  W.  H.  Saylor,  M. 
D.,  Professor  diseases  of  genito-urinary  organs  and  clinical  surgery;  A. 
J.  Giesy,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  dermatology  and  hygiene;  F.  B.  Eaton, 
M.  D.,  Professor  of  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat;  Wm. 
Jones,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  clinical  surgery;  Thomas  B.  Perry,  M.  D., 
United  States  Marine  Surgeon,  Professor  of  clinical  surgery;  Richard 
Nunn,  M.   D.,  demonstrator  of  anatomy. 

Portland  has  two  business  colleges,  which  furnish  ample  means 
for  instrudlion  to  those  who  desire  to  pursue  a  commercial  life. 
The  older  of  these  institutions,  the  Portland  Business  College,  was 
established  November,  1866,  by  Mr.    H.    M.  DeFrance  and  M.  K. 


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Financial  Institutions.  403 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
financial  institutions. 

t 

Early  Banks— Causes  Which  Stimulated  the  Growth  of  Banking  Interests- 
Financial  Condition  of  Portland  Banks — Ladd  &  Tilton— -First  National  Bank — Bank 
of  British  Columbia — Oregon  and  Washington  Mortgage  Bank — Portland  Savings 
Bank — London  and  San  Francisco  Bank — Merchants*  National  Bank— Oregon 
National  Bank— Portland  National  Bank  — Ainsworth  National  Bank — Commercial 
National  Bank — Northwest  Loan  and  Trust  Company — Portland  .Trust  Company — 
Northwest  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company — Pacific  Fire  Insurance  Company. 

THE  first  banking  house  of  Portland  was  established  in  1859  by 
William  S.  LaddanJC.  Ei  Tilton,  under  thefirmname  of  Ladd 
&  Tilton.  It  was  a  private  enterprise  and  was  undertaken  to  facilitate 
the  commercial  business  of  the  city.  For  several  years  thereafter  it 
was  the  only  banking  institution  in  the  city  and  fully  met  all  the 
demands  made  upon  it.  In  1866  the  First  National  Bank  and  the 
Bank  of  British  Columbia  entered  the  field.  In  1868  these  three  banks 
had  a  working  capital,  including  deposits,  of  $1,500,000,  ample  for 
tKe  mercantile  business  then  condu<5led,  since  the  entire  exports  of 
Oregon  at^that  time  did  not  exceed  $1,250,000.  Money  lending  on 
mortgages,  by  corporations,  was  then  unknown,  and  there  was  little 
mortgage  money  in  the  hands  of  individuals.  So  much  was  this  the 
case  that  interest  readily  commanded  twelve  per  cent,  with  a 
brokerage  of  five  per  cent,  and  often  a  much  higher  rate  was 
obtained. 

In  1869,  1870,  1871  and  1872,  the  construdlion  of  that  portion 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  which  connedled  the  Columbia  River 
with  Puget  Sound,  and  the  extension  of  the  Oregon  &  California 
railroad  through  the  Willamette  Valley  for  200  miles,  considerably 
increased  the  imports  into  Oregon,  which  were  principally  rails, 
rolling  stock,  tin  and  salt  in  British  ships.  These  vessels  for  the 
first  time  carried  wheat  and  flour  to  Europe.  Foreign  capital  was 
thus  attracted  to  Oregon,  and  in  1873  the  Oregon  and  Washington 
Trust  Company  was  formed  in  Scotland,  with  a  capital  of  $250,000, 


404  History  of  Portland. 

exclusively  for  mortgage  loans  on  farms.  In  1875  its  capital  was 
increased  to  $500,000,  and  in  1878  it  had  invested  over  $1,000,000 
in  the  State. 

Little  progress  was  made  in  commercial  banking,  however,  from 
1874  to  1877  on  account  of  the  stoppage  of  railroad  construction  and 
the  small  immigration  of  this  period.  The  three  banks  referred  to 
held  practically  control  of  the  commercial  banking  of  the  entire  State 
from  1868  to  1878.  So  carefully  had  the  moneys  of  these  institu- 
tions been  invested  that  the  commercial  panic,  which,  in  1875, 
caused  the  suspension  of  the  Bank  of  California,  and  many  similar 
banking  institutions,  did  not  affect  Portland  at  all. 

The  Oregon  and  Washington  Savings  Bank  was  the  fourth  bank 
organized  in  Portland.  It  came  into  existence  in  1876.  It  was 
followed  in  1878  by  the  Bank  of  British  North  America,  and  in  the 
next  two  years  the  Portland  Savings  Bank,  the  Metropolitan  Savings 
Bank,  and  the  Willamette  Savings  Bank  entered  the  field. 

From  1879  to  1883  the  construction  and  extension  of  the  ViUard 
system  of  railroads,  which  included  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navi- 
gation Company,  Northern  Pacific,  Oregon  and  California,  and 
Oregonian  Railway,  under  one  management,  caused  a  vast  increase 
of  population.  The  commerce  of  the  State  took  rapid  strides  and  the 
money  spent  in  the  communit\',  from  the  building  of  1,890  miles  of 
railway  rapidly  enhanced  the  value  of  the  banking  institutions  of 
Portland.  Fortunately  the  gold  coin  basis  on  which  the  banks  first 
did  business  in  Oregon,  from  1860,  was  continued  and  prevented 
that  depreciation  in  value  of  securities  which  was  so  common  in  the 
western  states  after  the  war. 

When  the  foreign  export  trade  of  Portland  advanced  from 
$1,250,000  in  1868,  to  $12,936,493  in  1884,  and  the  import  trade 
to  $28,203,746,  considerable  local  capital  of  the  city  sought  for 
further  extensions  by  the  subsequent  organization  of  the  Portland 
National,  Ainsworth  National,  Commercial  National  and  latterly  the 
Oregon  National  and  the  Merchants  National  Banks,  with  a  united 
paid  up  capital  of  $750,000.  These  five  National  institutions,  with 
the  First  National,  Ladd  &  Tilton,  Bank  of  British  Columbia, 
London     and    San     Francisco    banks    practically     do     the   entire 


I^INANCIAL   lNS*riTU*riONS. 


405 


commercial  banking  business  of  the  State,  some  of  them  having 
many  subsidiary  institutions  all  over  Oregon  and  Washington  which 
are  tributary  and  feeders  to  the  Portland  banks. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  Portland,  at  the  present  time,  has  as  strong 
banking  institutions  as  any  city  in  the  United  States  of  equal 
population.  All  are  doing  a  safe  business  and  are  conducted  on  a" 
conservative  basis,  and  the  people  of  Portland  take  pride  in  their 
management  and  reputation.  As  there  are  no  State  laws  requiring  the 
publication  of  the  deposits  or  capital  of  State  banks  and  private 
bankers  or  those  of  foreign  banks  doing  business  in  Oregon,  their 
present  condition  and  aggregate  strength  cannot  be  accurately  ascer- 
tained. The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  condition  of  the  six 
national  banks  of  Portland  taken  from  the  last  Teport  of  the  United 
States  Comptroller  of  the  currency  for  the  year  ending  in  December, 
1888:  Total  paid  up  capital,  $1,250,000;  surplus  fund,  $187,500; 
undi\nded  profits,  $573,359.64;  individual  deposits  (excluding  govern- 
ment deposits),  $3,627,497.79;  loans  and  discounts,  $3,717,789.12; 
invested  in  United  States  bonds,  $825,000;  total  liabilities,  $7,209,- 
734.65;  while  the  lawful  money  reserve  was  more  than  double  the 
amount  required  by  law.  These  figures  reveal  the  remarkable 
healthful  condition  of  the  national  banks  of  Portland.  Indeed, 
there  has  never  been  a  failure  or  suspension  of  any  national  bank  in 
Oregon. 

The  following  table  will  show  the  available  banking  capital  of 
the  city  for  the  year  ending  December,  1889,  compiled  from  reliable 
sources: 


OUaoN  BAHKS 


First  National 

Ladd&  Tilton 

Commercial  National . 

Oregon  National 

Portland  SavinjB;s 

Ainsworth  National . . . 

Portland  National 

Merchants  National . . 

Oregon  Capital. 


Total  Oregon  Capital 


OAPITAL. 

■UBPLUS  AMDUNDITIDBD 

PBOFIT. 

$    500,000 

$    700,000.00 

250,000 

450,000.00 

250,000 

136,740.23 

200,000 

30,000.00 

125,000 

120,000.00 

100,000 

26,954.96 

100,000 

18,207.13 

100,000 

15,000.00 

11,625,000 

11,496,902.32 

1,625,000.00 

13,121,902.32 

406  History  of  Portland. 


BBITI8H  BAHK8. 

Bank  of  British  Columbia |2,425.000    |    557.750.00 

London  and  San  Francisco 2,100,000  315,000.00 

j;4.,525,000    I    872,750.00 

4,525,000.00 

Total  British  Capital |5,397,750.00 

Total  Oregon  Capital 3,121,902.32 

Grand  Total $8,519,652.32 

The  average  standing  deposits  in  the  ten  banks  named  above  is 
equal  to  $10,000,000,  which,  with  the  legitimate  banking  capital  and 
the  capital  of  the  various  loan  companies  of  the  city  would  make  the 
present  available  banking  resources  of  Portland  fully  $20,000,000, 
a  statement  based  on  a  conservative  rather  than  over  estimate. 

A  Clearing  House  was  opened  in  Portland,  July  15,  1889,  and 
from  that  date  we  are  enabled  to  give  the  reports  for  the  first  twenty- 
four  weeks  of  its  existence. 

OLKARINOS.  BALANOSS. 

July,  two  weeks |2,966,641.26  $    657,167.63 

August,  five  weeks 7,273,339.84  1,563,332.65 

vSeptember,  four  weeks 6.110,056.71  1,051,479.87 

October,  four  weeks 7,895,075.99  1,347,030.33 

November,  five  weeks 9,651,097.99  1,972,803.49 

December,  up  to  28th,  four  weeks 7,733,979.16  1,517,534.88 

j;41,630,190.95    $8,109,348.85 

Banking  statistics  such  as  the  above  are  conceded  to  furnish  the 
best  possible  gauge  for  determining  the  real  condition  of  a  citj^'s 
commercial  standing,  and  Portland's  exhibit  in  this  regard  places 
her,  according  to  population,  as  a  trade  center,  unsurpassed  in  the 
United  States. 

In  mortgage  banking  the  success  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington 
Trust  Company  from  1873  to  1880,  when  it  was  consolidated  with 
the  Dundee  Mortgage  Company  at  a  premium  of  seventy  per  cent 
profit,  caused  foreign  mortgage  companies  to  seek  investment  on  the 
North  Pacific  Coast.  In  1880  the  Pacific  Loan  Company  of 
Liverpool,  and  the  Dundee  Mortgage  and  Trust  Investment 
Company,  of  Scotland,  entered  the  field.  Subsequently  the 
American  Freehold  and  Land  Mortgage  Company,  of  London,  and 
the  New  England  Mortgage  Company,  of  Connecticut,  followed  by 


Financial  Institutions.  407 


the  American  Mortgage  Company,  of  Scotland,  in  1881  and  the 
Oregon  MortgagjC  Company,  in  1883,  all  of  which  opened  offices  at 
Portland.  These  companies  had  a  combined  capital  of  over  $3,500,- 
000  invested  in  the  State  of  Oregon  and  Washington  Territory, 
which  was  the  means  of  developing,  to  a  great  extent,  the  lands  of 
Eastern  Oregon  and  Eastern  Washington,  supplying  the  new  settlers, 
who  arrived  from  1879  to  1883,  through  the  building  of  the  Villard 
system  of  railroads,  with  money  to  improve  the  vast  tracts  of  land 
which  was  then  opened  up  for  settlement.  Their  aggregate  strength, 
however,  alarmed  the  granger  portion  of  the  State  Legislature  and  in 
December,  1882,  a  special  mortgage  tax  law  was  passed,  declaring 
that  all  mortgages  should  be  taxed  at  their  face  or  par  value.  The 
eflFect  of  this  law  has  been,  in  the  main,  harmful.  The  companies 
previously  named  immediately  called  in  all  matured  loans  and  have 
greatly  reduced  their  investments  since  the  law  went  into  effect. 
That  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country  has  been 
retarded  by  this  legislative  attempt  to  decrease  the  profits  to  the 
mortgagor,  is  an  acknowledged  fact.  Foreign  capital,  in  a  great 
measure,  has  sought  other  fields,  while  the  mortgage  demand  being 
much  greater  than  the  supply,  has  caused  a  higher  rate  of  interest  to 
be  maintained  than  would  have  been  the  case  if  competition  for 
mortgage  securities  had  prevailed. 

In  the  following  pages  we  have  aimed  to  present  more  in  detail 
the  history  of  each  banking  institution  in  Portland. 

No  change  occurred  in  the  firm  of  Ladd  &  Til  ton,  private  bankers, 
from  the  time  they  commenced  business,  in  April,  1859,  until  1880, 
when  Mr.  Tilton  withdrew.  They  commenced  business  at  73  Front 
street,  and  so  successfully  were  they  that,  in  1861,  the  capital  was 
increased  from  $50,000  to  $100,000.  A  few  years  later  the  earnings 
of  the  bank  turned  into  the  business  brought  its  capital  up  to 
$1,000,000.  When  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  that  is,  in  1880, 
bills  receivable  amounted  to  upwards  of  $2,500,000.  As  an 
evidence  of  the  sound  and  safe  business  conducted  by  this  concern, 
it  may  be  stated,  that  when  the  bank  made  its  statement,  in  1888, 
there  was  less  than  $1,300  of  this .  balance  still  outstanding. 
Business  was  condudled  on  Front  street  until  1869,  when  the  present 


408  History  of  Portland. 

bank  building,  comer  of  First  and  Stark  street  was  completed.  The 
career  of  W.  S.  Ladd,  who  has  been  at  the  head  of  this  financial 
house  from  the  start,  is  so  thoroughly  given  in  other  portions  of  this 
volume  as  to  make  further  mention  in  this  connection  unnecessary. 
His  close  business  calculation  and  powers  of  financiering  have  made 
possible  the  accumulation  of  the  largest  private  fortnne  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest  He  still  personally  superintends  and  manages  his 
extensive  interests  with  all  the  shrewd,  far-seeing  business  sagacity 
which  marked  his  younger  years.  Since  the  retirement  of  Mr. 
Tilton,  Mr.  Ladd's  eldest  son,  William  M.,  has  been  a  partner  in  the 
bank.  He  inherits  many  of  his  father's  traits,  a  strong  will, 
perseverance  and  sterling  integrity.  He  was  prepared  for  coU^ne  at 
Andover,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  from  Amherst  Coll^ne  in 
1878. 

The  First  National  Bank,  as  its  name  implies,  was  the  first  bank 
organized  on  the  Pacific  Coast  under  the  national  banking  law,  and 
remained  for  several  years  the  only  one.  It  was  organized  early  in 
1866  and  opened  its  doors  for  business  in  May  of  the  same  year  with 
a  paid  up  capital  of  $100,000.  L.  M.  Starr  was  president  and 
James  Steel,  cashier.  The  opening  was  announced  by  advertisement 
in  the  Oregonian  of  May  9,  stating  that  the  bank  was  the  designated 
depositar}'  and  financial  agent  of  the  government,  and  that  exchange 
would  be  drawn  on  San  Francisco  and  New  York  at  favorable  terms. 
For  some  time  the  bank  occupied  the  upper  floor  of  the  building.  No. 
73  Front  street 

In  August,  1869,  the  greater  part  of  the  stock  of  the  concern 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Hon.  Henry  W.  Corbett  and  Hon.  Henry 
Failing,  who  have  since  so  successfully  controlled  its  destinies  and 
extended  its  business.  Its  capital  has  been  increased  from  $100,000 
to  $500,000,  while  its  foreign  business  has  been  extended  until  now 
it  has  correspondents  in  ever  important  city  in  the  world  and  has 
become  the  principal  banking  house  of  the  city.  Since  1869  Henry 
Failing  has  been  president  of  the  bank  and  Henry  W.  Corbett,  vice 
president.  The  other  officers  are:  G.  E.  Withington,  cashier  and 
H.  J.  Corbett,  assistant  cashier.      The  present  building  occupied  by 


Financial  Institutions.  409 


the  bank  on  the  corner  of  First  and  Washington  streets  was  erected 
in  1883  at  a  cost  of  $80,000,  and  is  the  finest  bank  building  in  the 
city. 

The  Bank  of  British  Columbia  is  a  branch  of  a  London,  England, 
corporation,  which  was  founded  in  1860  and  has  a  capital  of  $2,425,- 
000.  The  Portland  banch  was  established  in  1866  with  E.  Russel 
as  acting  manager.  It  has  been  very  successfully  conducted  and 
enjoys  a  liberal  patronage.  For  several  years,  George  Good,  a 
financier  of  well  recognized  ability',  has  had  charge  of  the  business 
in  this  city.  The  bank  building,  at  the  junction  of  A,  Front  and 
Vine  streets,  was  erected  in  1882  and  cost  $65,000. 

The  Oregon  and  Washington  Mortgage  Savings  Bank  was 
incorporated  in  1876,  with  William  Reid  as  president,  and  reorgan- 
ized in  1881.  It  has  done  a  large  amount  of  business,  principally 
among  the  farming  population  of  the  Willamette  Valley,  several 
million  dollars  having  been  loaned  to  this  class  during  the  first 
eleven  years  of  the  bank's  existence.  William  Reid  has  continued 
as  president  ever  since  the  organization  of  the  bank.  William  Lowe 
is  cashier. 

The  Portland  Savings  Bank  was  organized  in  1880,  and  for 
the  first  two  years  of  its  existence  was  conducted  largely  as  a  matter 
of  experiment.  From  a  small  beginning  it  has  grown,  however,  to 
be  one  of  the  leading  banks  of  the  city.  The  first  location  of  the 
bank  was  at  the  corner  of  Ash  and  Front  streets,  but  at  the  end  of 
the  first  year  the  demands  of  the  business  requiring  larger  quarters 
the  bank  was  removed  to  the  comer  of  Second  and  Stark.  Here  it 
remained  until  the  completion  of  the  elegant  bank  building  at  the 
corner  of  Washington  and  Second,  where  the  bank  occupies  most 
attractive  quarters.  The  president  of  the  bank  is  Frank  Dekum, 
who  was  also  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  institution.  The  other 
officers  are  W.  K.  Smith,  vice-president,  and  H.  C.  Stratton,  cashier. 
The  board  of  directors  is  composed  of  D.  P.  Thompson,  W.  F. 
Burrell,  Frank  Dekum,  W.  K.  Smith,  R.  M.  Wade,  George  H. 
Durham,  S.  A.  Durham,  C.  A.  Dolph,  Ward  S.  Stevens,  E.  J. 
Jeffirey  and  Cleveland  Rockwell.  The  bank  has  a  paid  up  capital  of 
$125,000,  with  a  surplus  and  undivided  profits  of  $120,000. 


410  History  of  Portland. 


The  London  and  San  Francisco  Bank  is  a  branch  of  an  English 
corporation,  with  headquarters  in  London.  It  was  established  in 
1882,  and  represents  a  paid  up  capital  and  reserve  of  $2,375,000. 
Under  the  direction  of  W.  Mackintosh,  manager,  this  institution  has 
had  a  well  deserved  success  in  Portland. 

The  Merchants'  National  Bank  is  successor  to  the  Willamette 
Savings  Bank.  The  latter  institution  was  incorporated  in  1883, 
with  James  Steel  as  president,  but,  in  1886,  it  was  changed  to  a 
commercial  bank  under  the  present  name  of  the  Merchants'  National 
Bank.  Mr.  Steel  was  chosen  president,  and  has  continued  to  retain 
the  position  ever  since.  His  connection  with  the  bank  has  largely 
contributed  to  its  success.  For  many  years  he  was  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  and  is  not  only  a  financier  of  acknowledged 
ability,  but  is  a  moving  spirit  in  many  important  enterprises  which 
have  been  inaugurated  in  Portland  during  recent  years.  Associated 
with  Mr.  Steel  in  the  management  of  the  bank  is  J.  Loewenberg, 
the  vice-president,  who  is  prominently  identified  with  some  of  the 
strongest  financial  organizations  in  the  Northwest.  I.  A.  Macrum  is 
cashier.  The  board  of  directors  is  composed  of  James  Steel,  J. 
Loewenberg,  H.  L.  Hoyt,  J.  K.  Gill,  J.  F.  Watson,  W.  C.  Johnson 
and  I.  A.  Macrum. 

The  Oregon  National  Bank  is  the  out  growth  of  the  Metropolitan 
Savings  Bank,  which  was  incorporated  in  September,  1882,  with  a 
capital  of  $150,000.  Hon.  Van  B.  DeLashmutt  was  the  leading 
spirit  in  its  formation,  and  was  elected  president  Under  his  able 
financiering  the  venture  proved  a  success,  notwithstanding  the 
depressed  condition  of  the  country  which  immediately  followed  its 
inception.  On  the  foundation  of  the  success  achieved,  the  Oregon 
National  Bank  was  organized  in  June,  1887,  with  a  capital  of 
$150,000,  which  later  on  was  increased  to  $200,000.  Mr.  DeLash- 
mutt was  elected  president,  a  position  he  has  ever  since  retained.  The 
other  officers  of  the  bank  are  George  B.  Markle,  vice-president,  and 
D.  F.  Sherman,  cashier.  The  directors  are:  Richard  Williams, 
George  H.  Williams,  George  B.  Markle,  W.  W.  Thayer,  Van  B. 
DeLashmutt,  D.  F.  Sherman,  J.  H.  Smith,  H.  Thielsen  and  C.  H. 
Dodd.     The    Oregon    National    Bank   has  rapidly  gained  a  large 


Financial  Institutions.  411 


business  and  holds  a  place  in  the  foremost  rank  among  the  financial 
concerns  of  the  city.  The  officers  have  in  contemplation  the  erection 
of  a  new  bank  building  which  will  be  an  ornament  to  the  city  and 
furnish  adequate  accommodations  for  the  growing  business  of  this 
institution. 

The  Portland  National  Bank  was  incorporated  in  May,  1884,  and 
has  been  in  successful  operation  ever  since.  Wm.  Reid  is  president 
and  Wm.  Lowe,  cashier.     The  diredlors  are:  William  Reid,  A.  Reid, 

C.  J.  McDougall,  John  McGuire  and  F.  E.  Habersham. 

The  Ainsworth  National  Bank  was  organized  in  1885,  with  a 
capital  of  $100,000.  This  bank  is  located  in  the  Ainsworth  block, 
comer  Third  and  Oak  streets,  a  substantial  fire  proof  building.  In 
connedlion  with  the  bank  is  a  safe  deposit  vault  for  the  storage  of 
valuables,  which  is  extensively  patronized.  The  officers  of  the  bank 
are:  L.  L.  Hawkins,  president;  W.  K.  Smith,  vice-president:  J. 
P.  Marshall,  cashier.  The  diredlors  are  L.  L<.  Hawkins,  W.  K. 
Smith,  Preston  C.  Smith,  J.  P.  Marshall  and  W.  S.  Charleston. 

The  Commercial  National  Bank  commenced  business  January  4, 
1886,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  which  has  since  been  increased  to 
$250,000.  D.  P.  Thompson  the  president  of  the  bank  is  largely 
interested  in  country  banks  and  has  thus  been  enabled  to  draw 
around  him  an  extensive  clientage.  Frank  Dekum  is  vice-president, 
and  R.  L.  Durham,  cashier.     The  board  of  diredlors  is  composed  of 

D.  P.  Thompson,  Frank  Dekum,  R.  M.  Wade,  E.  S.  Kearney, 
George  H.  Williams,  R.  Jacobs,  L.  White,  Henry  Weinhard,  Cleve- 
land Rockwell,  J.  W.  Hill,  H.  C.  Wentman,  J.  B.  David,  W.  F. 
Burrell,  George  H.  Durham  and  R.  L.  Durham.  This  bank 
occupies  a  portion  of  the  Portland  Savings'  Bank  building,  corner  of 
Second  and  Washington  streets. 

loan  and  trust  companies. 

The  Northwest  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  and  the  Portland 
Trust  Company  of  Oregon,  both  do  a  savings  bank  business.  The 
former  was  incorporated  February  2,  1887,  with  a  capital  of  $150,- 
000.  It  receives  and  pays  interest  on  sums  of  one  dollar  and 
upwards,  and  also  executes  trusts  of  every  description;  a<fts  as 
assignee,  receiver,  guardian,  executor  and  administrator  or  in  any  other 


412  History  of  Portland. 


fiduciary  capacity.  The- officers  are  George  B.  Markle,  president;  J. 
L.  Hartman,  treasurer,  and  W.  G.  Dillingham,  secretary.  The 
board  of  dire<5lors  is  composed  of  George  H.  Williams,  Herbert 
Bradley,  S.  B.  Willey,  H.  Thielsen,  J.  A.  Sladen,  C.  A.  Alisky, 
Thos.  F.  Osbom,  D.  F.  Shennan,  Geo.  B.  Markle,  J.  L.  Hartnugi, 
Chas.  F.  Beebe  and  J.  Thorbum  Ross. 

The  Portland  Trust  Company  was  incorporated  April  22,  1887. 
It  receives  deposits  in  sums  of  two  dollars  and  upwards.  Its  officers 
are  H.  L.  Pittock,  president;  A.  S.  Nichols,  vice-president,  and  Benj. 
I.  Cohen,  secretary.  These  officers,  with  A.  M.  Smith,  C.  E.  Sitton, 
Cleveland  Rockwell,  W.  W.  Spaulding,  L.  G.  Clarke,  Charles  H. 
Woodward  and  A.  F.  Hildreth  compose  the  board  of  dire<5lors. 

INSURANCE   companies. 

During  the  last  few  years  four  local  insurance  companies  have 
come  into  existence  in  Portland,  and  all  of  them  are  prosperous  and 
on  a  solid  financial  basis.  The  oldest  of  these  is  the  Oregon  Fire 
and  Marine  Insurance  Company  which  was  incorporated  in  1881 
and  has  a  paid  up  capital  of  $220,000.  L.  White  is  president;  H. 
W.  Corbett,  vice-president  and  Edward  Hall,  secretary. 

The  Northwest  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company  was  incor- 
porated in  January,  1886,  but  did  not  commence  business  until 
the  fall  of  1887.  It  has  a  capital  of  $500,000.  The  officers  are: 
J.  Loewenberg,  president;  J.  McCraken,  vice-president;  R  .P.  Earhart, 
secretary  and  manager;  F.  M.  Warren,  treasurer,  and  E.  Everett, 
assistant  secretar>'. 

The  Columbia  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company  was 
organized  in  May,  1887,  with  a  cash  capital  of  $500,000.  It 
engages  in  all  the  business  pertaining  to  fire  and  marine  insurance. 
The  directory  of  the  company  includes:  D.  P.  Thompson,  Asabel 
Bush,  Frank  Dekum,  H.  Thielsen,  Walter  F.  Burrell  and  John  A. 
Child.  The  officers  are:  Frank  Dekum,  president;  A.  H.  Breyman, 
vice-president,  and  Peter  Outcalt,  secretary. 

The  Pacific  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  Portland  was  organized 
March,  1888,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000.  F.  E.  Beach  is  president; 
Wm.  McFall,  vice-president;  J.  A.  Strowbridge,  treasurer,  and  W. 
F.  Brownton,  secretary. 


The  Press.  413 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   PRESS. 

Early  Efforts  to  Start  a  Newspaper — Growth  and  Progress  of  the  Oregonian —  The 
Evening  Telegram  — The  Western  Star— Democratic  Standard — Portland  Daily  News 
— PaciBc  Christian  Advocate — Daily  Evening  Tribune — Oregon  Herald — Portland 
Daily  Bulletin — Daily  Bee — Daily  Evening  Journal — Evening  Post — Northwest  News 
— Oregon  Deutsch  Zeitung—Staats  Zeitung — Freie  Press — List  of  Newspapers  which 
Appeared  from  1870  to  1880— Cat/io/ic  Sentinel— The  New  Northwest—Portland 
Journal  of  Commerce — North  PaciBc  Rural  Spirit — East  Portland  Papers — The  West 
Shore — Sunday  Mercury — Sunday  Welcome — Pacific  Express— Oregon  Times — The 
WbrW— Newspaper  Mortuary  Record  from  1880  to  1890. 

PORTLAND  has  always  had  an  industrious  and  vigorous  press. 
The  fathers  of  the  city  were  not  slow  to  perceive  that  among  the 
things  necessary  to  build  up  the  city  and  make  it  known  to  the  world 
was  an  active  and  enterprising  press,  and  very  soon  after  the  city 
was  started  there  was  an  effort  to  establish  a  newspaper  here.  The 
project  was  talked  of  for  a  considerable  time  before  means  were 
found  of  carrying  it  into  execution.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  find  a 
man  who  would  undertake  the  publication  of  a  newspaper  in  so  young 
and  small  a  community,  and  who  at  the  same  time  possessed  the 
ability  and  energy  necessary  for  such  a  work.  In  those  days  there 
was  not  a  newspaper  in  every  village,  as  now.  The  business  was 
yet  to  be  created.  Finally,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1850,  Col. 
W.  W.  Chapman,  Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett  and  others  resolved  that 
Portland  must  not  wait  longer  for  a  newspaper,  and  that  measures 
must  be  taken  to  establish  one. 

In  the  autumn  of  1850,  Messrs.  Chapman  and  Corbett  were  in 
San  Francisco  on  a  variety  of  business  relating  to  the  new  city  of 
Portland.  The  newspaper  was  not  forgotten.  Their  desire  was  to 
find  a  man  who  had  the  means  of  establishing  a  weekly  newspaper 
and  experience  in  conducting  the  business.  Such  a  man  fortunately 
was  found  in  Thomas  J.  Dryer,  the  founder  of  the  Oregonian.  Mr. 
Dryer  was  a  native  of  Ulster  County,  New  York.  He  had  worked 
on  the  country  press  in  his  State,  and  had  become  known  as  a 
vigorous  writer.     He  was  not  a  man  of  much  literary  culture,  but 


414  History  of  Portland. 


had  high  intelligence  and  great  energ\',  and  by  nature  belonged  to 
the  west  rather  than  to  the  east.  He  had  just  arrived  in  California 
and  had  brought  with  him  a  hand  press  and  a  small  lot  of  printing 
material.  Mr.  Corbett,  in  pursuit  of  a  man  who  would  establish  a 
paper  in  Portland,  fell  in  with  Mr.  Dr>'er,  and  undertook  to  show 
him  that  Portland  was  just  the  place  for  him;  just  the  place  where  he 
could  make  an  outfit  like  his  own  available.  Colonel  Chapman 
joined  in  the  effort,  and  Mr.  Dr>'er  was  induced  to  come  to  Portland 
to  start  a  newspaper. 

There  was  delay  in  getting  the  press  and  material  shipped  to 
Portland,  but  it  finally  arrived  and  was  hastily  put  in  order,  and  the 
first  number  of  the  Oregonian  appeared  December  4,  1850.  It  was 
a  sheet  of  four  pages,  six  columns  to  the  page,  and  was  to  be 
published  weekly.  From  that  day  to  this  it  has  never  missed  a 
weekly  issue.  Mr.  Drv'er  was  an  aggressive  and  spirited,  though 
not  a  scholarly  or  polished  writer.  The  journals  of  that  day  gave 
little  attention  to  reporting  the  ordinary  incidents  or  affairs  of  their 
locality;  news-gathering  had  not  yet  been  developed  into  a  science 
or  business,  and  petty  political  discussion,  consisting  largely  of 
personalities,  and  often  descending  to  grossness,  was  the  staple  of 
the  newspaper's  work.  Soon  after  the  Oregonian  was  started  at 
Portland  the  Statesman  was  started  at  Oregon  City,  and  as  one  was 
Whig  and  the  other  Democrat,  controversies  soon  became  hot 
between  them.  During  a  long  period  their  columns  were  filled  with 
bitter  articles  against  each  other,  and  the  personalities  of  journalism 
w^ere  carried  to  an  extreme  seldom  witnessed  elsewhere.  Their 
remote  positions  from  centre  of  news,  and  the  fact  that  few  things 
of  importance  were  transpiring  in  so  small  a  community,  were  other 
causes  that  led  the  Oregon  journals  of  that  period  to  devote  their  space 
so  largely  to  petty  contention  and  personal  vituperation.  But  the 
**  Oregon  style"  passed  away  in  course  of  years,  with  the  conditions 
that  produced  it. 

The  Oregonian^  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  not  a  prosperous  paper. 
Its  earnings  were  small  and  debts  accumulated,  but  means  were 
found  to  carr\'  it  on  from  year  to  year.  In  1853,  Henry  L.  Pittock, 
who  had  just  arrived  in  Oregon,  across  the  plains,  was  engaged  to 


The  Press.  415 


work  upon  the  paper.  He  was  a  practical  printer,  a  youth  of  steady 
habits  and  great  industry,  and  upon  him  gradually  fell  the  duty  of 
publishing  the  paper.  Mr.  Dryer  gave  little  attention  to  details;  he 
wrote  editorials  when  in  the  humor — usually  when  he  wished  to 
assail  or  retort  on  opponents — and  yet  the  paper  was  a  positive  force 
in  Portland  and  throughout  Oregon,  chiefly  because  it  suited  the 
humor  of  a  considerable  number  of  the  people,  and  there  was  nothing 
else  to  take  its  place.  Mr.  Dryer,  through  its  columns  and  through 
his  activity  in  the  small  politics  of  the  day,  kept  himself  continually 
before  the  people;  he  was  several  times  a  member  of  the  territorial 
legislature,  where  he  was  as  aggressive  as  in  the  columns  of  his 
newspaper;  and  later  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  that 
framed  the  constitution  of  the  State.  Meantime,  Mr.  Pittock,  with 
the  industry,  perseyerance  and  judgment  that  have  since  made  him 
so  conspicious  as  a  manager  in  journalism,  was  attending  to  the 
details  and  ''getting  out''  the  paper  week  after  week.  In  1860,  Mr. 
Dryer  was  chosen  one  of  the  electors  on  the  Lincoln  presidential 
ticket.  The  next  year  he  was  appointed  minister  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  as  he  owed  Mr.  Pittock  quite  a  sum  for  services, 
the  latter  took  the  paper  and  soon  started  it  upon  that  career  which 
has  since  made  it  so  successful  and  famous  in  journalism.  Mr.  Dryer, 
after  several  years  of  residence  abroad,  returned  to  Portland,  where 
he  died  in  1879. 

Upon  undertaking  to  publish  the  paper  on  his  own  account,  Mr. 
Pittock' s  first  resolve  was  to  start  a  daily.  Two  daily  papers  were 
already  published  in  Portland — the  Times  and  Advertiser;  and  each 
of  these  appeared  to  have  a  better  chance  for  life  than  the  Oregonian. 
But  the  patience,  industry,  application  and  skill  of  Mr.  Pittock 
soon  decided  the  contest  in  his  favor.  The  first  number  of  the 
Daily  Oregonian  appeared  February  4,  1861.  It  was  a  sheet  of  four 
pages,  with  four  columns  to  the  page.  As  the  civil  war  was  just  then 
breaking  out  great  efforts  were  made  to  get  news,  and  the  energy  of 
the  Oregonian  put  it  in  the  lead  of  its  competitors.  It  was  assisted 
also  by  its  vigorous  espousal  of  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  people 
began  to  look  to  it  not  only  for  the  news  but  for  expression  of  their 
sentiments  upon  the  great  crisis.     Simeon  Francis,  a  veteran  news- 

[27] 


416  History  of  Portland. 


paper  man  from  Springfield,  Illinois,  became  editor,  and  held  the 
place  about  one  year,  when  he  withdrew  to  accept  a  position  in  the 
army.  He  was  succeeded  by  Amory  Holbrook,  a  very  able  man  but 
an  irregular  worker,  who  held  the  position  two  years.  During  1864 
and  part  of  1865,  various  persons  did  editorial  work  on  the  paper, 
among  whom  John  F.  Damon,  now  of  Seattle,  and  Samuel  A. 
Clarke,  of  Salem,  deserve  mention.  In  May,  1865,  Harvey  W. 
Scott  was  engaged  as  editor,  and  has  ever  since  held  the  position, 
with  the  exception  of  the  interval  from  October,  1872  to  April, 
1877,  during  which  the  paper  was  under  the  charge  of  W.  Lair 
Hill. 

In  1872,  Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett  bought  an  interest  in  the  paper, 
which  he  held  till  1877,  when  he  sold  it  to  Mr.  Scott,  who  resumed 
editorial  charge.  Since  that  time  the  paper,  under  Mr.  Pittock  as 
manager  and  Mr.  Scott  as  editor,  has  grown  with  the  countr>',  has 
increased  in  circulation  and  has  fully  established  itself  at  the  head  of 
journalism  in  the  Northwest  Of  the  importance  of  Portland  as  a 
cit>',  of  the  extent  of  the  business  of  Portland  and  of  the  super- 
eminent  position  of  the  city  in  the  Northwest,  there  is  no  surer 
attestation  than  the  pages  of  the  Oregonian, 

The  Evening  Telegram  was  started  in  April,  1877.  It  was  under- 
taken by  an  association  of  printers  and  was  helped  by  the  proprietors 
of  the  Oregonian.  This  arrangement  lasted  not  much  more  than  a 
year,  when  the  printers  who  had  engaged  in  it  decided  to  go  no 
further.  The  proprietors  of  the  Oregonian  thereupon  took  up  the 
paper  and  have  published  it  ever  since. 

The  Western  Star  was  started  at  Milwaukie  shortly  after  the 
Oregonian  was  started  at  Portland.  Milwaukie  was  a  rival  of 
Portland  for  commercial  eminence,  but  it  was  soon  perceived  that  the 
race  was  hopeless  and  the  Western  Star  was  brought  down  to  Port- 
land, where  it  was  published  as  the  Oregon  Times.  This  paper  was 
started  by  John  Or\'is  Waterman,  who  remained  with  it  several  years. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Carter  &  Austin,  who  published  the  paper  till 
1861,  when  it  was  suspended.  In  1854,  the  Democratic  Standard 
appeared.  Under  the  management  of  Alonzo  Leland,  who  now  lives 
at  lycwiston,  Idaho,  it  wielded  some  power  in  local  politics.     James 


The  Press.  417 


O'Meara  succeeded  Leland  in  1858.  A  year  thereafter  it  suspended 
publication,  but  was  soon  after  revived  and  for  a  few  months  continued 
the  struggle  for  existence,  making  its  last  appearance  on  June  6, 
1859. 

On  April  18,  1859,  the  first  number  of  a  daily  newspaper  was 
issued  in  this  city.  It  bore  the  title  of  Portland  Daily  News^  and 
was  .published  by  S.  A.  English  &  Co. ,  with  E.  D.  Shattuck  as 
editor.  It  soon  ceased  to  exist,  and  the  material  upon  which  it  was 
printed  was  moved  to  Eugene  City.  The  advent  of  the  News  was 
quickly  followed  by  the  appearance  of  the  Oregon  Advertiser^  a 
weekly  journal,  under  the  editorial  and  proprietory  control  of  Alonzo 
Leland.  This  paper  continued  to  be  published  until  Odlober,  1862. 
Toward  the  end  of  its  career  S.  J.  McCormick  became  editor.  He 
was  succeeded  by  George  L<.  Curry,  the  last  editor  of  the  paper,  who 
had  been  one  of  Oregon's  territorial  governors.  The  Advertiser 
was  uncompromisingly  democratic  in  its  utterances  and  to  such  an 
extent  did  it  support  the  anti-war  attitude  of  its  party  during  the 
early  period  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  that  its  suspension  was  not 
entirely  voluntary. 

The  PaciBc  Christian  Advocate^  the  oldest  religious  journal  in 
Oregon  and  the  only  paper,  exclusive  of  the  Oregonian,  which  has 
had  an  existence  since  the  pioneer  days  of  Portland,  has  been 
published  since  1855.  It  was  first  established  at  Salem  as  an  inde- 
pendent Methodist  weekly  with  Rev.  T.  H.  Pearne  as  editor,  but  in 
1859  was  removed  to  Portland.  It  was  published  as  an  independent 
paper  until  the  session  of  the  general  conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  1856,  when  that  body  adopted  it  as  a  general 
conference  paper,  and  selected  Mr.  Pearne  as  editor  for  four  years. 
Mr.  Pearne  continued  as  editor  until  1864,  when  Rev.  H.  C.  Benson, 
D.  D. ,  was  chosen  as  his  successor.  The  latter  was  succeeded  in  1868 
by  Rev.  Isaac  Dillon,  D.  D.,  who  occupied  the  editorial  chair  for 
eight  years.  In  1876  Rev.  J.  H.  Acton  became  editor  and  served 
for  four  years.  During  all  these  years  the  paper  was  by  no  means 
self-supporting  and  had  been  a  source  of  considerable  expense  to  the 
general  conference.  In  view  of  this  fact,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
general  conference  in  1880  it  was  determined  to  discontinue  the 


4-18  History  of  Portland. 


Advocate^  and  after  paying  its  liabilities  to  donate  the  paper  to  the 
Oregon  and  Columbia  River  General  Conference.  This  was  done, 
and  the  conference  named  turned  the  paper  over  to  a  joint  stock 
company  composed  of  members  of  the  conference  of  which  George 
W.  Staver  is  president.  Rev.  Alfred  Kummer,  secretary-  and  treasurer 
and  Rev.  A.  J.  Hanson,  business  manager.  Rev.  H.  K.  Hines  was 
selected  as  editor  under  the  new  management  He  ser\'ed  for  eight 
years  and  during  that  time  the  subscription  list  largely  increased  and 
the  paper  was  placed  on  a  good  financial  basis.  In  1888  Rev.  W. 
S.  Harrington  became  editor — a  position  he  still  holds.  The  present 
circulation  of  the  Advocate  is  a6out  twenty-four  hundred  copies. 

After  the  suspension  of  the  Advertiser  the  next  newspaper  venture 
in  Portland,  in  connection  with  the  secular  press,  was  the  Daily 
Evening  Tribune,  which  was  first  issued  in  Januar\',  1865.  Col. 
Van  Cleve  and  Ward  Latter  were  its  editors.  It  had  a  brief  career, 
suspending  within  a  month  from  date  of  issue. 

The  Oregon  Herald  followed  the  Tribune,  appearing  March  17, 
1866,  with  H.  M.  Abbott  and  N.  L.  Butler  as  editors  and  proprietors. 
It  was  started  as  a  Democratic  organ.  In  June,  1866,  the  paper 
was  purchased  by  a  stock  company  composed  of  some  of 
the  leading  Democratic  politicians  of  the  State,  among  the 
directors  being  A.  E.  Wait,  W.  Weatherford,  J.  K.  Kelly,  L.  F. 
Grover,  J.  S.  Smith,  X.  L.  Butler  and  Dr.  J.  C.  Hawthorne.  Under 
the  new  management,  Beriah  Brown  became  editor.  Financially 
the  paper  was  not  a  success,  and  in  November,  1868,  it  was  sold  to 
W.  Weatherford,  Sylvester  Pennoyer  at  the  same  time  becoming 
its  editor.  A  few  months  later  Mr.  Pennoyer  purchased  tte  paper, 
continuing  as  editor  and  publisher  until  July  1,  1869,  when  he 
disposed  of  it  to  T.  Patterson  &  Co.  For  a  time  thereafter  Eugene 
Semple  was  editor.  The  paper,  however,  had  but  a  brief  existence 
after  its  last  sale,  and  was  finally  forced  to  suspend,  the  entire  plant 
being  disposed  of  at  auction. 

Before  the  suspension  of  the  Herald,  however,  two  new  dailies 
entered  the  field,  the  Portland  Evening  Bulletin^  edited  by  J.  F. 
Atkinson  and  the  Portland  Evening  Commercial,  edited  by  M.  P. 
Bull,  the   fonner    appearing  Januar\'  6,  1868,  and  the  latter  July 


The  Press.  419 


11th,  of  the  same  year.  They  pursued  an  independent  course  in 
dealing  with  political  questions,  and  made  a  vigorous  fight  to  secure 
support,  but  both  failed  to  find  the  road  which  leads  to  success  in 
journalism,  and  after  comparatively  brief  careers  were  added  to  the 
death  roll  of  Portland  newspapers. 

The  Portland  Daily  Bulletin  was  one  of  the  unfortunate  enter- 
prises conne(5led  with  Ben  Holladay's  movements  in  Oregon.  In 
furtherance  of  his  vast  schemes  he  estimated  at  its  full  value  the  aid 
of  a  newspaper  which  would  be  absolutely  within  His  control.  With 
this  idea  in  view  he  purchased  the  plant  which  had  been  used  in  the 
publication  of  the  San  Francisco  Times  and  removed  it  to  Portland. 
The  Bulletin  made  its  appearance  in  1870,  with  James  O'Meara  as 
editor.  In  1872,  H.  W.  Scott  was  associated  in  the  editorship,  but 
remained  only  a  few  months  when  T.  B.  Odeneal  took  charge. 
Under  OdeneaPs  editorial  management  the  paper  continued  until  it 
suspended  publication  in  October,  1875.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
disasterous  ventures  in  the  history  of  Portland  journalism,  having 
cost  nearly  $200,000,  more  than  its  entire  income  during  the  brief 
years  of  its  existence.  The  plant  was  sold  at  auction,  and  was 
scattered  throughout  Oregon,  Washington  and  Idaho  and  is  still 
doing  its  duty  in  connection  with  country  journalism. 

Two  more  dailies  made  their  appearance  in  1875,  The  Daily  Bee 
and  the  Daily  Evening  Journal.  The  Bee  was  first  issued  Novem- 
ber 2,  1875.  It  was  a  diminutive  paper  to  begin  with  and  was 
circulated  free  by  its  publisher,  D.  H.  Stearns,  until  December,  of 
the  same  year,  when  it  was  enlarged  and  run  as  a  Republican  journal. 
During  the  greater  part  of  its  existence  it  was  controlled  by  Mr. 
Steams,  but  in  the  meantime  it  was  at  different  times  published  by 
companies  and  for  about  eighteen  months  was  owned  by  W.  S. 
Chapman.  In  1 878  Chapman  sold  it  back  to  Steams  who  continued 
its  publication  until  June,  1880,  when  he  disposed  of  it  to  Atkinson 
&  Farrish.  The  last  named  proprietors,  in  August,  1880,  changed 
its  name  to  the  Portland  Bulletin^  and  for  a  year  or  two  thereafter  it 
appeared  under  this  name,  finally  suspending  in  the  latter  part  of 
1882. 


420  History  of  Portland. 

The  Daily  Evening  Journal  had  an  existence  of  only  a  few 
months,  being  purchased  in  July,  1876,  by  A.  Noltner,  who  six 
months  previously  had  commenced  the  publication  of  the  Weekly 
Standard,  After  the  purchase  of  the  Journal^  the  Standard  was 
issued  as  a  daily  evening  paper  until  September,  1879,  when  it  was 
changed  to  a  morning  publication.  Under  Mr.  Noltner's  manage- 
ment the  Standard  became  one  of  the  best  known  papers  the 
Democrats  have  ever  had  in  Oregon.  For  a  time  it  was  the  official 
paper  of  the  city  and  enjoyed  a  well  merited  period  of  prosperity. 
In  June,  1885,  Mr.  Noltner  sold  the  paper  to  S.  B.  Pettingill,  who 
continued  it  as  editor  and  proprietor,  until  February,  1886,  when 
it  ceased  to  exist. 

The  Evening  Post,  Daily  Evening  Chronicle  and  the  Northwest 
News  complete  the  list  of  Portland  dailies  which  for  a  time  were 
published,  but  for  various  reasons  were  not  successful.  The  Post 
made  its  appearance  in  March,  1882,  with  Nat  L.  Baker  as  editor 
but  like  the  Chronicle^  which  appeared  about  two  years  later  under 
E.  G.  Jones  as  proprietor,  it  had  an  existence  of  only  a  few  months. 
The  News  had  a  much  more  extended  and  interesting  history.  It 
appeared  in  Januar}',  1883,  with  Nathan  Cole  as  editor.  Mr.  Cole, 
who  came  from  St.  Louis,  condu(5led  the  paper  about  a  year  and  a 
half  when  it  was  sold  to  Francis  M.  Thayer  and  A.  N.  Hamilton, 
both  of  whom  had  had  experience  in  journalism,  the  former  at 
Evansville,  Indiana,  and  the  latter  at  Salt  Lake,  Utah.  Mr.  Thayer 
assumed  the  editorial  and  Mr.  Hamilton  the  business  management  of 
the  paper.  After  more  than  two  years  experience  and  the  expenditure 
of  large  sums  of  money  in  condu(5ling  the  paper,  and  failing  to 
make  it  a  success,  they  sold  out  to  a  stock  company,  composed  of 
a  number  of  the  leading  republican  politicians  of  the  city.  Under 
the  new  order  of  things  James  O'Meara  was  sele<5led  as  editor  and  J. 
D.  Wilcox  became  business  manager.  As  a  financial  venture  the 
paper  did  not  improve  under  the  new  management  It  continued  to 
be  a  great  absorber  of  capital  with  no  adequate  returns  for  the  money 
invested.  This  state  of  affairs  continued  until  the  stockholders 
refused  to  advance  the  necessary  funds  to  keep  it  alive  and  in  conse- 
quence it  suspended  in  0<5lober,  1888,  having  cost  from  the  time  it 


The  Press.  421 


was  started  until  its  career  closed,  more  than  $200,000,  above  its 
entire  receipts. 

Among  Portland  publications,  not  previously  mentioned  and  other 
than  the  daily  papers,  the  Oregon  Deutsch  Zeitung^  a  weekly  German 
paper,  comes  next  in  chronological  order.  It  was  issued  in  the  early 
part  of  1867  by  C.  A.  Laudenberger,  by  whom  its  publication  was 
continued  until  it  suspended  in  1884.  It  was  the  first  paper  printed 
in  the  German  language  in  Portland.  The  Staats  Zeitung^  another 
German  weekly,  was  first  issued  in  October,  1877  with  Dr.  J. 
Folkman  as  editor  and  proprietor.  This  publication  has  since  been 
continued  and  is  recognized  as  the  leading  German  paper  in  the  State. 
A  daily  issue  was  commenced  in  December,  1887,  and  has  proven  a 
successful  venture.  Dr.  Folkman  is  still  editor  and  proprietor,  but  is 
assisted  in  the  editorial  management  by  F.  A.  Myer. 

Portland  has  still  another  German  weekly,  the  Freie  Pressj  which 
was  established  in  March,  1885,  by  vonOtterstedt  &  Sittig.  Von 
Otterstedt  has  since  retired  and  Bruno  Sittig  has  become  sole 
proprietor. 

The  decade  from  1870  to  1880  witnessed  the  birth  of  numerous 
weeklies,  some  of  which  still  survive,  but  most  of  them  are  either 
dead  or  have  been  merged  in  other  publications.  The  following 
comprises  the  names  under  which  they  originally  appeared: 
Catholic  Sentinely  Pacific  Rural  Press,  Columbia  Churchman,  New 
Northwest,  Sunday  Welcome^  Commercial  Reporter,  Monthly- 
Musical  Journal,  North  Pacific  Rural  Spirit,  Good  Templar, 
Sunday  Mercury,  West  Shore,  Temperance  Star,  Northwest  Farmer 
and  Dairyman,  Weekly  News,  Willamette  Farmer,  The  Churchman, 
Oregon  Literary  Vidette,  East  Portland  Call,  The  Vindicator,  and 
Democratic  Bra^  Of  the  foregoing,  the  Catholic  Sentinel  was  started 
in  February,  1870,  under  the  immediate  encouragement  and 
authority  of  Very  Rev.  J.  F.  Fierens,  Vicar  General  and  then  acting 
Bishop  of  Oregon.  The  inception  of  the  enterprise  was  due  to  H. 
ly.  Herman  and  J.  F.  Atkinson,  who  were  the  publishers  for  the  first 
two  years  of  its  existence.  Mr.  Herman  continued  the  publication 
for  a  few  years  after  Mr.  Atkinson  withdrew,  and  until  a  joint  stock 
company     composed    of    the    archbishops     of     the    diocese,     the 


422  History  of  Portland. 


Bishops  of  Vancouver  and  Nesqually  and  the  Catholic  clergy 
generally,  took  control  of  the  paper.  In  1881  Joseph  R.  Wiley 
became  editor.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  present  editor,  M.  G. 
Munly,  in  Februar>',  1886.  The  Sentinel  is  devoted  to  the  dissemi- 
nation of  religious  matters  pertaining  to  the  Catholic  Church  and  is 
the  only  Catholic  newspaper  in  the  Pacific  Northwest  It  is 
extensively  circulated  in  Oregon,  Washington,  Montana,  Idaho  and 
British  Columbia. 

The  New  Northwest^  a  weekly  publication,  was  began  in  May, 
1871,  by  Mrs.  Abigail  Scott  Duniway.  Its  purposes  and  aims  were 
outlined  in  its  first  issue  as  being  **  devoted  to  the  enfranchisement 
of  women  and  full  emancipation  of  speech,  press  and  people  from 
ever}'  fetter  of  law  or  custom  that  retards  the  free  mental  and  physical 
growth  of  the  highest  type  of  humanity."  Under  Mrs.  Duniway  it 
became  a  vigorous  and  well  known  champion  of  women  suffi-age, 
while  it  possessed  much  merit  as  a  literary  paper.  It  was  sold  in 
Januar>',  1887,  to  O.  P.  Mason,  who  conducted  it  as  a  literary 
journal  until  March,  1889,  at  which  time  having  purchased  the 
Pacific  Farmer^  which  had  been  started  in  1879,  by  the  Frank 
brothers,  as  the  Farmer  and  Dairyman^  he  discontinued  the  New 
Northwest  and  has  since  published  the  Pacific  Farmery  a  weekly 
agricultural  journal. 

The  Commercial  Reporter^  the  "predecessor  of  the  Portland  Journal 
of  Commerce,  was  first  issued  in  August,  1872,  by  J.  R.  Farrish,  and 
published  by  him  for  two  years.  It  afterwards  passed  into  the  hands 
of  George  H.  Himes,  J.  Perchin  and  S.  Turner,  each  retaining  it  for 
a  short  time.  In  July,  1874,  J.  F.  Atkinson  became  the  owner, 
publishing  it  alone  until  Januar>'  1,  1880,  when  J.  R.  Farrish 
purchased  a  half  interest  in  the  paper,  after  which  its  name  was 
changed  to  the  Commercial  Reporter  and  Journal  of  Commerce. 
In  1884,  the  paper  became  the  property  of  a  stock  company,  when 
the  present  name,  Portland  Journal  of  Commerce^  was  adopted.  It 
is  an  eight  page  folio,  issued  weekly,  and  exclusively  devoted  to 
commercial  and  shipping  interests.  A.  C.  A.  Perkes  is  editor.  Soon 
after  the  present  company  became  owner  of  the  paper,  the 
Commercial  Herald,  started  in  1883,  by  D.  C.  Ireland  &  Co.,  was 
absorbed  by  purchase. 


The  Press.  423 


The  Columbia  Churchman^  after  passing  through  many  vicis- 
itudes,  at  times  being  issued  weekly,  semi-monthly  and  monthly, 
has  now  became  known  as  the  Oregon  Churchman^  and  is  issued 
monthly.     It  is  the  organ  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Oregon. 

The  North  Paci£c  Rural  Spirit  was  founded  in  1878,  by  W.  W. 
Baker.  He  afterwards  purchased  the  Willamette  Farmer  and  has 
united  the  tlvo  papers  under  the  name  of  The  North  PaciSc  Rural 
Spirit  and  Willamette  Farmer.  It  is  an  agricultural  and  stock 
journal  and  is  issued  weekly.  Mr.  Baker  has  associated  with  him 
in  its  publication  his  two  sons,  Frank  C.  and  J.  Van  S.,  under  the 
firm  name  of  W.  W.  Baker  &  Sons. 

The  Oregon  Literary  Vidette,  East  Portland  Call,  The  Vindi- 
cator, and  Democratic  Era  were  all  weekly  issues,  published  in  East 
Portland.  The  first  named  was  published  by  E.  O.  Norton, 
and  issued  in  1879.  It  had  an  existence  of  a  year  or  two.  The 
others  mentioned  died  in  their  extreme  youth. 

The  West  Shore  is  one  of  the  most  successful  of  the  journalistic 
ventures  which  have  been  started  in  Portland  in  recent  years.  It 
was  founded  in  August,  1875,  by  L.  Samuel,  who  has  ever  since 
been  the  sole  proprietor.  At  first  it  was  a  small  eight  page  four 
column  monthly  paper  illustrated  with  stock  cuts  purchased  in  the 
east  and  a  few  local  cuts  made  in  San  Francisco.  The  undertaking 
was  liberally  supported  and  proved  such  a  success  that  in  September, 
1878,  the  publication  was  enlarged  to  a  thirty-two  page  quarto  and 
lithographic  illustrations  began  to  be  used.  Gradually  the  purchased 
cuts  were  dropped  and  only  new  and  original  ones  were  used.  In 
January,  1884,  the  number  of  pages  was  increased  to  forty-eight, 
and  three  years  later  it  was  changed  to  the  size  of  Harper's 
Magazine  and  the  number  of  pages  increased  to  seventy-two.  In 
1888  it  was  again  enlarged  to  a  quarto  size  and  still  maintained 
at  seventy-two  pages.  September  14,  1889,  it  was  converted  into  a 
weekly,  in  which  form  it  has  since  been  published,  its  chief  illustra- 
tions being  in  colors  and  tints,  and  is  published  jointly  from 
Portland  and  Spokane  Falls,  Washington.  It  is  profusely  illustrated 
with  finely  executed  cuts  representing  the  scenery  and  the 
architectural  improvements  in  Oregon,  Washington,  Idaho,  Montana 


424  History  of  Portland. 


and  British  Columbia,  while  the  literary  character  of  the  journal  is 
of  a  high  grade.  It  has  secured  a  large  circulation  throughout  the 
country  and  is  doing  an  excellent  work  in  properly  representing  the 
resources  and  advantages  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  Mr.  Samuel  is 
a  publisher  of  experience  and  rare  business  judgment  and  the  success 
of  the  West  Shore  is  almost  solely  due  to  his  efforts. 

The  Sunday  Mercury  is  the  successor  of  a  weekly  paper  known 
as  the  Mercury^  started  at  Salem  in  1870  by  Wm.  Thompson  and 
several  other  gentlemen.  A  year  later  Thompson  became  sole 
proprietor,  remaining  as  such  for  several  years,  when  he  sold  the 
paper  to  Walter  S.  Mass,  who  removed  it  to  Portland  in  1880,  and 
began  its  publication  as  the  Sunday  Mercury.  In  1883  it  was 
purchased  by  the  Mercury  Publishing  Company  by  which  it  is  still 
published.  Frank  Vaughn  is  secretary  of  the  company  and  B.  P. 
Watson,  manager.  • 

The  Sunday  Welcome  was  first  issued  August  14,  1875,  with  J. 
F.  Atkinson  and  James  O'Meara  as  publishers.  O'Meara  subsequently 
withdrew  and  Atkinson  continued  it  alone  until  January  1,  1880, 
when  J.  F.  Farrish  became  associated  with  him.  They  continued  it 
until  the  present  publishers,  Sutherland  and  Burnett,  gained  control. 
It  is  now  issued  Saturday  evening. 

Of  the  papers  not  previously  mentioned,  now  published  at  Port- 
land, the  Weekly  Pacific  Express,  Oregon  Times  and  The  World 
complete  the  list.  The  first  named  is  the  successor  of  the  Prohi- 
bition Star^  started  at  Salem  in  1885.  In  1888  it  was  moved  to 
Portland  when  the  present  name  was  adopted.  Major  J.  F.  Sears 
had  editorial  charge  for  about  a  year  after  the  removal  to  this  city 
and  was  assisted  by  H.  S.  Lyman.  After  the  retirement  of  Major 
Sears,  Mr.  Lyman  continued  its  editorial  management  until  the 
present  editor,  G.  M.  Miller,  took  charge  of  the  paper.  J.  M.  C. 
Miller  is  business  manager.  The  Express  is  a  general  reform 
advocate;  is  the  champion  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  Union  Labor 
Party  and  the  recognized  organ  of  the  Women's  Christian  Temper- 
ance Union  and  the  Prohibition  Party. 

The  World  is  a  democratic  weekly,  and  was  founded  in  1885  by 
A.  Noltner,  who  remained  editor  and  proprietor  until  his  appoint- 


The  Press.  425 


ment  as  Colledlor  of  Customs  in  1886,  when  he  sold  the  paper  to  J. 
W.  Young.  Mr.  Young  ran  it  about  a  year  when  he  disposed  of  it 
to  McCall  &  Newell,  by  whom  it  is  still  published. 

The  Oregon  Times  is  another  democratic  weekly.  It  was  started 
in  May,  1886,  by  Nathan  h-  Baker,  by  whom  it  is  still  published. 
It  is  a  seven  column  eight  page  paper  and  circulates  principally  in 
Oregon. 

The  newspaper  mortuary  record  from  1880  to  1890  embraces 
journals  of  every  possible  appearance  and  character,  all  of  which 
passed  away  in  early  youth.  A  few  reached  two  years  of  age  but 
most  of  them  never  celebrated  a  birthday.  The  newspaper  crafts 
launched  between  these  two  dates  and  floundered  before  they  had 
voyaged  far,  are,  as  accurately  as  possible,  embraced  in  the  following 
list:  Oregon  Farmer ^  an  agricultural  weekly,  published  by  W.  L. 
Eppinger;  Vox  Populi^  published  by  Paul  M.  Brennan;  The  Port- 
land Sunday  Chronicle j  by  J.  F.  Atkinson;  Rising  Sun,  a  weekly, 
devoted  to  spiritualism,  by  Mrs.  L.  t/.  Brown;  PaciSc  Overseer,  a 
weekly  organ  of  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  by  C.  A. 
Wheeler;  Christian  Herald,  by  Stanley  &  Wolverton;  Polaris,  sl 
religious  weekly.  Rev.  J.  H.  Acton;  Farmers'  Gazette,  by  W.  E. 
Evans;  Oregon  Sittings;  Portland  Weekly  Times^  by  Cook  & 
Shepard;  Avaut  Courier,  by  Frank  D.  Smith;  Kane's  Illustrated 
West,  a  monthly  by  T.  F.  Kane;  Northern  Pacific  Union;  Oregon 
and  Washington  Farmer,  S.  A.  Clark,  and  The  Hesperion,  by  R. 
A.  Miller. 


426  History  of  Portland. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

A  GENERAL   DESCRIPTION   OF  THE  CITY. 

Present  Apperance  of  Portland — View  from  River  and  Hills — Prominent  Buildings 
— Character  of  Streets —Albina— Parks — Exposition  Building — Chinese  Quarters- 
Hotel  Portland— East  Portland — Cemeteries — Casualties  of  Nature— Floods  and 
Fires. 

IN  order  to  describe  a  number  of  the  features  of  our  city,  which 
need  not  be  treated  separately,  but  without  which  our  work 
would  be  quite  incomplete,  it  is  attempted  here  to  pass  through  the 
place  from  north  to  south,  giving  a  running  commentary  upon  scenes 
and  events  as  we  go,  and  to  throw  in  gratis  whatever  hard  fadls  or 
statistics  may  be  necessar\'  for  elucidation.  It  will  be  borne  in  mind 
that  this  is  a  description  of  the  Portland  of  to-day,  and  may  therefore 
serve  for  future  reference,  as  well  as  for  present  information. 

A  poet  of  America  once  pitched  upon  the  Columbia  river  and  its 
continuous  woods  as  a  type  of  solitude.  This  imperial  stream, 
although  now  tracked  by  steamships  and  hundreds  of  boats,  never- 
theless impresses  one  as  still  lonely;  the  small  rude  villages,  the 
canneries,  the  sawmills,  situated  in  the  shade  of  the  forests 
or  in  the  clefts  of  the  hills,  as  yet  exert  no  influence  to  trans- 
form the  cliara(5ler  of  the  river.  On  nearing  the  mouth  of  the 
Willamette  one  finds  this  air  of  solitude  still  unrelieved.  St  Helens, 
an  old-fashioned  spot,  possesses  a  certain  dreamy  attraction  on  its 
green  shores  above  its  bluffy  rocks,  but  is  unable  to  break  the  spell. 
The  wonderfully  beautiful  islands  and  shores  of  the  Willamette  at 
the  delta,  fail  to  betray  the  fadl  that  white  men  have  been  here  for 
nearly  a  centur>'.  They  are  marked  with  but  slight  traces  of  man, 
unless  it  be  for  the  huts  of  wood  cutters,  or  the  bams  of  cattle  raisers. 
The  wide,  open  meadow  lands  lie  uncultivated.  The  trees  along  the 
shore  have  been  felled  but  here  and  there.  The  steep  impending  hills 
to  the  west  rise  in  successive  eminences  and  ridges,  hardly  betraying 
the  stroke  of  an  axe.  Old,  weather  beaten  houses  on  the  shore,  a 
few  mossy  orchards,  sweeping  green  meadow  lands,  with  cows 
wandering  and  grazing,  make  up   most  of  the  pidlure.     To  be  sure 


General  Description.  427 


one  sees  occasional  sedlions  of  the  railroad  line  and  the  telegraph 
poles  strung  on  invisible  wires,  but  hardly  a  more  pristine  scene  is 
to  be  met  with  in  the  world,  than  on  the  lower  Willamette,  and  it 
gives  scarcely  an  intimation  of  the  presence  of  a  city.  One  would 
think  Linnton  or  St.  Johns  the  end  of  the  way. 

From  the  lower  river  Portland  is  scarcely  imposing.  It  has  not 
amplitude  of  front  to  give  it  perspedlive.  It  could  never  rival  New 
York,  as  seen  from  its  lower  bay.  It  has  not  the  amphitheatric 
presence  of  San  Francisco,  or  even  Tacoma,  enabling  the  observer  to 
take  in  the  whole  pidlure  at  one  glance.  Neither  has  it  a  magnifi- 
cent sweep  of  water  to  introduce  it,  like  Astoria,  or  the  sense  of 
infinity  from  contiguity  to  the  sea.  The  hills,  still  ragged  with  a 
forest  broken  but  not  cleared,  tower  on  the  horizon,  and  form  the 
emphatic  portion  of  the  prospedl.  On  the  east  side,  as  one  looks 
against  the  face  of  the  rolling  plain,  giant  stubs  of  dead  trees  belong- 
ing^ to  the  once  imperial  forest,  rise  irregularly  from  out  of  a  ground 
work  of  pi(5luresque  brush  and  wild  young  fir  trees  that  have  sprung 
up  with  the  vigor  of  ancient  times,  but  ignorant  that  they  have 
fallen  upon  an  age  no  longer  benignant  to  their  existence. 

The  general  ensemble  of  the  city  as  it  slowly  discloses  itself  from 
behind  the  bold  shoulders  of  King's  Heights,  is  still  that  of  nature 
untamed,  and  seems  almost  to  forbid  the  idea  that  a  city  of  50,000 
inhabitants  lies  between  the  river  and  hills.  Nature  is  here  present 
upon  such  a  preponderating  scale  that  it  may  be  well  doubted 
whether  the  general  idea  of  art,  and  the  craft  of  man  as  the  ruling 
sentiment  will  dominate  for  half  a  century  yet.  Even  piling  up 
buildings  of  many  stories  in  height,  and  towers,  and  lining  the  rivers 
with  masts,  seems  to  be  but  as  the  sinking  of  a  river  into  the  ocean — 
art  into  nature — leaving  the  long  circle  of  hills  to  smile  or  darken  as 
the  sky  is  bright  or  dim.  On  a  fine  day  the  Heights  are  gay  with 
greenery  or  the  colored  foliage  of  deciduous  trees;  and  in  the  summer 
flush  to  pink,  or  pale  to  amber  on  their  exposed  fronts.  But  more 
habitually  they  affect  heavier  tints,  assuming  a  dark  blue  or  a  sombre 
purple.  A  soft  veil  of  haze,  curtain  like,  frequently  rests  over  the 
city,  and  lies  in  tenuous  invisible  folds  on  the  prominences, 
gathering  to  more  preceptible  depths  in  the  clifts  and  ravines.     The 


428  History  of  Portland. 


rich  verdure,  the  stately  trees  that  will  always  grow,  and  the  tinted 
atmosphere,  will  ever  give  Portland  a  peculiar  tone  and  coloring  of 
her  own — not  ruddy  or  blazing  like  some  tropical  or  Rocky 
Mountain  cit\',  but  rich,  warm  and  entrancing. 

Wreaths  of  smoke  from  a  multitude  of  stacks,  here  and  there  jets 
of  white  steam  from  almost  ever\'  building  on  the  wat^r  front;  masts 
of  ships,  bustling  steamers  and  the  iron  bridge,  looking  in  the 
distance  like  the  work  of  genii,  at  length  arouse  one  fix>m  the 
powerful  spell  of  nature,  and  assure  him  that  he  has  reached  the 
place.  Two  great  buildings  at  Albina  demand  first  attention,  and 
show  upon  what  a  great  scale  the  city  is  now  working.  These  are 
the  Portland  Flour  Mills  and  the  Pacific  Coast  Elevator.  The  flour 
mills  occupy  two  immense  buildings  of  seven  stories  in  height,  and 
turn  out  a  product  that  not  only  feeds  our  own  people,  but  goes  the 
world  over.  Trains  of  cars  run  immediately  to  their  walls.  Thev 
are  the  property  of  W.  S.  Ladd  &  Co. 

The  Elevator  is  a  new  enterprise,  and  a  building  has  been 
erected  this  summer  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,000,000.  It  was  estab- 
lished by  a  capitalist  of  Minneapolis,  F.  H.  Peavey,  who  is  the 
principal  owner.  Mr.  E.  C.  Michner  is  the  resident  partner  and 
general  manager.  Mr.  D.  P.  Brush  is  superintendent  All  of  these 
gentlemen  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  methods  of  handling 
wheat  by  elevator,  and  their  enterprise  undoubtedly  marks  a  new  era 
in  the  method  of  shipping  cereals.  The  elevator  is  an  enormous 
structure,  built  upon  deep  water  of  the  river  on  a  foundation  of  piling, 
which,  however,  is  being  filled  in  with  earth  at  a  cost  of  $20,000. 
It  is  375  feet  in  length  over  all  by  70  feet  in  width,  with  a  height  of 
150  feet  to  the  peak.  It  has  a  capacity  of  1,000,000  bushels, 
being  fully  up  to  the  eastern  elevators  in  all  dimensions.  By  its 
eight  shippers,  or  sixteen  elevators,  eight  cars  may  be  unloaded  at 
once,  in  about  fifteen  minutes  time;  and  two  ships  may  be  likewise 
loaded.  It  is  furnished  with  eight  separators  and  cleaners,  with  a 
capacity  of  3,000  bushels  each  per  hour.  There  are  also  sixteen  scales 
of  a  capacity  of  60,000  pounds  each.  It  is  in  every  respect  furnished 
with  the  latest  appliances,  such  as  steam  shovels,  and  is  adapted  to 
handling  in  bulk  or  in  sacks.     The  entire  building  is  lit  by  178 


General  Description.  429 

incandescent  electric  lights  operated  by  an  engine  and  dynamos  on 
the  ground;  and  is  protected  from  fire  by  Worthington  pumps. 

Albina  itself  strikes  one  with  the  general  weight  and  importance 
of  its  operations.  It  lies — ^so  far  as  the  business  portion  is  concerned 
— upon  a  low  tract  of  land  about  the  level  of  high  water,  but  twenty- 
five  feet  above  the  low  stage.  It  is  most  admirably  adapted  to 
railroad  work,  and  is  the  terminal  of  the  O.  R.  &  N.  line.  Here  is 
seen  upon  the  plat  a  labyrinth  of  tracks,  long  trains  of  cars,  the 
immense  brick  round-house  with  twenty- two  stalls;  the  car  shops  of 
brick,  the  largest  more  than  400  feet  in  length,  and  60  feet  to  the 
peak,  with  arched  doors  and  roofs  furnished  with  windows  for 
admission  of  light.  A  brick  chimney  of  156  feet  in  height,  an 
engine  ot  500  horse  power,  and  two  other  shops  of  large  dimensions, 
afford  means  of  repair  and  of  manufacture. 

Almost  the  whole  river  front  of  Albina  is  occupied  by  wharf 
buildings  as  much  as  200  feet  deep,  with  arching  roofs  as  much  as 
fifty  feet  above  the  water.  They  rest  on  piling  set  systematically  and 
of  selected  smooth,  unifonn  logs.  The  business  part  of  the  town, 
aside  from  its  great  works,  is  of  rather  mean  appearance,  of  cheap 
temporary  structures,  small  sized  and  of  inferior  architecture.  The 
residence  portion  is  built  well  back  on  the  face  of  the  bluff  or  on 
the  plain  beyond,  and  has  attractive  school  houses  and  churches  and 
many  pretty  cottages.  On  the  river  bank  is  the  saw  mill  of  John 
Parker  &  Co.,  with  a  capacity  of  about  30,000  feet  per  day. 

On  the  lower  part  of  the  city  opposite,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  one  notices  the  bone  yard  of  the  O.  R.  &  N.  Co.,  where  old 
skeletons  of  mighty  ships — or  shallow  river  crafts — lie  white  and 
dry  on  the  embankment.  Scant  trees,  usually  shaking  in  the  river 
breezes,  of  such  deciduous  growth  as  balm  or  oak,  lend  grace  to  an 
eerie  looking  shore.  There  are  various  river  crafts  tied  up  or  moored 
along,  or  hauled  up  on  the  sand,  some  of  which  are  occupied  by 
families  whose  cook  stove  smokes  ever  curl  and  blow,  and  whose  red 
and  white  garments  washed  and  hung  out  to  dry,  ever  flap  in  the 
breezes.  Weidler's  great  saw  mill,  a  mammoth,  whose  dust  and 
shavings  gild  the  shore  for  many  a  rod,  whose  corpulent  logs  float 
idly  in  the  boom,  awaiting  the  time  of  their  dissolution,  and  whose 


430  History  of  Portland. 


tall  chimney  smokes  silently,  and  whose  engines  still  puff  white 
steam,  also  draws  a  long  gaze.  It  is  next  up  the  river  from  the 
*  *  bone  yard' '  or  place  where  steamboats  out  of  service  are  moored 
and  as  an  establishment,  ranks  as  one  of  the  old  standbys.  Other 
lumbering  establishments,  wharves,  warehouses,  ships,  and  such 
amphibious  buildings,  huddle  farther  up.  All  this  lower  city  front 
for  many  a  mile  is  raw  and  wholly  utilitarian,  not  a  shingle  or  pile 
ever  having  been  set  for  beauty  or  symmetry.  Nevertheless,  there  is 
an  immense  attraction  about  it,  like  the  grim,  unassuming  comeli- 
ness of  rocks;  and  if  kept  a  little  cleaner  so  as  not  to  offend  the 
senses  by  a  variety  of  ill  odors,  would  lure  one  to  long  vigils  and 
reveries  in  its  environs.  Behind  the  river  bank  lie  the  lagoons, 
green  with  slack  water  and  aquatic  plants,  earthy  smelling,  and 
crossed  and  recrossed  by  trestle  roadways  and  railway  tracks.  A 
great  work  has  been  done  in  filling  the  upper  end  of  Couch  lake, 
making  the  ground  look  for  a  long  distance  as  if  it  had  been  the 
battle  ground  of  the  Titans — indeed  of  the  modern  coal-smutted 
dump-car  hands  of  Titanic  energies. 

From  these  somewhat  uninviting  parts,  one  passes  westward  up 
the  long  streets,  meeting  with  an  area  of  manufadluring  establish- 
ments, and  gradually  finding  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  middle  class 
of  cottages,  mostly  unpretentious,  but  comfortable  and  occasionally 
displaying  signs  of  ambition.  This  passed,  one  is  led  rapidly  on  by 
the  sight  of  grand  and  imposing  residences  in  the  distance,  of  costly 
strudlure  and  splendid  ornamentation.  Many  of  these  are  set  upon 
whole  blocks,  beautifully  decorated  with  trees,  turf  and  flowers,  and 
supplied  with  tasteful  drive-ways.  One  notable  feature  of  Portland 
here  first  seen,  is  the  elevated  or  terraced  blocks,  making  the  level 
of  the  lawn  a  number  of  feet  above  the  streets,  giving  a  somewhat 
regal  aspe(5l  to  the  whole  premises.  Some  of  the  more  palatial  of 
these  edifices  occupy  double  blocks,  the  cross  streets  not  being  run 
through.  Among  those  of  the  spacious  and  magnificent  West  End 
are  houses  costing  about  $20,000  to  $50,000— some  of  them  $90,000 
each — of  three  and  four  stories,  and  mainly  in  the  Queen  Anne  style. 
It  is  upon  the  swell  of  the  plateau  that  these  fine  houses  begin  to 
appear,  and  the  views  from  their    upper  windows  and  turrets  are 


General  Description.  431 


extensive.  For  ten  blocks  back — 16th  to  26th  streets— or  even 
•further,  and  from  about  N  street  southward  to  Jefferson,  or  some 
twenty  streets,  the  region  is,  by  popular  consent — and  still  more  by 
prevailing  prices — forever  dedicated  to  dwellings  of  wealth  and 
beauty.  The  streets  here  are,  for  the  most  part,  well  paved  and 
delightfully  ornamented,  but  not  overshadowed  by  trees.  The  houses 
are  projedled  and  their  accompanying  grounds  are  laid  out  on  such 
an  ample  scale,  and  there  is  so  little  crowding,  the  sun  and  sky  have 
such  complete  access  that  one  is  much  impressed  with  the  general  air 
of  elegance  and  taste.  There  is,  of  course,  none  of  the  marble  and 
stony  grandeur  of  New  York  or  Chicago,  of  the  splendor  of  Euclid 
Ave.,  in  Cleveland,  or  the  lavish  adornment  of  Jackson  street  in 
Oakland,  California,  or  the  pre-eminent  extravagance  of  the  palaces 
of  the  money  kings  cf  Nob  Hill,  in  San  Francisco;  but  for  substan- 
tial comfort  and  tasteful  display  the  west  end  of  Portland  has  few 
rivals.  It  is,  moreover,  devoid  of  superfineness,  or  niceness,  but  is 
wholesome  and  neat.  The  general  spirit  of  this  portion  of  town 
might  be  distinguished  from  the  streets  or  avenues  of  other  cities,  in 
that  the  separate  houses  appear  to  be  built  independently  and  with 
reference  only  to  their  own  needs  and  entirety,  while  the  others 
referred  to  are  more  often  construdled  as  complete  streets,  each  edifice 
being  planned  and  laid  out  with  reference  to  the  rest,  and  as  but  a 
part  in  one  continuous  whole.  The  chara(5leristic  of  Portland  in  its 
residential  quarters  will  probably  prevail  even  when  the  city  attains  its 
largest  population,  since  the  irregularities  of  ground  and  peculiarities 
of  situation  will  necessarily  modify  the  archite(5lure,  and,  to  quite  an 
extent,  at  least,  make  each  dwelling  a  complete  whole  in  itself 

On  the  environs  of  this  region  toward  the  north  are  two  buildings 
very  worthy  of  note.  One  of  these  is  St.  Vincent\s  Hospital,  under 
the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  among  the  cottages  and  shops 
toward  the  Lake;  and  the  other  the  Good  Samaritan  Hospital,  on 
21st  and  L  streets,  much  nearer  than  the  other  to  the  hills.  The 
latter  was  established  in  1875  under  the  Episcopal  diocese,  but 
chiefly  by  the  labors  of  Bishop  Morris.  It,  like  St.  Vincent's,  has  a 
substantial  building  three  stories  high,  including  basement  and  75 
feet  wide,  by  a  length  nearly  twice  as  great.     Both  St.  Vincent's  and 

[2e] 


432  History  of  Portland. 


the  Good  Samaritan  make  amends — to  some  extent  at  least — for  the 
evil  deeds  of  the  men  stealers  and  body  destroyers  that  lurk  along  the 
North  Shore.  The  Bishop  Scott  Militar>'  Academy  on  14th  and 
B  streets,  founded  by  the  first  Episcopal  bishop  of  the  Pacific 
Northwest,  the  medical  college  near  by,  the  stately  block  of  houses  of 
Mrs.  Judge  Williams,  and  a  multitude  of  handsome  dwellings  adorn  the 
bulge  of  the  plateau  on  the  other  hand.  The  steep  hill  to  the  west 
is  rapidly  being  cleared  of  its  logs  and  brush  and  fine  houses  are 
ascending  its  sides,  and  perching  upon  coigns  of  vantage  and  in 
sunny  plats  on  their  uneven  slopes. 

B  street,  running  up  from  Couch's  Addition,  is  the  natural 
boundar)'  of  North  Portland  on  the  south,  following  for  the  most 
part  the  depression  of  Tanner  Creek,  and  further  on  over  to  King's 
Creek.  Between  this  and  Jefferson  street,  some  ten  blocks,  the 
land  has,  owing  to  the  irregularities  of  the  ground,  and  the  little 
winding  vale  of  the  creek,  been  left  lying  in  large,  and  often 
irregular  blocks,  some  of  which  contain  an  area  of  as  much  as  five 
acres.  The  lay  of  the  tract  is  romantic  and  delightful  in  the 
extreme.  The  creek  forms  a  sunken  valley,  with  little  meadows  on 
either  side,  which  have  been,  and  to  some  extent  are  still  occupied 
by  the  Chinese  for  garden  purposes.  Ash  trees,  weeping  willows, 
and  various  wild  shrubs  have  been  suffered  to  grow,  and  the 
winding  lines  of  this  depression,  cut  by  water,  fonn  a  most  grateful 
rest  from  the  strict  angularity  of  the  streets  as  laid  out  by  man. 
Upon  the  west  side  the  hill  climbs  rapidly,  but  not  abruptly  out  of 
the  cleft,  going  steadily  and  confidently  toward  the  Heights.  On 
the  way  its  looks  back,  figuratively  speaking,  somewhat  lovingly, 
certainly  very  gracefully,  and  makes  no  such  violent  assent  as  the 
sterner  hills  to  the  northward  and  southward.  It  is  no  breathless 
climb,  but  an  easy  ambling  gait.  The  big  plats,  grassy  and  set  with 
small  trees,  lie  wide,  with  but  few  houses,  but  those  present  large 
and  stately.  That  of  Mrs.  Gaston  on  the  first  swell,  and  a  cluster 
near  form  a  handsome  group.  On  the  northern  side  of  this  hill  front 
a  tract  of  some  five  acres  is  occupied  by  the  residence  and  grounds  of 
Mrs.    H.   D.   Green,    the  house,  whose  delightful  architecture  and 


J, 


General  Description.  433 

adornment  is  almost  submerged  in  a  wealth  of  beautiful  trees.  Her 
large  hot-houses,  filled  with  the  finest  of  exotics,  are  a  mark  for  the 
sun  and  a  gnomon  to  the  whole  city  upon  which  they  look  down. 

Going  down  the  slow  hill  once  more  one  finds  that  B  street  heads, 
to  speak  in  the  manner  of  the  mountaineer,  in  a  stony  canyon,  whose 
natural  roughness  has  been  aggravated  by  gravel-diggers.  Out  of  this 
rises,  or  did  rise  King's  Creek,  a  stream  of  most  delicious  water, 
which  has  now  been  consigned  to  more  than  Tartarean  gloom  in  a 
sewer.  In  a  cleft  on  the  left,  which  is  soft  and  leafy  with  trees 
overhanging,  and  cool  with  the  shade  of  some  immense  firs,  begins 
an  inviting  path,  gently  rising,  leading  between  two  banks  more  or 
less  bestrewn  with  leaves  and  ornate  with  fern  fronds,  maiden-hair, 
wood-brakes,  wild  shrubs  and  fox-tails.  Trees  of  fir,  cedar,  dogwood, 
maple  and  willow  lean  over  the  way;  logs  lie  above  across  the  ravine 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  and  upon  them  have  been  laid  rustic 
walks. 

The  city  has  other  parks — a  whole  string  of  them  from  end  to 
end,  but  some  individual  of  pomological  ideas  was  intrusted  with  the 
work  of  improving  them,  and  set  out  trees  in  lines  geometrically 
straight  like  an  apple  orchard,  making  the  park  blocks  almost 
offensive  to  a  man  of  sensitive  nature.  The  City  park  was,  however, 
saved  from  any  such  errors.  It  contains  forty  acres  and  was  bought 
as  much  as  ten  years  ago  from  A.  M.  King  at  the  then  high  price  of 
$1,000  per  acre.  Lying  on  the  hillside,  with  gulch  and  steep  brow, 
and  looking  like  all  the  other  hills  surrounding,  the  people  of  the 
city  felt  no  vast  interest  in  the  place,  and  it  was  difficult  to  gain  any 
appropriation  to  improve  the  same.  If  $50,000  had  been  secured 
at  once  it  is  likely  that  the  whole  thing  would  have  been  grubbed 
and  levelled  and  set  out  to  poplar  trees  in  straight  rows.  But  having 
only  about  enough  means  to  employ  a  keeper,  the  city  took  no  such 
disastrous  steps,  and  the  gardener  was  left  to  make  the  place  as 
attractive  as  possible  by  his  personal  labors.  Very  wisely  he 
decided  not  to  dig  up  the  trees  but  to  simply  clear  away  the  nib- 
bish  and  to  let  the  native  shrubbery  and  the  wild-wood  still  grow. 
Following  along  in  this  line  it  was  soon  demonstrated  what  a  wealth 
of  beauty  had  already  been   lavished   upon  the  spot.      L/ittle   firs, 


434  History  of  Portland. 


clumps  of  crooked  vine  maples,  clean-boiled  dogwoods,  endless 
bunches  of  the  scarlet  flowered  currant  that  flames  in  the  earlv 
spring,  and  many  others  such  as  our  suns  and  showers  nourish, 
were  left  to  their  first  estate,  and  were  only  relieved  of  the  rubbish 
of  years.  The  roads  which  have  been  built  from  B  street  and  from 
Jefferson  street,  must  of  necessity  wind  along  the  hill  and  thus  be  as 
curving  as  the  hill  points  themselves.  As  time  has  gone  the  ground 
has  been  turfed,  the  roadways  terraced  above;  hothouses  and  plats 
of  flowers  added;  pumps,  a  seal-tub,  a  bear  pit,  cages  for  panthers, 
and  a  deer-park  have  also  been  supplied. 

Coming  around  in  front  of  the  hill  one  discovers  Portland.  One 
sees  now  that  he  has  not  as  yet  seen  it  at  all.  From  the  river  it  is 
not  the  city  but  the  back-ground  that  appears.  From  the  hill-fronts 
he  looks  down  over  the  place.  To  get  a  full,  unobstructed  sweep, 
let  him  ascend  the  heights  still  back  of  the  park  and  stand  on  the 
tree-shagged  knob  of  King's  mountain.  While  on  the  subject  of 
parks,  it  may  be  suggested  that  forty  acres  is  ver\'  small  for  anything 
really  fine.  I-^et  six  hundred  be  added  to  it.  A  good  piece  of  land 
along  the  river,  or  perhaps  Ross  Island;  and  a  square  mile  or  two  on 
the  East  side  should  also  be  secured  before  values  become  too 
exorbitant. 

In  coming  back  from  the  park,  one  sees  on  the  south  side  of  B 
street  a  large  wooden  building,  covering  two  blocks,  400x200  feet. 
It  is  that  of  the  North  Pacific  Industrial  Exposition.  It  was  erected 
by  the  people  of  Portland  in  1888,  at  a  cost  of  $150,000.  Its  first 
opening  in  1889,  from  September  26  to  October  26,  was  a  great 
success,  people  coming  in  for  attendance  from  all  parts  of  the 
Northwest.  The  exhibit  was  good,  the  music  excellent,  furnished 
by  special  contract  with  Liberati,  of  New  York,  and  the  receipts  were 
so  large  as  to  assure  the  success  of  the  undertaking  henceforth.  From 
the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Mechanic's  Fair  on  the  old  Market 
block  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  people  of  the  surrounding  towns 
and  country  to  come  to  Portland  at  the  time  of  the  exposition,  and 
the  transportation  lines  have  favored  them  with  reduced  fares.  This 
has  made  Portland  a  sort  of  Mecca  for  the  whole  Northwest;  and  is 
unquestionably  the   best  sort  of  policy  for  her   to  pursue — z,   liberal 


General  Description.  435 


spirit  of  general  good  feeling  inviting  communication  and  friendship. 
The  following  is  a  good  description  of  the  building:  The  exposition 
building  is  a  mammoth  structure  of  brick,  iron,  glass  and  fir.  It  is 
certainly  the  largest  edifice  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  competent 
judges,  who  have  visited  exposition  buildings  throughout  the  United 
States  declare  it  to  be  superior  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
erected  to  any  they  have  seen.  It  is  400  feet  long  by  200  feet  deep 
and  covers  two  full  blocks.  Practically  it  is  three  stories  high,  the 
floor  of  the  central  portion  or  music  hall  being  thirty  feet  lower  than 
those  of  the  two  large  wings,  while  a  gallery  forty  feet  wide  extends 
throughout  the  entire  building.  With  the  galleries  the  building  has 
a  floor  space  of  143,000  square  feet,  and,  after  deducting  aisles  of 
ample  width;  can  accommodate  250  exhibitors  with  200  square  feet 
each.  The  general  plan  of  the  main  floors  and  galleries  has  been 
made  so  that  all  pushing  and  crowding  may  be  avoided,  and  exhibitors 
may  have  spaces  that  can  be  seen  by  the  greatest  number  of  visitors. 

The  officers'  quarters,  ladies'  parlor  and  gentlemen's  smoking 
room  are  on  the  main  floor  in  the  front  part  of  the  building,  while 
the  musicians'  room  and  dining  room  are  in  the  rear  portion.  The 
interior  is  lighted  by  large  windows  on  every  side  of  the  building, 
and  by  suitably  located  skylights.  Under  the  main  floor  is  ample 
room  for  storage.  The  boilers,  engines  and  dynamos  are  separated 
some  feet  from  the  building  and  enclosed  in  a  stone,  iron  and  brick 
structure. 

The  right  wing  of  the  building,  which  is  200x150  feet,  with  a 
gallery  40  feet  wide,  is  intended  chiefly  for  exhibits  of  machiner>'. 
Main  lines  of  shafting  may  be  attached  to  the  outside  row  of  the 
gallery  supports  and  so  arranged  that  exhibitors  can  belt  to  almost 
any  space  in  the  entire  hall.  Steam  pipes  run  under  the  floor  and 
are  so  situated  as  to  be  easily  tapped  by  exhibitors  of  engines  and 
machinery  requiring  steam.  Suitable  arrangements  are  also  made 
for  exhibitors  of  pumps,  electric-motors  and  other  exhibits  that 
require  special  facilities. 

The  central  portion  of  the  Exposition  building  was  originally 
intended  to  be  used  permanently  as  a  garden,  with  tropical  plants, 
caged  wild  animals,  and  birds  of  rare  plumage,  but  the  possibilities 


436  History  of  Portland. 

of  the  uses  to  which  this  central  portion  could  be  put,  led  the 
management  to  temporarily  at  least,  abandon  the  *' garden"  idea, 
and  make  of  it  a  music  hall.  The  rough  plank  floor  on  which  it 
was  intended  to  lay  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches  of  soil,  has  been 
covered  with  a  toe  and  top  nailed,  best  quality  wood  floor,  and  when 
waxed,  as  it  will  be,  will  make  one  of  the  finest  floors  in  the  country 
for  promenade  concert  purposes.  Two  galleries,  each  sixteen  feet 
wide,  extend  the  entire  length  of  either  side.  These  are  roomy,  and 
have  a  seating  capacity  of  1,000.  From  every  part  of  these  galleries 
a  full  view  of  the  stage  can  be  had.  The  stage  of  this  music  hall  is 
set  in  an  elegantly  painted  grotto,  and  is  surrounded  almost  entirely 
by  a  semi-circular  sounding  board  which  serves  to  intensify  the 
magnificent  acoustic  properties  of  the  hall.  Behind  this  grotto 
is  a  magnificent  landscape  painting,  executed  by  an  eminent  artist 
from  Munich.  The  scene  is  typically  representative  of  some  of  the 
garden  spots  of  the  North  Pacific  Coast,  and  is  spread  upon  a  canvas 
100x85  feet.  The  roof  of  this  hall,  or  garden,  is  of  glass  supported 
by  eleven  semi-circular  arches  of  iron  and  fir.  The  diameter  of  each 
being  100  feet.  The  floors  of  the  two  wings  of  the  Exposition 
building  lead  directly  on  to  the  galleries  of  the  music  hall.  The 
entire  seating  capacity  of  this  hall  is  between  5,000  and  6,000 
persons. 

The  dimensions  of  the  general  exhibit  hall  are  the  same  as  those 
of  the  machinery  hall,  150x200  feet,  with  a  gallery  forty  feet  wide, 
extending  throughout.  The  entire  building  is  lit  with  the  Brush 
system  of  arc  lights  and  the  Swan  system  of  incandescent  lights. 
For  an  art  gallery  a  space  75  feet  long  and  35  feet  wide  has  been 
enclosed  in  the  front  gallery  of  the  general  exhibit  hall.  A  wall 
space  of  4,600  square  feet  is  afforded  by  this  enclosure. 

On  the  whole  this  exposition  building  is  one  of  the  most  notable 
features  of  the  city. 

Coming  down  B  street  one  finds  himself  again  in  the  North  End,  but 
above  the  area  of  mean  buildings.  He  strikes  the  center  of  the  great 
wholesale  houses,  and  there  are  few  finer  anywhere.  It  is  a  region 
of  brick  blocks,  three  to  five  stories  in  height,  of  massive  iron  fronts 
and  deep  cornices.     The  shore  is  here  lined  with  wharves.     It  must 


General  Description.  437 


be  said,  however,  that  for  the  water  front  there  remains  much 
improvement.  It  looks,  at  present  rather  crude  and  backdoorish. 
Time  will  be  when  the  beautiful  lime-stone  of  Southern  Oregon,  or 
some  other  kind  of  rock,  will  be  used  to  build  substantial  docks  or  moles 
from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other,  and  the  wharf  fronts  and  roofs 
will  be  carried  to  a  height  of  seven  stories.  Our  docks  at  present 
are  all  two-story  to  accord  with  the  rise  of  water  of  twenty  feet  in 
June.  The  coal  bunkers  and  the  railroad  bridge  across  the  Willam- 
ette give  a  deep  emphasis  to  the  scenery  here.  The  latter  is  of  iron, 
completed  in  1887,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $1,000,000,  and  is  double, 
for  both  the  car  track  and  a  roadway.  It  connects  on  the  west  by  a 
viaduct  with  Third  street. 

Passing  from  Couch's  and  Stark's  tracts  to  Lownsdale's  one 
reaches  the  region  of  retail  houses,  banks,  offices,  halls,  hotels  and 
churches.  The  streets  are  paved  with  Belgian  block,  basaltic  stones 
cut  in  brick  shape,  making  a  durable  roadway,  but  as  the  weather 
surfaces  grow  smooth,  very  severe  on  horses,  sometimes  giving  them 
heavy  falls.  The  buildings  here  are  massive,  elegant,  of  three  to 
five  stories,  and  kept  reasonably  clean.  Many  are  set  with  turrets  or 
small  towers,  and  occupy  for  the  most  part  five  or  six  streets,  and 
nearly  half  a  mile  along  the  river  front. 

To  strangers  there  is  nothing  more  attractive  than  the  Chinese 
quarter.  This  comprises  about  three  blocks  on  Second  street.  Alder 
being  their  cross  street.  The  buildings  which  they  occupy  are 
mainly  of  solid  brick,  put  up  in  the  first  place  largely  by  Americans, 
but  on  long  leases  to  the  Chinese  merchants  and  have  been  fixed  over 
according  to  their  convenience  and  ideas  of  beauty.  They  are 
intensely  oriental  in  their  general  air,  with  piazzas  of  curved  roofs, 
highly  ornamented  with  yellow,  white  and  vermillion  paint,  and 
paper  globes  and  gewgaws.  Red  paper  inscribed  with  characters  in 
black  serve  as  signs,  and  are  pasted  numerously  over  doors  and 
windows.  On  gala  days  the  entire  area  is  lit  up  by  lanterns,  or  gaily 
ornamented  with  paper,  and  thin,  peevish  tones  of  their  flutes  and 
fiddles,  and  the  falsetto  twang  of  their  gongs,  making  a  noise, 
exceptionally  fiat  and  weak,  lacking  even  in  energy  of  tone,  which  is 
kept  up  with  monotonous  persistency.     If  the  Chinese  heart  is  as 


438  History  of  Portland. 


devoid  of  sentiment  as  their  music  would  indicate,  it  must  be  quite 
barren.  But  as  if  to  contradict  such  a  conclusion  the  long  rows  of 
flowers  of  gaudy  hue,  and  in  the  spring  time  their  basins  or  vases  of 
early  blooming  lillies  should  be  observed. 

The  main  fact  to  notice  is  their  presence,  and  Portland's  tolerance 
of  them.  They  are  not  a  particularly  desirable  people  and  are 
subject  to  the  usual  criticisms  and  strictures  that  apply  to  man  in  his 
natural  state,  but  it  has  not  been  found  necessary  to  expel  them,  and 
it  is  acknowledged  by  thinking  people  that  the  work  they  perform  so 
well — laundrying,  housework,  wood-cutting,  clearing  up  land  and 
railroad  construction — is  no  detriment  but  makes  work  of  a  more 
desirable  and  better  rewarded  kind  for  the  American.  Also  to  those 
who  believe  that  the  race  which  claims  the  more  enlightenment  owes 
fraternal  care  to  those  inferior,  either  in  attainment  or  opportunity, 
it  seems  odious  to  deny  an  equal  chance  in  our  city. 

The  middle  portion  of  the  city  has  been  spoken  of  as  the  place 
of  churches,  the  large  Catholic  Cathedral  built  of  brick,  and 
surmounted  by  a  tower  with  a  fine  chime  of  bells,  erected  on.  Third 
and  Stark  streets;  the  old  Presbyterian  Church  on  Third  and 
Washington;  the  Baptist  on  Fourth  and  Alder;  the  Congregational 
on  Second  and  Jefferson;  the  First  Methodist  Church  on  Third  and 
Taylor;  and  Trinity  Church  on  SixJi  and  B  would  justify  the  remark- 
In  truth,  however,  the  area  of  churches  is  moving  back.  Already  the 
roar  of  business,  the  pressure  of  other  buildings  and  the  centres  of 
the  residence  quarters,  have  moved  the  church  area  more  than  half 
a  dozen  streets  westward.  This  is  all  the  more  to  be  desired  since, 
as  is  usual,  business  buildings  of  a  ver>'  inferior  sort  have  been  made 
to  occupy  the  cheaper  ground  just  back  of  the  main  grand  mercantile 
houses.  Some  of  the  church  edifices  have  therefore  found  themselves 
almost  submerged  in  a  drift-wood  of  mean,  wooden  shanties,  devoted 
to  occupations  highly  offensive  to  religious  feeling. 

It  will  be  unnecessary  to  name  here  the  fine  business  buildings  of 
this  central   portion,  since  they  are  spoken  of  elsewhere.     Some  of 
them  will,  however,  necessarily  be  noticed.     Ladd  &  Tilton's  bank, 
a  very  tasteful  two  story  brick  and  stone  structure  with  fluted  column 
decoration,  and  car\'ed  frieze  and  cornice,  has  for  many  years  been 


General  Description.  43d 


noticeable  on  the  comer  of  First  and  Stark  streets.  It  was  in  its 
time  a  stately  building,  and  is  still  attractive,  but  is  now  towered 
over  by  the  heavier  and  taller  erections  of  later  years.  It  has  for  a 
long  time  afforded  rooms  on  its  upper  floor  for  the  uses  of  the 
Portland  Library  Association.  With  great  public  spirit  Mr.  W.  S. 
Ladd  has  furnished  this  space  free  of  rent.  On  the  east  side  of  First 
street,  coming  on  Washington,  stands  the  massive  stone  and  brick 
building  of  the  First  National  Bank.  It  is  finished  with  full 
columns  in  Doric  style,  and  its  heavy  plate  glass  windows,  and  its 
finely  inlaid  floor  of  vari-colored  stones  and  marble  give  the  structure 
on  a  whole  a  look  of  costliness  and  magnificence  not  exceeded  by 
any  in  the  city.  Following  out  Washington  to  Second,  one  of  the 
largest  and  handsomest  of  all  appears,  being  the  Commercial 
National  Bank  of  four  stories;  adjoining  this  is  a  very  handsome 
five  story  building  of  pressed  brick.  This  is  indeed  the  quarter  of 
the  finest  structures,  ending  in  the  Abington,  on  Third  street,  of  five 
stories. 

Alder  street  next  beginning  with  the  five-story  Gilman  house, 
labors  under  the  disadvantage  of  leading  through  the  Chinese  quar- 
ter, and  not  imtil  Third  street  is  reached  does  it  emerge  into 
splendor.  There,  however,  appears  the  Masonic  Temple,  built  about 
twelve  years  ago.  Although  but  three  stories  in  height,  its  great 
amplitude  of  reach  causes  it  to  rise  above  all  else  in  the  vicinity.  It 
is  constructed  of  stone  with  Corinthian  columns  set  upon  the  walls 
and  dividing  the  stories. 

Morrison  street,  into  which  enters  the  bridge-way  from  across 
the  Willamette,  begins  with  the  Esmond  Hotel  of  five  stories,  on  the 
north,  and  W.  S.  Ladd's  five  story  brick,  on  the  south.  The  St. 
Charles  Hotel  stands  on  the  south  side,  and  on  First  street  handsome 
brick  blocks  appear — except  that  on  the  southeast  corner,  appar- 
ently as  a  relic  of  ancient  architecture,  remains  the  old  wooden, 
clapp-boarded  two  story  Occidental  Hotel.  The  street  continuing 
westward  is  of  a  very  uneven  character.  Fine  three  and  four  story 
brick  and  wooden  houses,  alternate  with  one  story  fish  and  fruit 
stalls  and  coffee  houses.  On  Fifth  street,  however,  the  block 
devoted  to  the  U.  S.  Custom  House  and  Postoffice  is  found,  and   the 


440  History  of  Portland. 


building  itself,  of  bluish-gray  Bellingham  Bay  sandstone,  two  stories 
and  a  half  in  height,  sunnounted  by  a  dome  of  glass,  is  massive  and 
handsome.  Its  spacious  dimensions  and  fine  proportions  are  much 
enhanced  in  appearance  by  its  position  on  the  brow  of  the  incline, 
which  having  been  carefully  cut  and  sodded  presents  a  banked  and 
terrace-like  front  as  much  as  ten  feet  above  the  level  at  the  crossing 
of  Fifth  street  and  Morrison.  By  its  wide  walks,  its  green  turf  and 
its  slight  adornment  of  exotic  trees,  it  possesses  an  entirety  and  pose, 
or  repose,  and  a  perspective  of  its  own.  It  is  in  truth  a  very 
satisfactory  and  admirable  building,  well  representing  the  benign 
way  of  the  central  government. 

Immediately  west,  massive  and  enormous,  occupying  a  full  block 
of  brick  resting  on  a  stone  foundation,  seven  stories  in  height,  with  a 
multitude  of  bow  windows,  is  the  special  pride  of  the  city.  This 
is  the  Hotel  Portland,  just  completed  at  a  cost  of  $750,000.  This 
sum  was  raised  by  subscriptions,  and  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  building 
belongs  to  the  people.  The  structure  was  begun  in  1883,  during 
the  great  **booni"  consequent  upon  the  building  of  the  O.  R.  &  N. 
R.  R. ,  and  the  completion  of  the  Northern  Pacific.  Upon  the  col- 
lapse in  the  stock  of  the  Oregon  &  Transcontinental,  soon  after, 
work  was  suspended  and  the  foundation  was  left  destitute  and  almost 
unprotected,  and  was  called  for  a  time  the  '*  Villard  Ruins."  It  was 
a  lonely  pile,  useful  chiefly  to  the  circus  and  theatrical  manager  as 
a  fine  wall  for  sticking  flaming  posters,  and  a  kind  of  gloomy  horror 
was  attached  to  it  from  its  having  been  in  the  course  of  time  the 
scene  of  a  mysterious  murder.  The  absolute  necessity  of  a  hotel  fit 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  tourist  travel  to  Portland,  was 
earnestly  and  unremittingly  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  citi- 
zens by  the  leading  papers,  and  was  recognized  by  the  capitalists  of 
the  city.  Fortunately  no  outside  party  was  found  willing  to  finish 
the  work,  and  the  people  themselves  took  it  into  their  own  hands, 
thereby  rearing  something  of  which  they  feel  proud.  Arrange- 
ments were  completed  and  the  building  begun  in  1888.  The  pile 
now  finished  presents  two  hundred  feet  solid  upon  both  Morrison  and 
Yamhill  streets.  Facing  Sixth  street  it  embraces  a  deep  court  and 
in  the  angles  of  the  roof  rise  its  turrets.     The  roof  is  steep,  of  slate, 


General  Description.  441 


with  a  multitude  of  dormer  windows,  and  is  relieved  of  uniformity 
by  massive  brick  chimneys.  The  prospect  from  aloft  is  command- 
ing, affording  a  certain  openness  and  airiness  not  realized  even  from 
the  Heights.  If  one  were  disposed  to  be  critical,  he  might  raise  the 
question  whether  the  smooth  and  narrow  curls  of  frieze  and  cornice 
quite  satisfied  the  expectations  raised  by  the  massive  and  rugged 
rock-work  of  the  foundation,  and  he  might  be  so  unreasonable  as  to 
wish  that  a  breadth  of  one  hundred  feet  lay  all  about  the  structure, 
for  lawn  and  drive-way,  for  trees  and  fountains,  and  that  he  might 
have  larger  foreground  to  see  the  hotel.  But  in  this  last  particular, 
he  would  be  clearly  allowing  a  taste  for  the  spacious  premises  of  the 
sea-shore  hotel  to  dominate  the  warmer  spaces  of  city  walls,  or 
perhaps  be  anticipating  the  next  great  structure  of  the  kind,  to  be 
placed  on  some  rock-bound  tract  as  that  of  Jacob  Kamm's  on 
Twelfth  steet. 

In  truth  one  finds  himself  here  in  the  midst  of  large  buildings, 
for  on  the  block  north  of  the  hotel  is  the  grand  new  Opera  House  of 
Judge  Marquam. 

South  of  the  hotel,  very  much  embowered  in  trees,  is  the  quiet 
edifice  of  the  church  of  our  Father  belonging  to  the  Unitarian 
Society,  whose  pulpit  has  been  occupied  from  the  first  by  Rev.  T.  L. 
Eliot,  who  has  ever  been  prominent  in  works  of  progress  and 
humanity.  Following  Morrison  street  out  to  Tenth  through  much 
shade  of  maple  trees,  and  just  completed  but  not  costly  edifices,  one 
runs  upon  the  new  circle  of  churches.  Here  is  the  old  Tabernacle 
built  previously  to  accommodate  the  great  audiences  that  assembled 
to  listen  to  the  preaching  of  Mrs.  Hampton.  Since  that  time  it  has 
been  in  constant  use  for  mass  meetings  of  the  religious  societies  and 
temperance  folks.  The  building  itself  is  simply  a  square  box, 
something  like  a  bam,  with  windows  only  in  the  hip  roof.  Looking 
one  block  down  to  Alder  street,  on  the  opposite  side,  one  sees  the 
great  stone  church  of  the  Presbyterians,  recently  finished  at  a  cost  of 
more  than  $100,000.  The  tall  spire  is  most  imposing,  and  the 
gothic  window  and  roof  is  of  excellent  effect.  The  work  is  exceed- 
ingly fine,  in  block  built  bluish  gray  sandstone  and  blue  stained 
mortar.      South,    and   on    Taylor   street,    is   the  Grace   Methodist 


442  History  of  Portlaxd. 


Church  building,  partly  of  stone.  On  Main  street,  still  on  IQth,  is 
the  Jewish  Synagogue,  of  wood,  in  gothic  style,  but  with  front  finish 
in  the  Moorish.  Passing  northward  on  9tli  street,  to  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Clay,  one  finds  the  edifice  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  or 
Calvary  Church,  in  some  respects  the  handsomest,  most  gracefiil 
and  attractive  of  any  in  the  city.  The  interior  finish,  vaulted  and 
in  white,  or  inspiration,  tint  is  very  delightful.  At  the  end  of 
Morrison  street  is  the  magnificent  High  School  building,  accommo- 
dating, graceful  and  convenient. 

Sweeping  out  to  the  hills  with  occasional  vacant  lots,  or  blocks, 
but  built  for  the  most  part  with  houses  of  great  uniformity  of 
excellence,  although  not  so  magnificent  or  occupying  so  much  space 
as  in  the  north  end,  this  portion  of  the  city  with  churches  and  school 
buildings,  is  the  most  substantial  center  of  the  residences.  Some  are 
costly.  The  umbrage  from  the  shade  trees,  mainly  of  maple,  is 
deep  and  in  places  too  heavy,  the  pointed  poplars  ever  bending  this 
way  or  that,  in  the  breezes,  and  in  selected  localities  elms  and  box 
elder  var\'  the  artistic  ornamentation.  On  the  lawns,  evergreens 
cut  exceedingly  prim,  *'make  and  mar"  the  beauty  of  the  .scene. 
As  is  common  to  weak  and  suffering  humanity,  the  idea  that  to 
attain  beauty  a  plant  or  tree  must  either  be  bloated  or  shorn  out  of 
its  natural  fonn,  has  here,  as  elsewhere  free  course.  Passing  dowm  the 
hill  on  Jefferson  street,  back  to  the  river,  one  discovers  the  palatial 
seat  of  W.  S.  Ladd  and  J.  N.  Dolph,  with  those  of  James  Steel  and 
Senator  Corbett  and  Henr)-  Failing,  so  near  as  to  seem  to  belong  to 
the  locality.  South  of  Yamhill  street,  on  the  river  front,  there  are 
no  notable  buildings,  and  out  to  South  Portland,  while  the  city  is 
fairly  well  built,  there  is  nothing  striking,  unless  it  be  the  iron 
works,  as  far  as  the  Marquam  gulch,  notable  for  big  bridges. 
South  Portland,  on  a  romantic  high  level  embossed  upon  the  angle 
of  the  hills,  which  here  round  off  in  strangely  retrousse  points, 
circles  about  its  fine  $cliool  houses,  and  has  many  ambitious  homes 
and  cottages.  There  is  a  pecular  air  of  thrift  and  neatness  about 
this  quarter  which  speaks  volumes  for  the  future. 

Of  East   Portland,  great  in  the  future,  a  word  should  be  said. 
The   front   is   repellent,  being   built  largely  over  a  lowland  and  the 


General  Description.  443 


gulches.  The  buildings  are  yet  largely  of  wood,  and  the  streets  are 
likewise  of  cheap  material,  and  usually  in  ill  repair.  But  casting 
an  eye  of  pity  on  this  first  front  of  the  place  one  finds  the  further 
streets  nicely  improved,  a  large  number  of  neat  cottages  and  some 
few  handsome  houses,  good  school  buildings  and  a  number  of  home- 
like churches.  The  lay  of  the  land  is  very  fine,  that  portion  on  the 
north,  known  as  Holladay  Addition,  being  exceptionally  high  and 
handsome.  Toward  Mt.  Tabor,  for  nearly  three  miles,  the  surface 
is  rolling,  excellent  for  building,  and  is  laid  off  in  an  indefinite 
number  of  additions  and  parks.  Sage  real  estate  dealers  insist  that 
this  plain  will  in  time  be  the  most  dense  portion  of  the  city  of 
Portland.  Extending  to  the  eastward  half  way  toward  the  mount  is 
Sunnyside,  a  small  place,  situated  directly  on  the  Mount  Tabor 
Motor  Line.  As  for  motor  lines  this  section  is  gridironed  with 
them,  and  from  the  preparations  made  by  capitalists  for  the  accom- 
modation of  population,  this  basin  has  the  right  to  look  up.  But 
Tabor  itself  is  handsomely  improved  and  delightfully  still,  with  an 
atmosphere  at  the  summit  of  the  most  healing  and  balsamic  purity. 
South  of  East  Portland  is  Brookland,  a  fine  ridge  looking  down  on 
the  deep  Willamette  and  Ross  Island.  Farther  south  are  Sellwood 
and  Willsburg.  Back  from  the  river  on  a  tract  of  rolling  land  is 
Waverly. 

With  proper  improvement  the  east  side  of  the  river  has  the 
greatest  possibilities  and  when  Portland  needs  the  space  of  Philadel- 
phia, can  furnish  sixty  square  miles  for  her  use.  It  is  as  yet  crude — 
with  much  that  is  fine — not  being  wholly  out  of  its  swaddling 
clothes. 

The  cemeteries,  to  close  our  view  as  ends  the  brief  scene  of  life, 
are  located  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  or  on  the  hills  to  the  south. 
The  oldest  now  used  is  Lone  Fir,  one  mile  east  of  the  Willamette. 
The  significance  of  the  name  is  from  a  solitary  fir  tree  of  large 
dimensions  overlooking  the  grounds.  The  company,  incorporating 
for  purposes  of  sepulture,  was  organized  in  1866,  and  the  sight  was 
then  far  removed  and  very  quiet.  Some  forty  acres  are  set  off  and 
the  tradl  is  well  improved.  It  is  for  the  most  part  thickly  set  with 
graves,  and  proper  monuments  commemorate  those  laid  here  to  rest. 


444  History  of  Portland. 


A  number  of  the  stones,  shafts,  vaults  and  ornaments  are  costly. 
But  once  so  quiet  in  its  thickets,  the  place  has  now  become  crowded 
by  the  residence  portion  of  East  Portland,  a  much  frequented  high- 
way being  on  one  side,  and  the  Mt.  Tabor  Motor  line,  with  frequent 
trains  on  the  other.  St.  Mar>''s  Cemeter>'  (Catholic)  lies  across  the 
way  north,  but  is  no  longer  used. 

In  1882,  a  large  and  beautiful  cemetery  was  provided,  and  a 
company  organized,  embracing  the  most  wealthy  men  in  the  city, 
ex-Senator  H.  W.  Corbett  and  W.  S.  Ladd  being  of  the  number. 
The  site  chosen  was  on  the  hilltops,  four  miles  south  of  the  city, 
above  the  macadam  road.  The  grounds  extend  to  the  east  of  the 
eminence  where  there  is  a  perfe<5l  view.  The  spot  is  now,  as  it  ever 
will  be,  peaceful,  near  the  sky,  and  if  the  departed  still  care  for  the 
beauties  of  earth,  affording  them  the  best  that  Portland  can  give. 
By  special  provision  the  grounds  are  to  be  tastefully  and  even 
elaborately  improved;  nothing  unsightly  or  uncouth  to  be  allowed, 
and  the  graves  of  those  whose  friends  are  absent  still  to  be  kept  green 
and  adorned  with  flowers.  It  is  a  graceful  feeling  of  the  human 
heart  that  would  make  a  little  border  land  between  this  world  and 
the  unseen,  and  in  this  place  cemented  to  this  purpose  by  the  people 
of  Portland,  are  foimd  all  the  elements  appertaining  to  this  interest 
To  the  same  interests  are  the  other  cemeteries.  Greenwood  (Masonic) 
west  of  Riverview;  the  new  Jewish  cemetery  on  the  Boone  Ferr)' 
road,  four  miles  south;  the  Ohavi  Sholem  and  the  B'nai  B'rith 
cemeteries  lie  one-half  mile  further. 

From  this  brief  view  of  our  city,  indicating  opulence  and  pros- 
perity it  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  career  of  Portland  has  all  been 
easy  and  plain  sailing.  Aside  from  the  en\'y-  of  other  cities,  great 
calamities,  the  casualties  of  nature,  or  the  carelessness  or  destrudlive- 
ness  of  man,  have  not  been  imknown. 

Water  has  a  double  chance  in  the  city,  coming  down  the 
Willamette  in  the  winter,  and  up  the  Willamette  from,  or  rather 
backed  up  by  the  Columbia,  in  the  summer.  The  winter  freshets 
are  seldom  at  all  troublesome.  Even  the  most  violent  floods  seldom 
raising  the  river  more  than  twenty-five  feet  above  low  water  mark — 
the  water  rushing  swiftly  by  to  fall  into  the  Columbia,  which  rarely 


General  Description.  445 


rises  during  the  winter,  or  eariy  spring,  its  sources  then  being 
ice-bound.  In  1861,  the  time  of  the  great  flood,  which  carried 
away  old  Champoeg  near  French  Prairie,  and  many  houses  and  other 
buildings  along  the  Willamette,  gave  our  city  a  slight  reminder, 
taking  away  Lownsdale's  wharf  and  perhaps  other  structures.  This 
flood  was  repeated  in  1890.  The  main  trouble  came  from  logs  and 
great  drift  shooting  by,  endangering  bridges,  ferries  and  their  cables, 
and  causing  steamers  to  skip  hither  and  yonder.  Some  of  the  small 
crafts  have  suffered  at  such  times,  being  sunk,  or  compelled,  as  in 
one  case  at  least,  to  jump  over  a  log  to  avoid  being  rocked  and 
perhaps  upset.  It  is  only  rarely,  however,  that  any  difficulty  occurs, 
and  by  proper  precautions  all  may  be  avoided.  The  rise  of  the 
Columbia,  while  not  so  violent,  is  much  more  of  an  occasion. 
It  often  brings  our  river  up  twenty  feet  and  sometimes  as 
much  as  twenty-nine  above  lowest  water.  It  is  not  the 
turbid  Columbia  water,  but  the  clear  blue  fluid  of  the  Willam- 
ette, yet  when  the  rise  is  very  rapid  the  current  is  sometimes 
thrown  back,  making  the  water  run  slowly  up  stream.  In  old  times, 
before  the  lower  part  of  the  city  was  raised  to  its  present  level,  the 
rise  of  the  Columbia  was  looked  for  with  great  anxiety.  If  a  flood 
was  reported  on  the  way,  the  lower  stories  of  the  warehouses,  the 
cellars  of  the  stores,  and  even  the  lower  stories  of  the  houses  in  the 
north  end  were  hastily  cleared  of  goods.  As  the  water  rose  into  the 
streets,  as  it  did  a  number  of  times,  the  lower  city  was  abandoned  by 
business.  The  steamers  came  up  to  the  upper  docks,  and  temporary 
walks  for  the  accommodation  of  pedestrians  were  made  of  planks  on 
trestles.  The  Nicholson  pavement  became  a  great  care,  for  it 
showed  a  disposition  to  rise  and  float  off*,  and  to  be  kept  in  place  had 
to  be  freighted  down  with  rocks.  The  R.  R.  depots  became  useless 
and  the  cars  stopped  up  town.  While  the  people  of  the  north  end 
were  in  the  throes  of  such  a  disorder,  like  mice  threatened  with 
inundation,  the  south  siders  looked  on  with  none  too  much  commis- 
eration, deeming  it  a  just  recompense  for  going  to  the  swamps  below 
town,  in  preference  to  the  highlands  on  the  south.  In  1876  the 
flood  was  particularly  high,  and  stood  for  weeks.  It  was  deemed 
useless  to  trifle  any  longer,  and  the  grade  was  raised  to  a  point  above 


446  History  of  Portland. 


danger,  and  the  streets  paved  with  Belgian  blocks.  The  cit>'^  is 
not  yet  rid  of  the  trouble,  however,  for  although  the  water  seldom 
comes  up  to  the  streets  at  high  times,  the  cellars  are  filled,  leaxnng 
them  foul  and  noisome  with  dirt,  and  the  refuse  of  dead  water  as  the 
flood  subsides,  and  the  sewers  are  rendered  useless.  This  breeds  an 
infinite  amount  of  malaria,  throws  a  multitude  of  bad  odors  into  the 
dwelling  houses  and  streets,  and  works  vast  injur>-  to  the  health  of 
the  population.  A  dyke  of  masonrj-  should  be  extended  across  the 
entire  river  front,  excluding  the  water,  and  the  sewers  wnthin  should 
be  kept  clear  by  a  system  of  steam  pumps.  In  no  other  way  can 
the  trouble  be  removed.  As  population  increases  and  the  wastage  is 
multiplied  this  will  become  imperative. 

Storms  have  occasionally  interrupted  business.  The  Oregonians 
pay  no  attention  to  rain  and  there  is  no  diminution  of  traflSc  or 
•travel  or  in  the  number  of  vehicles  on  the  street,  even  for  the  most 
drenching  showers.  Cold,  freezing  weather,  however,  drives  dray- 
men and  hackmen  to  their  quarters,  and  the  finest,  clearest  days  may 
pass  with  but  the  smallest  possible  work  done.  Snow  sends  every- 
one to  shelter.  The  winter  usually  passes  with  but  little  of  this. 
Some  years,  however,  the  fall  has  been  considerable,  and  in  1883  it 
came  so  suddenly  as  to  cause  a  genuine  blockade.  It  fell  on 
December  16,  with  east  wind  and  a  temperature  of  19°  above  zero. 
The  stonn  shifting,  threw  down  a  vast  depth  of  eighteen  inches 
from  the  southwest,  mingled  with  rain  and  hail.  The  east  wind 
finally  getting  the  master}',  brought  clear  skies  and  a  low  tempera- 
ture, converting  the  mass  of  slush  into  ice.  Business  and  travel 
were  impeded  for  six  weeks.  The  walks  and  streets  were  unfavora- 
ble for  ordinar\'  vehicles;  street  car  tracks  were  useless;  railroad  lines 
were  blockaded  east  and  west,  north  and  south.  The  city  hiberna- 
ted. To  an  eastern  man  the  sight  was  quite  ridiculous,  since  this 
was  nothing  more  than  ordinar\'  weather  on  the  Atlantic  coast  But 
the  Portland  people  preferred  to  wait  cosily  in  their  homes  and  let 
the  snow  bank  up  at  their  front  doors,  expecting  the  south  wind  to 
come  any  night.  Their  expectations  were  finally  fulfilled,  and  if 
another  such  a  blockade  should  come,  our  people  would  go  home, 
build  up  the  fires,  and  wait  again  for  the  south  wind. 


Gknerai.  Description.  447 


Occasionally  the  Willamette  freezes  over,  as  in  January  of  1887, 
suspending  navigation  for  a  few  weeks.  This  has  happened  no 
more  than  four  times  in  fifty  years.  Violent  winds  and  showers 
have  sometimes  visited  the  city,  as  in  January  of  1880.  But 
owing  to  our  light  wooden  buildings  there  has  been  small  injur>% 
the  damage  being  chiefly  confined  to  sign-boards  and  the  loss  of 
hats.  Slight  shocks  of  earthquakes  have  been  felt,  but  with  no 
damage  beyond  fright  and  stopping  of  clocks. 

Fire,  the  chief  peril  of  wooden  towns,  has  been  quite  destruc- 
tive here,  but  is  now  happily  ceasing  to  play  so  much  havoc.  The 
stone,  iron  and  brick  buildings  of  the  present  are  practically  fire- 
proof, and  the  fire  department  is  very  efficient.  In  1883,  the  total 
loss  was  $819,092.20;  in  1884,  $403,051.90;  in  1885,  under  the 
paid  fire  department,  the  loss  fell  to  $59,329.73;  in  1886,  $98,- 
146.06;  in  1887,  $84,173.72;  in  1888,  $54,347.70;  in  1889, 
$20,000. 

The  first  large  fire  was  in  1853,  the  burning  of  the  old  steam 
saw  mill  at  foot  of  Jefferson  street.  The  loss  was  probably  upwards 
of  $25,000.  The  great  fires  were  in  December,  1872,  of  over  $100,- 
000,  and  of  August,  1873,  of  about  $1,250,300.  The  latter  was 
a  great  catastrophe  and  should  be  spoken  of  somewhat  particularly. 

The  fire  of  December,  1872,  which  was  started  at  the  foot  of 
Alder  street,  had  left  at  this  point  a  spot  not  yet  occupied  by  build- 
ings of  any  kind.  This  circumstance  is  thought  to  have  prevented 
the  burning  of  the  whole  city,  when  fire  was  once  more  loose  in  the 
dry  season.  The  great  fire  began  at  about  4:30  o'clock  A.  M.,  Aug. 
2,  1873,  while  the  summer  drought  was  on,  and,  by  popular  opinion 
at  the  time,  was  due  to  incendiarism.  It  began  in  the  furniture  store 
of  Hurgren  &  Shindler  on  First  street  near  Taylor.  Fastening  on 
the  oils  and  varnishes  in  the  work  room,  the  energy  of  combustion 
was  so  great  as  to  throw  up  a  shaft  of  flames  through  the  building 
far  into  the  air,  with  dense  smoke  accompanying,  which  soon  burst 
into  sheets  of  fire,  and  involved  the  entire  structure.  The  alarm  of 
the  bells  and  the  cries  of  the  firemen  aroused  the  city,  and  the  streets 
were  soon  crowded  with  men.  There  were  wooden  buildings  close 
by,  the  Metropolis  Hotel,  the  Multnomah  Hotel,  the  Patton  House 

L29l 


448  History  of  Portland. 


and  a  saloon,  carpenter  shop  and  foundr>',  on  the  same  block ;  and 
within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  whole  was  under  the  flames.  The 
fire  passed  through  these  buildings  with  extraordinar\'  rapidity,  our 
fir  lumber  proving  to  be  excellent  kindling  wood,  and  burning  with 
the  violence  of  tinder.  Although  promptly  on  the  ground,  the 
firemen  were  unable  to  check  the  devastation,  and  under  a  breeze 
from  the  hills  the  conflagration  was  so  extended  as  soon  to  include 
six  blocks,  reaching  to  the  river  and  between  Taylor  street  to  Main 
and  back  to  Second. 

The  front  of  the  fire,  moving  northward,  making  a  blinding  light 
and  a  scorching  heat,  leaped  easily  across  the  street,  advancing  on  three 
blocks,  sweeping  down  four  dwellings  on  Second  street  and  catching 
upon  the  Portland  Hotel  on  Taylor.  The  Fashion  stable  on  the 
west  side,  a  saddle  shop,  saloon  and  a  market  and  some  four  frame 
buildings  on  Front  street  were  next  seized  and  the  fire  bent  toward 
two  hotels,  the  Lick  House  and  Kellogg- s,  which  lay  directly  in  its 
path.  Seeing  the  uselessness  of  tr>'ing  to  save  these  buildings,  the 
efforts  of  the  firemen  were  directed  toward  the  St  Charles  Hotel, 
then  reckoned  as  one  of  the  grandest  buildings  in  the  cit>',  and 
located  at  the  corner  of  Morrison  and  Front  streets.  Ascendine  to 
the  roof  and  covering  the  side  threatened  with  blankets,  upon  which 
they  kept  constant  streams  of  water,  and  working  often  in  an  air  of 
scorching  heat,  as  the  flames  bent  toward  them  they  held  on  most 
bravely  and  manfully,  keeping  their  post  until  the  Kellogg  house 
had  sunk  down.  With  the  crash  of  this  building  a  torrent  of  fire 
was  rolled  up  which  threatened  to  sweep  everything,  and  swaying  out 
toward  the  river  front  overwhelmed  even  the  engine  of  one  of  the 
companies  (Columbia  No.  3),  working  there  on  the  edge  of  the 
water.  But  the  open  space  left  from  the  old  fire  inter\'ened  between 
this  and  the  buildings  on  the  north,  and  after  this  last  burst  had 
been  driven  back,  it  became  apparent  that  danger  was  past  in  that 
quarter.  It  was  the  vSalem  company  that  had  come  from  the  capital 
early  in  the  morning  on  a  train  which  made  the  fifty-three  miles  in 
an  hour  and  fifteen  minutes,  that  held  the  roof  of  the  St  Charles. 

vScarcely    had  the  destroyer  been  stayed    on  the  north — ^as  the 
morning  was  advancing — when  a  jet  of  flame  was  seen  ascending 


General  Description.  449 


from  a  block  on  the  west,  or  northwest,  in  the  rear  of  the  store 
occupied  by  Powers  and  Burchard,  from  about  the  centre  of  the  pile, 
thereby  suggesting  incendiarism.  A  crowd  quickly  surrounded  the 
block  to  seize  the  perpetrator  of  the  deed  as  he  should  pass  out  to 
escape  the  flames;  but,  as  usual,  nobody  was  found,  or  in  the  general 
excitement  easily  escaped.  The  block  was  soon  in  uncontrolable 
flames,  and  the  north  side  of  the  street  was  again  in  great  danger, 
but  by  the  prompt  destrudlion  of  the  awnings  and  other  inflammable 
materials  on  the  north  side  of  Yamhill  street  this  was  relieved.  By 
this  adlion  the  spread  of  the  fire  farther  north  was  prevented  and  the 
largest  portion  of  the  city  was  saved. 

Toward  the  river  it  was  found  impossible  to  stay  the  element, 
the  breeze  coming  from  the  northwest,  and  it  became  evident  that 
the  fire  must  run  until  it  reached  the  water.  It  passed  on,  success- 
ively sweeping  over  the  block  on  Taylor  and  First  streets  consuming 
a  saloon  and  a  number  of  tenements,  occupied  for  the  most  part  by 
Chinese,  and  the  costlier  brick  structures  occupied  by  Emil  Lowen- 
stein,  C.  S.  Silver  &  Co.  and  P.  Selling.  It  swept  through  the 
produce  and  commission  house  of  Cohn  and  Rosenfield,  and  caught 
upon  the  stores  of  Walter  Moffitt,  J.  A.  Strowbridge,  Dr.  Weather- 
ford,  and  A.  Meyer.  These  buildings  were  speedily  swept  under  and 
left  to  bum  down. 

To  the  southward  the  flames  ran  with  great  speed,  pressed  upon 
by  the  wind,  and  met  with  no  effedlual  resistance  so  long  as  there  was 
material  to  bum.  A  large  number  of  dwelling  houses,  store  rooms, 
a  foundry,  frame  buildings,  saloons,  the  ice  works,  Love's  hotel  and 
McGinn's  bakery  succumbed,  and  the  flames  leaped  across  Madison 
street,  burning,  among  other  things  the  engine  house  of  the  Protection 
fire  company.  As  a  sort  of  dramatic  incident,  one  of  the  members 
of  the  company  ran  under  and  tolled  the  bell  until  the  string  was 
snapped  by  the  hot  air  and  flame.  Vaughn's  flouring  mills,  the 
steam  saw  mills  of  Smith  and  Brothers,  cabinet  shop  of  W.  F. 
Wilcox,  Jones'  coffee  and  spice  mills,  Moffit's  wharf  and  brick 
buildings,  Sykes'  brewer>',  a  number  of  hotels,  saloons  and  restau- 
rants, and  the  extensive  sash  and  door  fadlory  of  John  T.  Walker, 


4-50  History  ok  Portland. 

together  with  inauy  lesser  buildings  went  down  successively  in  ashes 
or  up  in  smoke.  A  most  detennined  fight  was  made  to  save  the 
steam  saw  mill  of  Smith  Brothers,  at  the  foot  of  Clay  street,  and, 
although  it  caught  in  a  hundred  places  it  was  finally  saved.  At 
Clay  street,  having  passed  over  a  distridl  of  eight  blocks  along  the  river 
bank,  and  for  the  most  part  back  to  vSecond  street,  and  having 
consumed  about  $1,200,000  worth  of  property,  the  conflagration  met 
with  a  number  of  shade  trees,  and  came  upon  a  less  densely  built 
seclion,  where  the  dense  foliage  arrested  the  sparks  and  defeated  the 
flames — demonstrating,  as  has  so  often  has  been  done,  that  green  trees 
are  the  l>est  of  proteAors  against  fire. 

Various  wild  and  ill-ordered  individuals,  either  a  little  turned  bv 
excitement,  or  allowing  their  love  of  destru<5lion  to  exceed  all  bounds, 
or  else  in  hope  of  plunder,  were  found  setting  fires  in  other  parts  of 
the  city  as  the  day  advanced,  but  these  were  quickly  extinguished. 
During  the  whole  terrible  destru6lion  the  steamboats  on  the  river 
rendered  most  efficient  service,  taking  on  vast  quantities  of  goods 
that  were  hurried  out  from  the  stores  and  other  threatened  places. 
As  may  be  supposed,  the  excitement,  the  rush  of  the  crowds,  the  rage 
and  terror  consequent  upon  reports  of  incendiarism,  and  the 
curiosity  of  jx^ople  from  the  suburbs,  bringing  them  in  from  all  sides, 
reached  a  great  i)itch.  Hut,  nevertheless,  in  all  this  turmoil  and  in 
the  hasty  work  on  the  part  of  firemen  and  others,  there  were  but  few 
accidents. 

(ireat  j^raise  was  accorded  to  the  firemen  who  certainly  fought 
bravely  and  sagaciously.  Invaluable  aid  was  rendered  by  the  Salem 
and  Vancouver  companies.  To  provide  for  those  rendered  homeless 
nearly  all  the  churches  fitted  up  their  basements  for  sleeping  and 
eating  accommodations,  and  much  provision  was  sent  in  from  abroad, 
(ireat  sympathy  was  felt  for  Portland  throughout  the  East,  and 
contributions  were  sent  from  many  ix)ints;  General  Grant,  then 
President,  among  others,  lending  his  influence  to  raise  means  at  Long 
Hrancli.  Portland,  however,  rather  surprised  the  country  and 
herself  by  accepting  but  little  of  this  proposed  aid,  trusting  to  her 
own  vigor  to  rise  again  from  her  ashes. 


Social  I^eaturrs.  451 

The  loss,  however,  proved  exceptionally  high,  there  being  no 
more  than  $250,000  insurance,  leaving  the  net  loss  something  over 
$900,000.  Partly  from  the  fadl  that  the  heavy  business  center  was 
then  moving  toward  the  north  end  and  partly  that  the  loss  fell  upon 
many  of  small  means,  the  burnt  distridl  was  very  slow  in  rebuilding. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

SOCIAL  FEATURES  AND  NOTED  PUBLIC  EV^ENTS. 

The  Cosmopolitan  Character  of  Portland — Changing  Character  of  its  Early  Pop- 
ulation—Their vices  and  Habits — Moral  and  Social  Conditions  of  Early  Days — 
General  Stability  of  Present  Society — Culture  and  Refinement  of  the  People — Public 
Amusements — Excursions,  Public  Festivities  and  Celebrations — Events  Connected 
with  the  Celebration  of  the  Completion  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

AS  may  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  pages,  the  staid  residents 
who  made  the  city  were  men  and  women  of  a  morality, 
religions  conviction  and  sturdy  force  of  character  not  exceeded  by 
any  class  of  people  in  America.  But  it  must  be  noted,  in  any 
jnst  estimate,  that  Portland  has  been  a  most  cosmopolitan  spot. 
From  the  first  it  was  the  landing  place  for  ships,  and  they 
came  from  all  ports.  French  and  English  as  well  as  Americans 
tied  np  at  oiir  docks.  Sailors  coming  ashore  from  long  voyages, 
whereon  they  had  lived  on  salt  beef,  some  of  which  had  been 
well  apostrophized  in  seafaring  song,  as  **old  horse,*'  and  npoii 
a  very  limited  supply  of  grog,  felt  the  usual  jubilation  of  the  jolly 
tar  off  duty,  and  sought  whom  and  what  he  might  devour.  To 
meet  the  wants  of  such  men,  came  the  abandoned  wretch  with  his 
**blue  ruin''  and  in  latter  times  with  his  scorpion  juice.  More 
infamous  means  of  satisfying  the  long  denied  passions  of  the  sea- 
farer, were  sought  and  supplied. 

Immigrants  from  across  the  plains,  naturally  an  honest  and  moral 
class,  reached  Portland  destitute,  eager,  and  without  the  restraints 
of  their  old  home  about  them.  During  the  time  of  gold,  men 
acquired   a   directness    and   bluntness,    often    leading   to   bravado. 


452  History  of  Portland. 


especially  in  those  naturally  ill-balanced  or  light  The  **luck"  of 
the  mines  bred  a  feverish  unrest,  developed  abnormally  a  love  of 
excitement  and  speculation,  and  magnified  the  desire  of  gambling. 
The  gamblers  of  the  Mississippi  River  flocking  to  the  Pacific  shore, 
brought  with  them  their  manners,  morals  and  tone,  and  set  up  on 
the  Columbia  and  Willamette  very  much  their  former  methods  of 
business.  They  were  a  class  of  hard  drinkers,  stimulating  them- 
selves for  successive  nights  of  indulgence  in  their  games,  and 
among  the  excitable  and  feverish  people  who  came  from  all  parts, 
their  example  was  a  sort  of  law.  The  perverse  notion  that  friends 
meeting  must  drink  together,  that  a  bargain  must  be  sealed  by  a 
drink,  that  any  big  luck  must  be  celebrated  by  a  drink  all  around, 
that  a  good  stor\'  could  not  be  ver>-  well  told,  or  ver>'  well  listened  to 
without  a  drink,  that  going  off  on  a  * 'prospect,''  or  a  safe  return 
home,  or  good  news  from  the  folks,  or  bad  news  either,  or  getting 
well,  or  feeling  sick,  or  in  fact  almost  every  occurrence  or  mental 
state,  must  be  accompanied  by  a  little  social  drinking,  became  all 
but  imiversal.  This  was  mixed  up  with  so  much  of  good  will  and 
human  feeling,  and  anything  else  seemed  so  sour  and  graceless  and 
was  referred  to  as  a  niggardly  desire  of  saving  one's  money,  and 
keeping  to  one's  self  what  belonged  to  the  **crowd,"  that  even  men 
trained  in  temperance,  accepted  it  as  the  rule  of  the  West.  The 
inevitable  tendency  of  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  adopting  a 
course  of  life  common  to  all,  which  would  eliminate  many  former 
ideas  of  religion  and  morality,  moved  the  masses  toward  a  reckless- 
ness of  health  and  life  not  before  known.  The  comparative  absence 
of  women  stimulated  grossness  and  coarseness  of  speech  and  man- 
ners, and  the  temptation  toward  immorality  was  greatly  intensified. 
Portland  got  the  full  benefit  of  all  this,  and  from  early  da\-s  was 
a  place  where  drinking  was  carried  to  a  most  ruinous  extreme,  and 
men  of  the  finest  capabilities  sank  under  the  blight,  not  lixHing  out 
half  their  days.  Gambling,  and  other  indulgences  were  carried  to 
the  same  violent  and  wild  excess.  Bloody  afirays  or  murders  were 
not  so  frequent  here  as  in  the  mining  camps.  Even  with  all  these 
unfavorable  influences,  however,  there  was  a  high  moral  tone  in  the 
early  days,  and  it  is  said  that  the  bagnio  was  so  discountenanced  as 


Social  Features.  453 


to  be  obliged  to  leave  the  city.  The  young  men  of  the  place  were 
all  in  good  fellowship,  and  in  time  of  distress,  as  in  the  winter  of 
1852,  bonded  together  to  care  for  the  sick.  With  the  coming  of 
the  Chinese,  however,  further  inducement  to  brutal  indulgence  was 
added.  With  the  building  of  railways  a  large  floating  population  of 
men  away  from,  or  without  homes,  and  not  on  their  best  behayior, 
came  on  pleasure  excursions  to  our  city,  crowding  the  low  hotels,  and 
saloons,  the  theatres,  and  places  of  popular  amusement.  To  satisfy 
the  thirst  of  such  men,  came  the  cormorant  class,  who  live  chiefly  on 
the  disease  and  death  of  their  fellows.  To  increase  their  business 
and  swell  their  profits,  these  caterers  to  public  vices  added  attractions 
which  swept  in  the  young,  unstable  and  thoughtless,  as  well  as 
satisfied  the  cravings  of  those  already  indurated.  Thus  the  demand 
of  the  vile  for  vile  pleasures  led  the  way  to  the  establishment  of  a 
kind  of  trade,  which  in  its  turn  bred  still  further  corruption. 

With  the  increase  of  foreign  commerce,  in  1868,  and  onward, 
the  foreign  sailor  class  became  much  larger.  With  the  rise  and 
growth  of  the  salmon  fishing  business,  the  fishermen  of  the  Columbia 
River,  many  of  whom  were  of  low  character,  made  periodical  trips 
to  Portland  to  spend  their  earnings,  as  did  also  the  miners,  and  to 
some  extent  the  ranchers,  from  east  of  the  mountains.  Men  of  their 
class,  from  a  life  of  hardship  and  peril,  and  social  privations, 
frequently  made  their  trip  to  the  city  for  nothing  but  amusement, 
which  meant  dissipation  of  the  most  violent  description.  Opium 
joints  from  the  Chinese  appeared,  and  the  variety  theatre  was  set 
up.  A  passionate  sort  of  existence  without  purpose,,  unguided  by 
principle,  reckless  of  money  and  health,  and  even  destructive  to  life, 
was  followed  by  these  migratory  crowds.  It  is  always  observable 
that  in  a  time  or  place,  where  men  are  shifting  about,  and  come  upon 
others  with  different  religious  views,  doubt  is  thrown  upon  the 
fundamental  ideas  of  life,  and  especially  to  those  of  slight  conviction 
who  see  in  religion  chiefly  an  irksome  restraint,  a  general  insensibility 
and  prodigality  spring  up.  Life  becomes  easy,  free,  generous, 
impulsive,  careless,  intense  and  self  destrudlive. 

Portland  is  not  well  yet  out  of  these  conditions  incident  to  all 
our  frontier  cities.     But  the  times  of  deliverance  are  nearly  at  hand 


454  History  of  Portland. 

since  to  a  large  extent  the  manner  of  life  which  first  brought  the 
evils  is  passing  by.  The  mining  camps,  the  ranches,  the  fishing 
stations,  the  logging  camps,  are  not  now  occupied  as  they  once  were 
bv  men  awav  from  home.  The  home  has  been  taken  to  those 
places,  and  the  fathers  and  sons  do  not  feel  the  craving  for,  not 
being  without,  social  life,  as  when  away  from  all  such  privileges. 
The  railroads  will  never  again  be  built  by  armies  of  men  gathered 
up  from  the  four  winds.  The  main  lines  have  been  put  down,  and 
the  others  will  be  provided  with  workmen  from  the  laborers  liWng 
along  the  line.  More  than  all,  other  towns  di\nde  with  our  city  the 
rude  classes.  Portland  is  not  so  much  as  fonnerly,  the  headquarters 
of  amusements.  The  **  rough  crowd  •'  will  not  flock  here  from  all 
points,  since  they  find  what  they  want  nearer  home.  ^\s  our  city 
grows  in  population,  in  the  steady  laboring  classes,  in  families,  in 
large  business,  in  extensive  wholesale  connections,  and  in  the 
pursuits  of  the  higher  classes,  the  transient  and  vicious  element 
will  at  least  become  proportionately  less. 

There  has  been  a  noticeable  improvement  in  the  tone  of  the 
people  as  to  temperance  since  the  earlier  years..  It  is  not  now,  as  then, 
the  fashion  for  the  leading  public  men  to  drink  to  the  point  of 
intoxication,  and  to  excite  the  entire  place  by  their  excesses.  There 
is  at  least  much  more  conventional,  and  probably  much  more 
actual  restraint  of  the  appetites. 

Along  with  this  state  of  private  vice,  public  corruption  exists 
(mly  too  extensively,  crime  against  the  ballot  and  complaint  against 
the  officers  of  the  law,  being  only  too  common. 

The  above  is  a  fair,  concise  statement  of  the  immoralitv  of  Port- 
land.  We  have  preferred  to  thus  sketch  it  boldly,  thinking  it 
improper  in  any  one  attempting  to  write  a  histor}*  to  omit  any  fa(5ls 
which  go  to  work  up  a  complete  view  of  the  subjedl.  Perhaps  the 
worst  feature  of  it  all  has  been  a  weak  acquiesence  in  all  this  on  the 
part  of  the  better  classes  as  something  necessary-  and  inevitable,  or  at 
least  profitable. 

On  the  other  hand  there  is  much  hope  for  future  improvement. 
The  general  stability  and  growth  of  the  State,  and  the  fashion  that 
reprehends  excess  have  already  been  spoken  of.     A   strong  eflfort  to 


Public  Events.  455 

improve  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the  city;  an  intelligent  interest  in 
education;  great  activity  on  the  part  of  benevolent  societies  and  the 
churches;  and  at  least  the  dawning  perception  that  that  which  is 
destnidlive  of  human  life,  happiness  and  adlivity  cannot  be  of  any 
use,  in  any  way,  to  a  great  and  flourishing  city,  are  signs  of  progress 
toward  the  higher  civil  order,  not  only  of  the  old  East,  but  of  the 
great  new  West  of  the  future.  A  general  denunciation  of  political 
corruption  and  official  negligence  and  connivance  with  crime,  goes  to 
the  same  end. 

It  must  always  be  remembered,  in  charity,  that  a  commercial  city 
has  great  evils  to  contend  with,  not  of  its  own  seeking,  and  most 
difficult  to  eradicate. 

In  the  face  of  all  that  has  been  said  above,  the  general  quiet  and 
tranquillity,  and  good  order  of  the  place  is  quite  marked.  Affiiirs  of 
blood  are  not  common;  house  breaking,  violent  robbery,  or  affiays 
are  but  few.  Popular  tumults  are  unknown.  The  order  in  proces- 
sions, or  excursions,  or  in  public  assemblies  is  good.  A  general 
spirit  of  urbanity  and  civility  prevails,  and  the  virtue  of  hospitality 
is  nowhere  more  marked. 

For  particulars  in  the  special  field  of  schools,  churches,  and 
societies,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  chapter  under  these  headings. 
He  will  find  by  such  reference  that  large  and  wide  endeavors  arc 
made  toward  mental  culture  and  moral  melioration. 

PUBLIC    EVENTS   OF    INTEREST. 

While  the  people  of  Portland  are  not  mercurial  or  exciteable,  and 
by  Californians,  or  people  '^east  of  the  mountains,*'  are  even 
accused  of  being  lymphatic,  if  not  somnolent,  they  are  much  given 
and  have  been  from  the  earliest  times  inclined  to  recreations  and 
public  amusements.  The  two  forms  in  which  all  are  ready  to  unite 
as  obnoxious  to  the  feelings  of  none  are  the  excursion  and  the 
procession.  Oregonians  having  crossed  the  plains  or  doubled  the 
Cape  early  learned  the  pleasures  of  traveling,  and  it  is  almost  uni- 
versal  custom  to  take  an  annual  trip  here  and  yonder. 


456  History  of  Portland. 


From  Portland,  excursions  by  water  are  easily  made  to  points  up 
and  down  the  river.  In  the  Cascade  Moimtains,  and  on  the  coast  are 
nooks  and  corners  of  the  rarest  beauty  and  scenerj'  upon  the  most 
ample  and  lofty  scale.  As  the  summer  comes,  picnics  for  the  Sunday 
schools  and  churches  follow  each  other  week  after  week,  preferably 
on  Saturdays,  loaded  steamboats  or  trains  speeding  out  in  the  clear 
of  the  morning  and  returning  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  or  by 
moonlight.  Sunday  excursions  are  exceedingly  popular,  particularly 
among  the  foreign  population,  and  these  usually  have  their 
accompainment  of  music.  Rides  on  the  river  boats  or  on  the  trains 
to  near  points  are  much  indulged  in  as  a  recreation  of  a  few  hours. 
Points  thus  frequented  near  at  hand  are,  Vancouver,  Mt.  Tabor,  Ross 
Island,  and  The  White  House,  a  few  miles  south  on  the  Macadam 
road,  a  particularly  popular  terminus  for  carriage  drives;  River  View 
Cemeter\'  on  the  southern  boundary  of  the  city,  Oswego  and  Oregon 
City.  These  places  are  frequently  thronged  Sundays,  not  so  much 
by  large  companies,  as  by  individuals,  small  parties  and  families. 
The  young  men  of  the  city  quite  generally  spend  the  Sabbath  day  in 
driving,  boating,  hunting  or  fishing,  at  a  distance  of  '5  to  40  miles 
from  town  and  the  transportation  companies  favor  them  with 
reduced  fares. 

The  regular  summer  vacations  are  spent  chiefly  at  the  seashore. 
The  beaches  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River  are  the  places  of 
most  frequent  resort.  These  are:  the  Ilwaco  or  North  Beach,  in 
Pacific  County,  Washington,  on  the  weather  shore  from  Shoalwater 
Bay,  and  Clatsop  Beach,  leading  down  to  the  seaside  near  Tillamook 
head.  Both  are  magnificent  expanses  of  wave-beaten  sand  with 
delightful  surroundings  of  meadows  and  grasses.  Each  has  its 
advocates  and  advantages.  They  are  reached  by  steamers  on  the 
Columbia  and  both  are  supplied  with  railroad  facilities  from  the  point 
of  debarkation. 

As  the  heat  of  summer  becomes  oppressive  in  the  Willamette 
Valley,  and  the  freshet  of  the  Columbia  threatens  malaria,  the 
coast-bound  steamers  are  loaded  with  men  and  women,  and  particu- 
larly children.  At  the  sea-shore  they  live  largely  in  tents.  Many 
own  lots  at  the  ephemeral  cities  and  have  their  own  cottages,  although 


Public  Events.  457 

there  are  accommodations  at  the  hotels.  A  few  weeks  or  months, 
breathing  the  salt  air  and  of  salt  water  bathing  are  certainly  of 
great  advantage  to  the  health,  and  those  thus  spending  the  hot 
months  preserve  their  strength  throughout  the  year.  This  is 
particularly  the  family  method.  Yaquina  Bay,  reached  by  the 
Oregon  Central  Railroad  and  by  the  Oregon  Pacific,  is  also  sought 
to  some  extent  for  the  same  purpose.  To  those  desiring  more 
exciting  recreation  the  peaks  of  the  Cascade  Mountain^  prove 
inviting;  they  afford  all  the  beauties  of  precipices,  crevasses,  snow- 
fields  and  glaciers,  and  the  perils  of  Alpine  climbing.  Mt.  Hood  is 
the  greatest  attraction,  being  the  nearest  and  most  familiar.  Rev. 
Dr.  Atkinson,  of  Portland,  and  Prof.  Woods,  the  botanist,  were 
among  the  first  to  make  the  ascent.  Many  others  from  Portland 
have  followed.  Rev.  Mr.  Izer,  pastor  of  the  Taylor  Street  Methodist 
Church  was  the  first  to  carry  to  the  top  an  iron  chest  for  holding 
papers,  names  of  those  ascending,  etc.  Several  young  ladies  of  this 
city,  among  them  Miss  Libby  Vaughn,  have  stood  upon  the  summit. 
This  is  no  small  feat,  the  mountain  being  about  11,000  feet  in 
height,  and  the  last  1,000  feet  of  the  climb  very  heavy.  Rev.  Dr. 
T.  L.  Eliot,  of  Portland,  is  much  at  home  on  this  old  volcano,  and 
one  of  the  glaciers  bears  his  name.  Some  of  the  young  men  of  the 
city  have  been  in  the  habit  of  illuminating  this  mountain  with  red 
fire  on  the  night  of  July  4th.  As  this  is  early  in  the  season  to 
climb  the  snowy  sides,  the  lower  peaks  not  yet  being  wholly  denuded 
by  the  hot  suns  of  summer,  the  enterprise  is  quite  difficult. 
Nevertheless,  it  has  been  done  quite  successfully,  a  party  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Yocum,  J.  M.  Breck,  Jr.,  Dr.  J.  M.  Keene,  and 'several 
others  first  accomplishing  the  task.  The  fire  was  seen  over  the 
valley  to  the  intense  admiration  of  the  people  and  illustrations  of 
the  mountain  thus  lit  up  were  made  in  leading  papers  of  the  east. 

The  gorge  of  the  Columbia,  with  its  Latourelle,  Multnomah, 
and  Horse-tail  Falls,  and  its  Oneonta  canyon,  with  the  Cascade 
Mountains  themselves,  are  most  inviting,  and  to  the  artist  no  less 
than  to  the  common  excursionist,  prove  wonderful.  Mount  St. 
Helens  has  been  an  object  of  attraction  to  the  Alpine  Club  of  this 
city,    the   members   of  which   recently    played   snow-ball   upon  its 


458  History  of  Portland. 


mosque-like  top.  Mount  Adams  and  Rainier,  although  the  finest 
and  most  curious  of  all,  are  too  much  removed  to  be  frequented  by 
the  men  of  Portland;  they  will  ultimately,  however,  come  into  due 
appreciation.  For  those  bent  on  wider  exploits,  Alaska  offers 
immense  attraction,  and  is  not  unknown  to  our  citizens,  many  xasit- 
ing  its  shores  on  business  or  pleasure.  The  Sandwich  Islands 
have  also  been  a  spot  of  popular  attention  by  our*  people.  Regular 
trips  are  made  to  California,  and  to  the  old  Eastern  and  Southern 
homes;  while  as  elsewhere  among  Americans,  the  more  wealthy  take 
an  occasional  journey  to  Europe.  The  health,  culture,  refinement 
and  mental  and  moral  quickening,  derived  from  these  less  and 
greater  evolutions  and  revolutions,  probably  more  than  balance  the 
dissipation,  hardening  of  the  heart,  and  the  restlessness  that  they 
induce. 

As  popular  festivities  and  celebrations  in  the  city,  the  ordinary 
homely  American  feasts  and  jubilations  are  obser\'ed.  The  New 
England  fasts  have  been  suffered  to  lapse,  and  the  Carnival  and 
Mardi  Gras,  although  sometimes  tried  a  little,  have  never  been 
general.  There  is  something  that  sticks  in  the  throat  of  our  dig- 
nity to  deliver  ourselves  up  to  uncontrolable  mirth,  unless  first 
unbending  by  the  mellowness  of  drink;  but  this  is  held  to  be  dis- 
reputable, at  least  to  the  point  of  intoxication.  No  more  than  other 
Americans  or  Teutons  can  Portlanders  abandon  themselves  gracefully 
to  their  animal  feelings;  but  if  attempting  it,  fall  into  gross  riot  and 
rude  license.  Washington's  birthday,  by  balls;  Decoration  Day,  by 
military  parades,  speeches  and  floral  displays;  the  Fourth  of  July, 
by  explosives,  processions,  orations  and  pyrotechnics;  the  Autumn 
har\est,  by  fairs,  or  particularly  the  Exposition,  lasting  twenty  days; 
Thanksgiving  day,  by  sermons  in  the  churches,  and  family  reunions 
at  home;  the  Christmas  time  **The  Holidays,"  by  special  decora- 
tion of  the  shops  and  stores;  by  * 'trees''  at  home  and  in  the 
churches,  and  by  nuisical  festivities — these  all  come  around  in  order 
and  in  truth  afford  a  refined  source  of  pleasure.  There  is  not  an 
excess  of  rudeness  connected  with  even  the  most  noisy,  and  on  the 
whole  they  are  profitably  enjoyed.  Probably  there  is  little  that  is 
unique  or  peculiar  to  Portland  in  any  of  them,  but  as  a  part  of  the 


Public  Events.  459 

culture  of  the  people,  they  show  no  sign  of  dying  out.  The  reunion 
of  the  Oregon  Pioneers  in  June,  which  usually  takes  place  in 
Portland,  may  become  a  special  feature  of  the  country,  as  the 
Pioneer  Association  passes  on  to  the  descendants  of  the  early  Orego- 
nians.  The  ^*  Native  Sons,"  ^^The  Alpine  Club,"  the  **  Indian 
War  Veterans,"  or  other  organizations  peculiar  to  this  State,  may 
give  some  day  a  feast  that  will  add  to  the  usual  stock  of  American 
holidays  in  our  city. 

A  remarkable  Fourth  of  July  is  spoken  of  as  having  occurred  in 
1861.  This  was  during  the  days  when  the  fires  of  patriotism  burned 
brightly,  and  a  general  depression  of  spirits  and  anxiety  of  the  pub- 
lic mind,  as  well  as  an  imagination  excited  by  constant  reading  of 
preparations  for  war,  led  the  way  to  a  great  celebration.  The  firing 
of  cannon  during  the  day  and  orations  by  able  speakers,  was 
succeeded  at  night  by  a  display  of  fireworks,  which  was  regarded 
by  every  one  with  respect.  To  most  of  the  spectators  it  was  magnifi- 
cent, being  far  superior  to  anything  they  had  ever  seen  even  in  ^^Old 
Missouri."  Country  people  came  in  for  miles  around  to  witness  the 
views,  and  the  woods  were  thick  with  their  camps. 

Since  that  day  the  demand  for  rockets,  roman  candles,  etc.,  has 
been  sufficient  to  keep  at  least  one  resident  pyrotechnist  in  the  city, 
and  the  burning  of  fizzes  and  red  fire,  and  illumination  of  the  river 
at  night  by  fire-boats,  has  been  a  more  or  less  regular  circumstance  of 
the  day.  In  1869,  Geo.  Francis  Train  was  present  on  Independence 
Day,  and  his  orator}*,  and  the  man  himself,  as  a  specimen  of  a  great 
man  of  the  East,  brought  in  crowds  to  see  and  hear,  and  excited  a 
vast  deal  of  old-time  curiosity.  In  recent  years,  as  mentioned  above, 
the  illumination  of  Mount  Hood  has  been  added  as  a  sort  of  good 
night  at  11:00  p.  m.,  and  in  the  near  future  we  may  expect  to  see 
electric  lights,  the  power  of  some  millions  of  candles,  touched  off  on 
each  of  the  great  snow  peaks  at  the  clo.se  of  the  exercises. 

Portland  has  an  enviable  reputation  for  processions.  Scarcely  a 
day  passes  but  thick  or  thin  files  of  men,  accompanied  by  drum  and 
brass  band  and  banners,  march  to  and  fro.  The  most  of  these  are 
of  orders  or  combinations  of  men   who   work,  and  of  those  who  do 


460  '     History  of  Portland. 


not,  who  desire  to  emphasize  some  feature  of  their  political  or 
economical  creed  as  to  wages,  or  the  Mongolian,  or  else  of  showmen 
or  of  religious  enthusiasts,  as  the  Salvation  Anny. 

On  occasions,  however,  the  city  has  made  processional  displays  of 
such  a  character  as  to  excite  high  encomiums  from  all.  The  celebra- 
tion of  the  completion  of  the  N.  P.  R.  R.,  in  1883,  and  the  wel- 
come to  Villard  and  his  guests,  was  an  affair  of  great  good  taste  and 
significance.  No  history  of  the  place  would  be  complete  without 
giving  it  a  fair  place;  accordingly  we  insert  the  salient  features  as 
they  were  depicted  at  the  time  by  the  Oregonian: 

The  main  thoroughfares  of  Portland  never  presented  a  more  animated  appearance 
than  on  yesterday.  Flags  and  garlands  fluttered  from  hundreds  of  buildings,  and  a 
small  arm}'  of  men  and  boys  were  engaged  in  decorating  and  beautifying  stores  and 
dwellings  in  all  parts  of  the  town.  Myriads  of  ladies  and  children  in  gaudy  colored 
dresses  materially  heightened  the  effect  of  the  gorgeous  scene.  The  main  attraction 
was  First  street,  from  A  to  Salmon,  where  regular  coUonades  had  been  established, 
flanked  on  either  side  with  garlands  of  evergreens  and  elaborately  festooned  bunting, 
which  had  been  arranged  in  an  artistic  and  picturesque  manner.  Near  the  comer  of 
First  and  A  streets  an  arch  representing  the  entrance  to  a  fuedal  castle  had  been  erected 
with  such  fidelity  to  nature  that  it  elicited  expressions  of  admiration  from  ^4sitors  and 
residents  alike.  The  arch  is  surmounted  with  towers,  and  is  elegantly  adorned  with 
evergreens,  streamers,  flags  and  bunting.  On  either  side  the  word  "  Welcome  **  in 
evergreen  stands  out  in  lx>ld  relief.  Statues  emblematical  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa 
and  America  are  placed  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  spectator  the  idea  that  the 
statues  are  standing  in  niches.  The  whole  is  elaborately  finished,  and  reflects  great 
cre<iit  on  tlie  artist. 

The  middle  arch  on  the  comer  of  First  and  Alder  streets  is  a  specimen  of  pure 
(k>thic  architecture,  and  is  also  finished  and  decorated  in  an  elaborate  manner.  It  is 
surmounted  by  beautiful  American  flags. 

The  arch  at  the  comer  of  First  and  Salmon  streets  is  of  the  Roman  order,  and  is 
omaniented  in  an  elaborate  manner  with  flags,  battle-axes,  bunting,  etc.  Banners 
have  been  suspended  along  the  whole  line,  bearing  upon  them  the  names  of  gentlemen 
who  are  either  officers  or  directors  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  or  guests  of  Mr. 
Villard. 

The  coining  of  the  visitors  was  in  the  nature  of  a  triumphal 
march,  and  Villard  had  taken  the  greatest  pains  to  secure  the 
presence  of  distinguished  men  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  and  from 
England  and  Geniiany.  The  journey  from  St.  Paul  to  Portland  is 
described  as  a  continuous  ovation.  At  every  point  of  importance 
the  citizens  made  demonstrations  of  welcome,  speeches  were  made, 
and   compliments   of  all    kinds  were   exchanged.      The   honors  of 


Public  Events.  *  461 


Caesar  Augustus  were  lavished  upon  the  man  who  had  performed 
the  work  of  finishing  the  road.  As  the  train  sped  by  through  the 
Dakotas,  cow-boys  followed  along  racing  with  the  train  and  exhibiting 
feats  of  horsemanship  and  daring.  It  was  especially  arranged  for 
Indians  to  be  present  at  stopping  places  along  the  way  and  they  were 
inspected  with  great  curiosity  by  the  visitors.  The  scenery  was 
passed  at  the  best  advantage,  and  the  party  was  conveyed  in  four 
different  trains,  running  severally  about  half  an  hour  apart.  The 
first  section  contained  Mr.  Villard,  his  private  car,  and  the  private 
car  occupied  by  his  most  distinguished  foreign  guests.  The  second 
consisted  of  eight  private  cars,  two  of  which  belonged  to  Mr.  Robert 
Harris,  a  director  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company;  another 
was  occupied  by  Geo.  M.  Pullman  and  party,  and  the  car  of 
ex-president  Billings  was  attached  in  the  rear.  General  Grant 
occupied  a  car  with  Secretary  Evarts,  General  Cass,  General  Haupt, 
and  various  others.  The  third  section  was  made  up  of  ten  cars,  for 
American  guests;  and  the  fourth  of  ten  Pullman  cars  was  occupied 
by  representatives  of  the  newspaper  press. 

Full  accounts  of  the  progress  of  the  trains  were  dispatched  to 
our  city,  and  at  the  prospect  of  men  of  such  positive  ability  and 
standing  as  the  guests  mentioned  coming  to  see  the  end  of  the  work 
and  to  congratulate  our  State,  all  our  citizens  rose  to  the  full  require- 
ment of  the  occasion.  It  was  one  of  those  rare  times  in  the  historv 
of  a  place  when  the  entire  population  was  drawn  out  by  one 
sympathetic  impulse  and  most  cheerfully  did  each  do  his  best  to 
show  his  appreciation  of  the  hour.  There  has  been  much  discussion 
of  Mr.  Villard' s  abilities  and  general  caliber.  But  in  nothing  did 
he  show  more  perfect  good  taste  and  administrative  facility  than  in 
the  conduct  of  this  excursion  and  celebration.  The  Northern 
Pacific  had  been  for  more  than  twenty  years  a  subject  profoundly 
interesting  to  the  people  of  the  Eastern  States,  upon  grounds  of 
economics,  of  politics  and  patriotism.  With  the  best  of  judgment 
Villard  concluded  that  in  no  way  could  the  consummation  of  the 
building  of  this  road  be  better  celebrated  than  by  the  presence  here 
of  representative  men  of  the  nation.  To  give  still  further  emphasis 
to  this  idea  he  invited  noted  men  of  England,  and  of  his  own  native 


462  History  ok  Portland. 


Germany.  His  own  efforts  were  confined  to  securing  the  presence  of 
these  men  and  affording  them  the  privileges  of  guests  upon  his 
trains,  and  making  the  completion  of  his  work  the  occasion  of  the 
meeting  and  acquaintance  of  great  men  of  the  three  great  Teutonic 
nations. 

The  following  general   description   of  the  day  and  procession  is 
taken  from  the  Oregonian  of  September  12,  1883: 

"  If  Portland  was  fiUcd  with  people  Monday  uioniinj;,  she  was  overflowing  yester- 
day. It  was  a  veritable  Fourth  of  July,  on  a  j^rand  scale,  without  any  of  the 
deafening  noise  or  disagreeable  features.  I'rom  early  in  the  morning  until  aflenioou 
the  country  folk  pressed  into  town  through  ever}-  entrance,  and.  as  if  to  welcome 
them,  merr>'  bells  and  loud  niouthc<l  whiBtlcs  sounded  forth  upon  the  morning  air. 
Everytliing  on  wheels  was  brought  into  service,  to  transport  tlie  holiday  seekers 
through  the  streets  of  the  city.  Business  was  almost  entirely  suspended  and  every- 
body thronged  the  streets  along  the  line  of  march.  I'Voni  across  the  river  came  the 
whole  population  of  East  Portland.  Street  cars  on  all  the  lines  were  crowded; 
restaurants  ran  a  double  force  of  waiters  to  feed  the  hungry  |X)pulace.  Ever\-  one 
was  moving  after  the  usual  American  style  of  rushing.  Any  estimate  of  the  number 
of  people  in  the  city  would  either  be  considered  the  wildest  kind  of  a  guess,  or  fall 
far  short  of  the  truth.  Not  to  be  enthusiastic,  the  display  yesterday  was  the  grandest 
sight  that  Portland  ever  witnessed;  not  one  of  tlie  grandest,  but  the  very  greatest  of 
them  all.  As  for  the  weather,  it  was  simply  perfect.  The  light  rain  of  the  past  few 
days  had  efiectually  subdued  the  summer  dust,  and  the  streets  were  in  fine  marchiu}i( 
condition.  The  air  wtis  clear,  bracing  and  mildly  warm,  while  light  fleecy  clouds 
obscured  the  sun  just  enough  to  afford  a  gentle  screen,  for  which  ever>'  one  was 
grateful. 

As  the  hour  for  the  parade  grew  nigh,  the  crowd  packed  most  den.sely  alon}( 
Pourth  street,  up  to  the  corner  of  Court  House  s(|uare.  Here  wAs  the  grand  stand 
for  the  distinguished  guests  of  Mr.  Villard.  l>efore  whom  the  entire  procession  was  to 
march  and  counter-march  in  review.  At  this  point  the  eyes  of  the  people  were  fairly 
ilivided  between  the  great  men  and  the  i)arade  gotten  up  in  their  honor.  Ropes 
stretched  across  the  street  kept  back  the  crowd  from  the  main  entrance  of  the  Court 
House,  where  the  carriages  .stopped  with  their  load  of  guests.  Ranged  along  the  side 
walks  across  the  street  from  the  grand  stand  were  three  rows  of  Ixiuches,  and  upon 
them  were  sealed  families  of  the  members  of  the  City  Council,  of  the  city  officials, 
and  many  old  pioneers,  who  would  otherwise  have  had  no  chance  to  view  the  great 
scene  which  their  earlier  labors  had  done  so  much  to  bring  about.  Of  the  whole 
procession,  their  husbands  and  fathers  formed  the  most  noticeable  part. 

'•  Those  against  whose  familiar  names  not  yet 
The  fatal  asterisk  of  death  is  set," 

upon  the  records  of  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Society — a  handful  of  men,  fine,  sturdy  and 
full  of  vigor,  but  now  for  the  most  part  grey  and  l>ent  with  age — fitly  led  the  van  of 
the  parade,  as  years  before  they  had  led  the  van  of  civilization,  of  which  the  Northern 


Public  Events,  463 


Pacific  Railroad  is  the  outgrowth.  Honored  veterans  of  frontier  life,  all  of  them,  and 
representatives  of  the  near  past,  but  without  which  the  present  would  be  impossible. 
Among  those  whose  faces  were  familiar  to  thousands  as  they  led  the  greatest  parade 
ever  witnessed  on  the  northwest  coast,  were  Nesmith  and  Crawford,  Gray  and 
Pettygrove  and  Parrish,  and  many  others  whose  names  may  be  less  known,  but  not 
less  prized  among  them  all.  Tears  came  to  many  eyes  as  these  men,  with  beard  and 
hair  whitened  by  the  frost  of  time  filed  slowly  by,  and  the  thoughts  of  many  reverted 
to  lowly  mounds  which  swell  above  the  honored  dust  of  Lane,  Meek,  Payne,  Fletcher, 
Scott,  Newsome,  Geer  and  Kinney,  a  host  not  less  honored  th:\n  the  remaining 
handful  who  still  answer  to  the  pioneer  roll-call,  and  vastly  more  numerous. 

Renewing  these  thought 3,  although  in  a  far  lighter  vain,  was  the  picturesque 
outfit  that  closed  the  whole  procession.  These  were  the  train  of  emigrant  wagons 
dilapitated  and  worn,  the  mud-splashed  oxen  and  a  dozen  bare-footed  and  dirty  faced 
children  to  each  pater  familias.  That  the  picture  was  true  to  life  none  knew  better 
than  the  old  pioneers  in  the  van,  and  when  the  two  divisions  passed  each  other  on 
the  counter  march,  the  shout  of  recognition  which  went  up  from  each  was  loud  and 
long.  That  a  band  of  piinted  savages  —genuine  Indians  of  the  Warm  Spring  tribe  — 
should  follow  the  train  of  emigrants,  seemed  correct  and  proper,  and  when  the  blood- 
curdling yells  rang  out  as  it  did  occasionally,  the  realization  was  complete. 

As  the  pioneers  passed  the  grand  stand  the  second  time,  they  halted  in  a  group 
before  Mr.  Villard  and  gave  a  rousing  hurrah  !  C.  H.  Dodd,  who  was  on  the  stand, 
rose  to  his  feet  and  called  for  three  cheers  for  the  pioneers  of  Oregon.  This  was 
reponded  to  heartily  by  hundreds  of  people,  including  the  invited  guests." 

The  procession  occupied  an  hour  and  a  half  in  passing  the  grand 
stand. 

Somewhat  more  particularly,  the  procession  was  made  up  into  five 
divisions  with  the  special  division  of  pioneers  in  the  lead.  There 
were  about  one  hundred  of  these,  under  the  lead  of  Capt.  Medoram 
Crawford,  of  Dayton,  who  came  to  Oregon  in  1842,  but  is  one  of  the 
strongest,  most  hearty,  and  least  worn  in  appearance  of  any  of  the 
others  of  the  pioneers.  Very  interesting  in  this  group  were  F.  W. 
Pettygrove,  one  of  the  founders  of  Portland,  from  Port  Townsend; 
and  W.  H.  Gray,  who  came  in  1836,  and  wrote  the  first  comprehen- 
sive history  of  the  Northwest.  To  the  visitors,  both  from  the  East, 
and  from  Europe,  these  men  were  of  the  greatest  interest,  and  by  the 
later  Oregonians  they  were  looked  upon  with  many  feelings  of 
emotion,. 

The  first  division  was  made  up  entirely  of  officers  and  soldiers 
of  the  United  States  army  from  Fort  Vancouver.  They  drew 
marked  attention  for  their  neatness  of  appearance  and  precision  of 
march. 

[90] 


464  History  of  Portland. 


The  second  division  was  led  by  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Durham,  of  our 
city,  a  gentleman  of  military  training,  and  consisted  of  emblematic 
cars  of  the  interests  of  the  city,  led,  however,  by  a  band  of  Oregon 
militia  from  Dallas,  together  with  children  of  the  Indian  training 
school,  then  at  Forest  Grove.  A  notable  feature  of  this  division  was 
the  lumber  and  timber  display — fir,  cedar  and  spruce  timber  of  large 
dimensions.  A  section  of  a  fir  log,  eighty  inches  in  diameter,  and 
the  stump  of  a  forest  giant  which  a  woodman  was  chopping  upon  as 
if  in  process  of  felling  a  tree,  being  among  the  number.  This 
proved  universally  attractive. 

The  third  division  was  made  up  entirely  of  the  Oregon  militia 
led  by  Brigadier  General  Wm.  Kapiis.  There  were  some  eight 
companies,  led  by  the  Second  United  States  Infantry  band,  and  they 
proved  to  be  in  excellent  drill,  and  made  a  striking  appearance. 

The  fourth  division  consisted  of  emblematic  cars  of  Oregon 
products  and  industries.  One  very  pretty  piece  was  a  large  boat, 
representative  of  commerce,  decorated  with  red,  white  and  blue 
streamers,  with  sail  set,  manned  with  youthful  sailors,  while  at  the 
helm  sat  Miss  Marquam,  a  handsome  illustration  of  the  fleet-winged 
goddess.  Cars  of  flour,  coal,  saddler>'  work,  lime,  stone,  cooper  work, 
and  spice  mills  followed  this.  This  division  was  led  by  Dr.  S.  J. 
Barker. 

The  fifth  division,  marshaled  by  Captain  N.  J.  Morris,  one  of 
the  Grand  Army,  and  of  Mexican  War  veterans;  a  troup  of  cowboys, 
the  fire  brip-ades,  and  a  large  number  of  emblematic  cars  with 
furniture,  ice,  a  company  of  stevedores,  specimens  of  iron  work  from 
engines  and  boilers;  and  much  other  interesting  work.  In  this  the 
German  citizens  made  a  most  interesting  and  characteristic  display; 
and  of  all  the  trains,  this  was  the  most  extensive. 

At  the  end  were  the  immigrant  wagons  led  by  a  woman  riding 
on  a  pony  in  the  same  manner  that  she  had  crossed  the  plains 
two-score  years  before;  and  these  were  followed  by  the  Indians — all 
most  true  to  life. 

The  whole  procession  was  under  the  command  of  General 
Morrow. 


Public  Events.  465 


This  was  all,  so  to  say,  the  greeting  and  welcome  of  the  city,  and 
.  was  kindly  and  generously  received  by  Villard  and  the  guests.  As 
the  president  of  the  road  and  the  real  hero  of  the  occasion,  the 
former  bore  himself  with  remarkably  good  taste  and  modesty,  seem- 
ing, although  much  gratified  by  the  results  of  his  labors,  somewhat 
oppressed  by  the  credit  given  him,  and  as  if  but  little  desirous  of  so 
much  appreciation.  Nevertheless,  in  all  points  he  was  responsive 
and  gracious  to  these  attentions. 

In  the  evening  the  scene  was  transferred  to  the  old  Mechanic's 
Pavilion  on  Third  street,  the  largest  building  then  in  the  city,  which 
was  very  gaudily,  but  tastefully,  decorated,  having  also  a  large 
display  of  wealth  and  art.  A  crowded  house  here  formally  welcomed 
Mr.  Villard  and  his  guests;  Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett,  presiding.  An 
address  of  welcome  was  delivered  by  Hon.  M.  C.  George,  of  our  city, 
an  Oregonian  by  education,  and  for  two  terms  congressman  from  our 
State.  His  address  was  well  and  strongly  written,  comprehensive 
and  perspicuous.  It  dwelt  at  considerable  length  upon  the  greatness 
of  the  work  accomplished,  the  energy  required  to  finish  it,  the  pre- 
eminent advantages  of  the  route,  its  value  to  the  country,  and  its 
utility  as  a  hand-maid  of  civilization.  He  accorded  it  a  place  along- 
side of  the  great  works  of  the  age,  the  St.  Gothard  tunnel,  the 
Biscay  canal,  the  opening  of  the  Mississippi  at  its  mouth  and  the 
Nicaraugua  ship  railway  or  the  Panama  canal. 

Mr.  Villard  responded  somewhat  briefly,  in  a  conversational  style, 
noting  the  friendship  extended  to  him  in  the  Northwest,  and  recall- 
ing that  it  was  at  Portland,  in  1874,  that  he  got  the  inspiration  to 
do  what  was  here  completed.  He  commented  pleasantly  upon  what 
Portland  could  do  in  the  way  of  a  celebration  of  the  event  in  com- 
parison with  that  of  St.  Paul,  and  wished  to  disclaim  too  much  of 
credit  to  himself  personally,  but  to  let  it  go  to  others  also. 

Upon  concluding,  he  introduced  Hon.  Chas.  Russell,  of  the 
Queen's  Bench,  and  member  of  the  British  Parliament,  who  spoke 
for  the  British  visitors.  Being  an  Irishman,  he  was  a  fluent  talker; 
nevertheless,  followed  in  a  line  of  ideas  that  seem  to  us  something 
like  platitudes — probably  from  his  desire  to  follow  speaking  in  a  vein 
such  as  he  supposed  was   in   accordance  with  American   feelings. 


466  History  of  Portland. 


He  noticed  the  fact  of  our  great  continent,  nature  on  a  vast  scale, 
and  a  hopeful  and  sturdy  people  following  in  a  line  of  development, 
originally  sketched  by  nature.  He  referred  with  much  feeling  and 
power  to  the  familiar  fact  of  the  amazing  growth  of  the  coimtr}*, 
and  the  churches  and  schools,  which  indicated  that  the  people  were 
mindful  of  the  higher  things.  He  closed  with  good  wishes  to 
our  people  and  to  the  nation  of  which  this  railroad  was  the  latest 
effort. 

Hon.  Horace  Davis,  Queen's  Counsellor,  and  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, followed  in  much  the  same  strain,  sj>eaking  of  having  trav- 
eled six  thousand  miles  from  home  to  find  here  a  civilization  much 
like  that  he  had  left,  of  Anglo  Saxons;  and  a  city  whose  name 
recalled  the  English  Island  on  the  coast  of  Dorchester.  The 
remarkable  hospitality  of  the  people  of  the  West  was  in  full  keeping 
with  the  other  delightful  things  experienced.  The  things  he  had 
seen  here  furnished  thought  for  serious  reflection,  supplying  all 
of  the  elements  out  of  which  the  histor\'  of  a  people  was  to  be 
made. 

Senator  Dr.  Albert  Greoning,  of  Bremen,  continued  in  a  quiet, 
pleasing  style,  speaking  on  the  part  of  the  Gennans.  He  expressed 
himself  as  struck  with  admiration  of  the  greatness  and  fertility  of 
the  country,  and  the  energy,  activity  and  sagacity  of  the  inhabitants 
(a  sentiment  which  the  * 'inhabitants''  heartily  applauded.)  He  spoke 
with  pride  of  Mr.  Villard  as  a  native  of  Germany,  and  expressed  the 
belief  that  this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  new  expansion  for 
Portland,  and  closed  with  the  words  that  **The  development  of  the 
I'^nited  States  will  alwavs  be  observed  without  envv,  but  with  the 
deepest  interests  and  warmest  sympathy." 

The  Americans,  being  somewhat  more  free  to  express  them- 
selves, and  to  score  criticisms,  or  suggest  ideas  of  improvement,  as 
it  is  very  instructive  to  observe  by  their  remarks,  mostly  framed 
their  expressions  in  a  setting  of  humor,  but,  nevertheless,  struck  out 
constantly  advanced  ideas  and  bright  scintillations  of  thought.  Hon. 
John  A.  Kasson,  of  Kansas,  saw  in  the  procession  an  epitome  of 
American  history,  and  closed  with  the  fer\'ent  hope,  in  the  name  of 
God,  that  American  civilization  on  the  Pacific  shores   would  not  be 


Public  Events.  467 


forced  back,  but  rolling  across  the  Pacific,  bring  the  ancient  mill- 
ions of  Asia  into  harmony  with  the  civilization  of  our  age,  and 
with  the  religion  to  which  we  adhere. 

Senator  Conger,  of  Michigan,  spoke  with  much  fraternal  spirit 
of  the  pioneers  of  the  Pacific,  passing  into  the  unknown  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  then  being  lost  to  all  their  old  friends  as  if  by  the 
separation  of  death;  and  the  long  waiting  for  the  closing  of  the 
chasm  between  tJfc  west  and  the  east,  that  they  might  once 
more  see  each  other.  He  also  spoke  of  the  intense  interest  of 
the  east  in  the  religious  welfare  and  improvement  of  the  west,  and 
that  it  be  a  land  of  homes.  He  said  that  after  looking  he  had  no 
fears  for  Oregon.  He  closed  fervently  with  the  words,  **  God  bless 
you,  God  speed  you,'*  and  expressions  of  the  pride  that  he  felt  in  the 
acomplishment  of  the  great  work. 

Carl  Schurz  spoke  with  much  wit  of  the  German  part  of  the 
afl&ir,  expressing  his  pride  in  Villard,  and  how  his  respect  for  the  other 
speakers  had  risen,  becoming  to  him  as  men  of  marked  discrimination 
in  discovering  the  eminent  qualities  of  the  German-Americans.  He 
referred  with  pleasure  to  seeing  the  Indian  boys  and  girls  there,  and 
emphasised  the  thought  that  even  in  the  west  it  was  recognized  as 
better  to  educate  than  to  slaughter  the  red  men.  He  also  cast  out  a 
few  bright  ideas  as  to  the  value  of  our  forests,  and  the  unwisdom  of 
their  wanton  distruction — as  here  was  the  great  store-house  of  timber 
of  which  the  rest  of  the  continent  stood  so  much  in  need. 

William  M.  Evarts,  known  quite  largely  over  the  country  as  a 
writer  of  exceedingly  long  and  complex  sentences,  surprised  the 
audience  by  his  gleeful  spirit,  referring  American  progress  to 
Plymouth  Rock,  not  even  excepting  the  German  Villard,  who  did 
nothing  great  until  he  had  married  his  New  England  wife.  He  also 
read  a  lecture — for  the  benefit  of  the  foreign  visitors  probably — from 
the  texts  in  the  Bible  with  reference  to  beating  plowshares  into 
swords,  and  swords  back  into  plowshares,  as  the  proper,  and  indeed 
the  American  way  of  preserving  liberty  and  the  national  interests; 
calling  attention  to  these  hardy,  independent  ranks  of  men  as  fit 
either  for  defense  against  violence,  or  for  manning  the  cars  of 
industry. 


468  History  of  Portland. 


Indeed,  from  the  earnestness  with  which  the  Americans  dwelt 
upon  the  moral  aspect  of  the  case,  one  might  have  taken  them  to  be 
a  party  of  clerg\nnen.  Their  words  were,  however,  sound  and 
weight>',  and  strongly  illustrative  of  the  bent  of  the  American  mind 
toward  ideal  right  and  good. 

Other  railroads  soon  came.  The  Union  Pacific,  through  the 
Oregon  Short  line  and  connection  with  the  Oregon  Railway,  reached 
Portland  in  1885,  and  the  Southern  Pacific  catne  in  1888.  The 
advent  of  either  would  have  been  hailed  as  the  event  of  first 
importance  had  it  been  first  in  point  of  time. 


This  histor}'  of  Portland  is  the  product  of  research  and  labor 
extended  in  all  directions  that  promised  results;  it  is  probably  as 
complete  as  any  that  is  likely  to  be  prepared,  and  yet  not  so  complete 
by  any  means  as  it  would  be,  were  it  practicable  to  gather,  to  sift  and 
to  compare  all  facts  of  interest  that  are  yet  retained  in  the  memory' 
of  living  persons  or  set  down  in  documents  remaining  in  private 
hands.  Unfortunately,  the  mass  of  these  materials  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  those  who  undertake  to  prepare  a  work  like  this,  and 
writers  or  editor  must  be  content  with  such  records  and  recollections 
as  can  be  gathered  by  diligence,  though  knowing  that  more  has  been 
missed  than  obtained. 

The  retrospect  of  the  history  of  Portland  shows  steady  growth, 
consciousness  of  destiny,  development  of  character  and  assimula- 
tion  thereto  of  the  forces  gathered  and  gathering  here.  It  shows  a 
society  knit  together  by  long  intercourse  and  by  community'  of 
interest,  developing  characteristics  that  give  Portland  an  individu- 
ality recognizable  by  all  who  come  in  contact  with  her,  establishing 
the  homogeneity  of  her  people,  and  advancing  them  to  the  condi- 
tions of  well  regulated  and  orderly  municipal  life.  Portland  has 
the  experience  and  conservatism  of  the  past  blended  with  the  activity 
of  the  present  and  the  inspiration  of  the  future.  From  her  past  she 
has  a  basis  of  solid  strength ;  from  her  present,  the  hope  and  pur- 
pose of  enterprising  spirit.  The  two  united  give  the  prophecy  of 
her  history. 


Its  Destiny.  469 


This  prophecy  is  founded  in  conditions  that  make  it  impressive 
and  give  assurance  of  certain  fulfillment.  So  much  has  been  done 
and  gained  that  the  future  is  no  longer  problematical.  Destiny  is 
so  far  advanced  that  prophecy  cannot  miss  its  mark.  Portland,  no 
mean  city  already,  is  destined  to  be  a  great  one.  Who  can  guess 
with  how  curious  an  interest  this  account  of  beginnings  of  the  city 
of  Portland;  this  record  of  the  city  of  Portland  of  to-day,  will  be 
read  in  the  great  city  of  Portland,  forty  or  one  hundred  years  from 
to-day!  Individual  life  is  short  and  in  the  main  unimportant,  but 
the  collective  life  of  men  is  long  and  important,  and  its  develop- 
ment through  secular  periods,  largely  under  the  stimulating  variety 
of  city  life,  makes  the  soul  of  history,  whose  record  gives  dignity 
to  the  career  of  the  human  race. 


470  History  of  Portland. 


CHAPTER    XVni. 

MEN  OF  PORTLAND. 

A  S  a'  fitting  and  even  necessan'  part  of  the  present  Histor\'  of 
^  Portland,  biographical  sketches  of  a  number  of  the  men  promi- 
nent in  the  founding  and  building  of  the  city  and  in  the  conduct  of 
business  and  affairs  at  Portland,  are  given  in  the  succeeding  pages: 

t'^HAPMAN,  Col.  W.  W.  Among  men  now  living  there  are  none  around  whom 
/  clusters  so  much  of  the  history  of  Portland  as  the  one  whose  name  heads  this 
memoir.  He  is  the  strongest  link  between  the  infant  days  and  the  stalwart 
manhood  of  our  city.  But  the  results  of  his  labors  in  behalf  of  Portland,  great  and 
far-reaching  as  they  have  been  in  good,  by  no  means  complete  the  record  of  his  long 
and  useful  life.  Years  before  American  ci^'ilization  had  gained  a  foot-hold  in  this 
portion  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  he  had  borne  a  leading  part  in  laying  the  foundations 
of  the  State  of  Iowa,  projecting  and  formulating  measures  which  have  since  become 
established  to  the  western  limits  of  the  continent.  As  one  of  the  earlier  pioneers  of 
Oregon  he  found  a  new  arena  for  his  powers,  and  here  for  nearly  a  half  a  century  he 
has  exerted  an  influence  upon  political  and  business  forces  eminently  beneficial, 
while  his  whole  public  career  has  been  singularly  free  from  personal  or  selfish 
motives.  A  hard  fighter  in  everything,  a  man  of  direct  methods  and  perfect  integrity, 
he  has  maintained  his  opinions  fearlessly,  honestly  and  sincerely.  No  one  can  read 
the  story  of  his  public  endeavors  without  feeling  his  heart  warm  toward  this  venerable 
man  of  over  four  score  years,  who  upon  many  occasions  in  days  gone  by,  when  others 
were  timorous  or  doubtful,  dared  to  stand  alone,  and  with  admirable  courage,  and  at 
times  with  seeming  obstinacy,  to  do  valiant  service  for  the  city  and  State  of  his 
adoption. 

Preceding  pages  of  this  volume  treat  so  largely  of  Col.  Chapman's  part  in  the 
progress  of  important  events  in  Portland's  earlier  history  that  much  necessary  to  a 
distinct  sketch  of  his  career  will  be  omitted  here.  For  a  more  complete  biography  of 
this  prominent  Oregon  pioneer,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  Portland,  it  is  necessary 
to  refer  the  reader  to  the  history  of  Portland,  as  told  throughout  this  work.  We  now 
produce  the  plain  story  of  his  life,  not  with  any  purpose  of  lauding  a  man  who  cares 
little  for  praise,  and  is  in  little  need  of  it,  but  with  the  simple  aim  of  doing  justice  to 
one  whose  varied  efforts  have  done  so  much  for  this  portion  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 
William  Williams  Chai)man  was  born  at  Clarksburg,  Va.,  August  11,  1808.  At 
the  age  of  fourteen  his  father  died,  and  he  was  thenceforward  thrown  chiefly  upon 
his  own  resources,  although  assisted  to  some  extent  by  a  kind  brother  and  faithful 
mother.  After  obtaining  what  information  and  mental  discipline  was  to  be  gotten 
at  the  i)ublic  school,  he  secured  a  position  in  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Court,  of 
which  the  eminent  jurist,  Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  was  Chancellor.  In  these 
endeavors  at  self-improvement  he  was  much  encouraged,  and  indeeil  assisted  by  a 
kind  lady,  Mrs.  Sehon,  mother  of  the  eminent  Methodist  minister  of  that  name.     He 


Biography.  471 


also  was  given  free  access  to  the  libraries  of  the  noted  members  of  the  bar  in  that  city. 
Receiving  in  due  time,  from  Judge  Lewis  Summers,  Daniel  Smith  and  Chancellor 
Tucker,  his  license  to  practice,  he  at  once  took  up  his  residence  at  Middlebourne, 
Tyler  County,  Va*.  The  spring  following  (1832),  he  was  married  to  Margaret  F., 
daughter  of  Col.  Arthur  Ingraham,  a  fanner  of  note,  and  also  a  prominent  public  man 
who  served  twenty  years  in  the  Legislature  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and  afterwards 
removed  to  Illinois,  but  made  his  last  home  in  Iowa,  where  he  died. 

In  the  autumn  of  1833,  Mr.  Chapman  went  to  McComb,  McDonough  county, 
Illinois,  and  in  the  spring  of  1835  moved  out  to  Burlington,  in  the  ** Black  Hawk  Pur- 
chase*' now  a  part  of  Iowa.  Those  were  early  times  for  even  the  Mississippi  States, 
and  this  region  was  then  reckoned  as  a  part  of  Wisconsin,  and  was  attached  to  the 
Territory  of  Michigan.  It  may  be  inferred  that  Mr.  Chapman  was  a  man  of 
mark,  with  a  penchant  for  forming  a  new  society,  or  he  would  never  have  been  in 
that  new  country.  This  presumption  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  we  find  him  the 
next  year  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  by  John  S.  Horner,  acting  governor  ol 
Michigan.  In  1836  he  was  appointed  by  President  Jackson  United  States  Attorney 
for  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  established  upon  the  admission  of  Michigan  as  a 
State.  The  most  exciting  litigation  at  the  time  was  with  reference  to  "jumping" 
land  claims.  The  settlers  had  a  court  of  their  own  before  which  jumpers  were  tried, 
and  by  it  summarily  ejected  from  their  hold,  if  found  guilty.  Mr.  Chapman  proved 
to  be  on  the  side  of  the  settlers,  defending  a  body  of  them  before  the  court.  Military 
officers  and  men,  including  Gen.  Taylor,  afterwards  President,  and  Jefferson  Davis, 
his  son-in-law,  used  in  those  days  to  come  around  sometimes  to  remove  "squatters," 
as  the  settlers  were  contemptuously  called.  That  was  before  the  present  land  laws, 
and  the  public  domain  was  opened  to  legal  settlement  only  as  thrown  open  by  proc- 
lamation of  the  President,  who  sometimes  proceeded  upon  the  idea  that  new  land 
should  not  be  settled  up  until  all  the  "offered"  land  was  occupied;  while  the  settlers 
preferred  to  live  and  take  land  where  they  pleased.  On  account  of  his  friendship, 
the  Iowa  settlers  were  willing  soon  after  to,  and  did  send  Mr.  Chapman  as  delegate 
to  Congress. 

In  1836,  he  removed  to  Dubuque,  and  in  1837,  removed  back  to  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Burlington.  In  1838,  Iowa  was  set  apart  as  an  independent  Territory, 
through  the  efforts  of  G.  W.  Jones,  a  delegate  from  Wisconsin,  and  upon  the  election 
held  September  10,  Mr.  Chapman  was  found  to  be  successful  over  three  other  candi- 
dates. In  Congress  he  became  very  active.  The  first  bill  prepared  by  him  was  for 
the  opening  of  a  military  road  from  Dubuque  through  Iowa  City  to  the  southern 
bound  of  the  State,  for  another  to  run  from  Burlington  west,  and  for  still  another  to 
run  east  and  terminate  at  De  Hague,  a  place  in  Illinois.  It  was  essential  to  get  this 
latter  road  in  order  to  cross  the  extensive  low  bottom  lands  on  the  east  or  Illinois 
side  of  the  Mississippi  River,  which  were  flooded  during  the  summer  freshet.  On 
account  of  the  opposition  of  Van  Buren  to  internal  improvements  in  the  States, 
Chapman  omitted  to  mention  in  his  bill  that  De  Hague  was  in  Illinois,  and  the  Presi- 
dent not  being  aware  of  this  fact  signed  the  bill,  contrary  to  his  own  policy  of  non- 
inter-state  improvement. 

In  1836,  at  an  election  in   Dubuque  county,  Wisconsin   Territory,  now  a  part  of 
Iowa,  Mr.  Chapman,  then  twenty-six  years  of  age,  was  elected  Colonel  of  the  Militia 


472  History  of  Portland. 


by  a  most  flattering  majority,  which  was  particularly  gratifying  to  him  from  the  fact 
that  his  acquaintances  had  made  him  l>elieve  that  they  were  all  voting  against  him. 
Some  told  him  that  he  was  too  young  and  inexperienced,  and  he  overheard  others 
saying :  "It  won't  do,  he  is  too  young, "etc. ;  but  when  the  votes  were  countc.i  and  he 
found  that  he  had  received  the  almost  unanimous  support  of  electors  of  his  town- 
ship, he  too,  felt  able  to  enjoy  the  joke.  His  commission  as  Colonel,  issued  Decem- 
lx;r  2,  1836,  is  signed  by  H.  Dodge,  Governor  of  Wisconsin  Territory-,  and  attested 
by  J.  I*.  Horner,  Secretary.  He  qualified  December  30,  of  the  same  year  by  taking 
the  oath  of  office  l>efore  Warner  Lewis,  **a  justice  of  the  peace  in  and  for  Dubuque 
county." 

The  act  creating  Iowa  as  a  Territorj^  fixed  the  Northern  boundary'  of  Missouri  as 
the  southern  lx)undary  of  Iowa.  One  point  determining  this  line  was  the  Des  Moines 
Rapids.  Missouri,  anxious  to  acquire  a  large  tract  to  the  north,  claimed  that  these 
rapids  were  in  the  Des  Moines  River,  while  Iowa  claimed  that  the  rapids  meant  were 
tho.se  in  the  Mississippi  River,  above  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines,  bringing  the 
line  some  twenty  or  thirty  miles  further  south.  Governor  Lucas,  of  Iowa,  advising 
with  Col.  Chapman,  promptly  occupied  the  disputed  territory  with  Militia,  in  order 
that  Missouri  might  not  be  first  on  the  ground,  as  it  would  be  difficult  to  oust  a  State 
from  her  actual  holding,  while  a  territory  might  be  easily-  cut  up.  Missouri  has- 
tened to  send  up  her  troops,  but  found  the  field  already  in  possession  of  Iowa.  Chap- 
man rode  out,  advised  a  stay  of  all  proceedings,  and  urged  that  the  contestants  should 
await  the  action  of  Congress  and  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Missouri  felt  reasonably  confi- 
dent, as  she  had  Benton  and  Linn  in  the  Senate,  and  three  able  men  in  the  House  at 
Washington,  while  Iowa  had  but  one  unknown  delegate.  But  when  the  contest 
before  Congress  came.  Chapman  was  able  to  present  a  mass  of  testimony  to  the 
House,  from  the  writings  of  French  missionaries  and  others,  showing  that  the  Des 
Moines  Rapids  were  in  the  Mississippi  River.  Seeing  the  case  going  against  them, 
the  Missourians  hastened  to  get  a  bill  into  the  Senate  in  their  favor,  and  Dr.  Linn 
was  pushing  this  measure  with  all  the  vim  of  his  great  abilities.  It  was  then,  as  it 
is  still,  unparliamentary  for  a  member  of  one  House  to  interjx)se  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  other,  but  Chapman^  although  but  a  young  man,  felt  no  hesitancy  in  honoring 
this  custom  in  the  breach,  and  sent  a  written  communication  to  the  Senate,  protest- 
ing against  the  action  of  Senator  Linn  in  bringing  forward  the  question  of  boundary 
in  a  body  where  Iowa  had  no  representative,  and  referred  them  to  the  fact  that  this 
question  was  then  pending  in  the  House.  As  a  result  of  this  comnmnication,  action 
in  the  Senate  was  staved. 

WTiilc  the  decision  was  still  in  suspense  private  overtures  were  made  from  the 
Missouri  members  to  persuade  the  Iowa  delegate  to  let  go  his  hold,  and  Benton 
proposed  to  Chapman,  if  he  would  yield,  to  grant  great  favors  and  an  early  admission 
of  Iowa  into  the  Union.  But  in  reply  to  all  of  this  Mr.  Chapman  could  only  say  that 
he  was  entrusted  by  the  people  of  Iowa  to  hold  their  line  as  claimed  by  them,  and 
tliis  view  eventually  prevailed. 

Col.  Chapman  was  the  first  man  in  Congress  to  propose  a  permanent  pre-emption 
law.  In  former  times  there  was  no  regular  or  legal  way  for  the  settler  to  acquire 
public  land  wherever  he  might  choose  in  the  United  States  territory  and  it  was 
customary  for  Congress  to  pass  a  bill  from  time  to  time  granting  existing  settlers  the 


Biography.  473 


right  to  pre-empt  the  lands  which  they  might  have  occupied.  This  was  a  cumbrous, 
and  in  many  cases  a  dilatory  way  of  granting  title  to  settlers,  and  tt  was  while  abill 
to  g^ant  a  special  pre-emption  was  before  Congress,  that  Col.  Chapman  proposed  a 
standing  law  providing  for  pre-emptions  to  be  a  permanent  arrangement  for  pros- 
pective as  well  as  actual  settlers.  The  idea  was  novel,  and  met  w^ith  some  ridicule, 
but  it  has  long  been  so  much  a  part  of  the  land  policy  of  the  Government  tliat  it 
seems  as  if  it  must  be  almost  a=?  old  as  the  statute  book  itself 

In  1844-,  Col.  Chapman  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  State  convention  to  prepare 
a  constitution  for  Iowa.  In  that  body  he  originated  the  measure  to  transfer  in  the 
face  of  the  act  of  Congress  the  grant  of  five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land  to  the 
State  for  internal  improvements  for  the  use  of  schools.  Such  a  proposition  was  then 
unheard  of,  but  has  become  the  policy  since  followed  by  all  the  new  States.  He  also 
proposed  the  measure  providing  for  the  election  of  judges  which  was  then  wholly  an 
innovation,  and  although  there  has  been  much  question  of  its  wisdom,  it  is  a  policy 
that  has  extended  wholly  over  the  West  and  to  the  East  in  many  instances.  Col. 
Chapman  is  himself  a  firm  believer  in  the  usefulness  of  the  plan,  for  while  the 
judges  are  thus  more  subject  to  the  entanglements  of  politics,  they  are  also  more 
immediately  responsible  to  the  people,  and  are  removed  from  executive  or  legislative 
patronage. 

Although  having  accomplished  so  much  for  the  young  State  of  Iowa,  and  having 
become  so  well  known  among  her  citizens,  with  a  large  future  opened  to  his 
enterprise  and  ambition,  he  was  led  by  a  spirit  of  adventure,  and  perhaps  even  more 
by  the  instinct  that  his  greatest  strength  was  in  establishing  and  fonnulating  prin- 
ciples for  future  States,  to  seek  a  new  field  where  political  and  business  forces 
were  yet  in  embryo,  and  determined  upon  Oregon  as  the  most  promising  field  for  his 
endeavor.     The  choice  has  been  most  fully  justified  by  the  result. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  1847,  from  Oskaloosa,  Mahaska  County,  Iowa,  Col.  Chapman 
and  family  set  out  for  their  journey  across  the  plains  to  Oregon.  The  family  con- 
sisted of  himself  and  wife,  and  seven  children.  Nearly  100  emigrants  started  in  the 
train  with  Col.  Chapman.  The  long  journey  of  over  six  months,  replete  with  dangers 
and  hardships,  came  to  an  end  on  November  13,  1847,  when  Mary's  River  was 
reached  near  what  was  then  called  Marysville,  now  Corvallis,  Benton  County.  The 
party  at  that  time  consisted  of  the  Chapmans,  Gilberts,  Starrs  and  Belknaps.  Being 
anxious  to  see  the  seat  of  Oregon,  and  especially  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  young  settlement.  Col.  Chapman,  shortly  after  his  arrival,  made  a 
trip  on  horseback  to  Oregon  City,  or  the  Falls,  as  it  was  then  called.  At  this  quaint 
little  capital,  and  then  indeed  the  metropolis  of  the  region  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  were  congregated  Oregon's  early  heroes.  Here  he  met  and  formed  a 
pleasant  acquaintance  with  Judge  S.  S.  White,  Col.  B.Jennings  and  Gov.  Abemethy. 
From  them  he  learned  pretty  much  all  of  the  history  and  prospects  of  the  young 
commonwealth,  and  with  his  aptitude  for  formulating  a  distinct  policy,  foresaw 
almost  from  that  moment  his  own  future  work  in  our  State.  He  at  first  decided  to 
make  his  home  at  the  Falls,  but  was  finally  induced  by  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Salem,  to 
make  that  place  his  residence. 

In  February,  1848,  he  with  his  family  reached  Salem,  where  they  were  furnished 
quarters  in  the  lower  story  of  the  Methodist,  or  old  missionary  academy  building,  and 


474  History  of  Portland. 


were  treated  as  members  of  the  doctor's  family.     In  this  place  he  remained  for  some 
time,  although  school  was  kept  in  the  upper  story  of  the  building. 

With  the  facility  of  the  pioneer,  he  turned  his  hands  to  manual  work,  and  as 
spring  came  engaged  in  making  a  garden,  and  also  righted  the  fences  that  enclosed 
the  big  field  upon  a  portion  of  which  the  State  House  now  stands.  He  also  picked 
up  as  rapidly  as  possible  the  threads  of  legal  activity  in  the  State,  attending  during 
the  spring  and  summer  several  terms  of  court,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
provincial  government  by  Judge  Eugene  Skinner.  The  last  of  these  was  on  Knox*s 
Butte,  in  Linn  County,  and  became  memorable  for  its  abrupt  adjournment  from  the 
report  of  gold  in  California. 

Mr.  Chapman  was  no  less  interested  than  the  rest,  and  although  not  excitable, 
made  speedy  arrangements  for  the  comfort  of  his  family  during  fall  and  winter,  and 
in  a  party  containing  also  Mr.  Alanson  Hinman,  of  Forest  Grove,  J.  B.  McLane,  o^ 
Salem,  and  Mr.  Parrish,  of  Linn  County,  packed  across  the  mountains  to  the  mines  on 
the  Sacramento.  The  whole  of  Oregon  was  moved,  and  this  little  party  had  swelled 
to  a  considerable  army  by  the  constant  aggregation  of  other  little  parties  on  the  way; 
but  before  Sutter's  Fort  was  reached  the  company  broke  up  into  little  bands  scattering 
out  in  all  directions  to  the  gulches  and  bars  of  Northern  California.  Some  of  these 
early  settlers  were  lost  to  our  State  forever,  going  nobody  knows  where  in  the  world, 
while  others,  having  made  little  fortunes,  came  back  to  Oregon  to  spend  their  days 
in  peace  and  plenty,  and  to  assist  in  making  our  State  the  glory  of  the  Northwest. 

After  mining  with  good  success  until  autumn  Mr.  Chapman  made  a  somewhat 
indefinite  tour  to  San  Francisco,  with  an  eye  to  the  establishing  some  kind  of  a  center 
of  trade  or  society,  thinking  a  little  of  forming  a  combination  with  Sutter  to  build  a 
city  at  Sacramento;  but  he  discovered  that  the  quick  mind  of  Judge  Burnett  had 
already  grasped  the  idea  and  seized  the  position.  At  San  Francisco  he  remained  a 
considerable  time,  and  was  about  to  visit  the  other  mines  of  California,  but  meeting 
with  Gov.  Lane,  who  was  on  the  way  from  Washington,  was  persuaded  by  him  to 
come  on  to  Oregon.  He  arrived  in  February  or  early  March,  1849.  Proceeding  at 
once  to  his  home  in  Salem,  he  was  soon  elected  representative  to  the  first  territorial 
legislature  chosen  and  convened  upon  the  order  of  the  new  governor.  During  this 
session  he  was  appointed  to  draft  a  code  of  laws,  but  under  a  technical  construction 
of  the  organic  law  this  act  was  declared  void. 

At  the  end  of  the  session  in  1849,  he  decided  upon  a  removal  to  Oregon  City  and 
remained  there  for  a  short  time,  but  upon  a  close  examination  concluded  that  this 
could  not  be  the  place  for  the  seaport  emporium  and  consequently  made  a  thorough 
exploration  of  the  lower  Willamette  to  the  Columbia,  with  the  result  that  he 
concluded  Portland  to  be  the  place  where  transportation  by  land  and  by  ships  could 
most  readily  meet.  He  found  Portland  built  on  a  section  of  land  owned  by  Gen. 
Stephen  Coffin  and  Mr.  D.  H.  Lownsdale  and  in  this  claim  he  bought  a  third  interest. 
Although  Portland  had  a  natural  advantage,  her  success  as  the  chief  city  depended 
upon  her  making  use  of  that  advantage,  and  only  by  showing  an  enterprise  equal  to 
that  of  a  dozen  other  rival  places  could  the  favor  of  nature  be  turned  to  account 
Mr.  Chapman,  with  his  family  and  household  effects  was  "bateaued"  from  Oregon 
City  to  Portland  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1850,  and  in  the  spring  and  summer  follow- 
ing cleared  and  erected  upon  the  block  upon  which  the  county  courthouse  now  stands  a 
frame  building  for  a  residence  and  with  his  family  dwelt  therein  imtil  the  fall  of  1853. 


Biography.  475 


The  town  proprietors  of  Portland,  as  Messrs.  Coffin,  Lownsdale  and  Chapman 
were  called,  at  once  engaged  in  all  enterprises  which  they  deemed  calculated  to 
advance  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  Portland  as  the  commercial  metropolis  of 
Oregon. 

The  period  which  immediately  followed  Col.  Chapman's  arrival  in  Portland  has 
been  so  thoroughly  treated  in  another  part  of  this  volume  that  it  is  only  necessary  to 
refer  to  it,  should  the  reader  desire  to  gain  a  full  idea  of  the  important  work  carried 
through  by  Col.  Chapman  and  his  associates,  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  city. 
The  purchase  of  the  Gold  Hunter^  the  founding  of  the  Oregonian,  the  opening  of  the 
Canyon  Road,  the  enlargement  of  the  town  plat  and  the  improvement  of  the  streets, 
were  enterprises  which  Col.  Chapman  urged  forward,  liberally  expending  his'  time 
and  money  to  insure  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  city.  The  struggle  to  maintain 
the  embryo  city  was  not  an  easy  one.  Prospective  towns  with  powerful  backing 
sprang  up  and  contested  every  inch  of  the  way.  How  the  proprietors  finally  triumphed 
over  every  rival  is  an  interesting  story  which  is  fully  related  in  preceding  pages. 
The  hard  blows  aimed  at  Portland  by  rival  points  on  the  Columbia  and  Willamette 
were  all  met  and  parried  by  the  energy  and  foresight  of  the  proprietors.  Col.  Chapman 
leading  in  every  contest  and  allowing  no  personal  sacrifice  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
city's  growth  and  development.  For  valuable  service  at  this  critical  period  of  Port- 
land's history,  no  one  is  entitled  to  a  higher  meed  of  credit. 

The  important  part  he  bore  in  the  long  legal  struggle  over  the  title  to  the  Portland 
land  claim  is  a  subject  treated  of  in  a  separate  chapter  in  this  volume  and  needs  not 
to  be  entered  upon  here. 

In  the  fall  of  1853,  becoming  impressed  with  the  profit  to  be  made  in  the  cattle 
business.  Col.  Chapman  acquired  the  Hudson  Bay  improvements  at  Fort  Umpqua,  in 
what  is  now  Douglas  County,  and  although  retaining  his  interests  at  Portland  and 
continuing  in  the  practice  of  law,  removed  to  the  Fort  with  his  family,  himself 
returning  to  Portland  about  once  a  month  to  see  to  his  interests  in  the  city.  At  his 
new  residence  Col.  Chapman  continued  to  improve  and  cultivate  his  farm  and  herd 
his  cattle. 

In  the  fall  of  1855,  while  Col.  Chapman  was  attending  court  at  a  distance  from 
home,  news  was  brought  that  there  was  a  great  Indian  uprising  on  Rogue  River,  with 
depredations  committed  between  Jacksonville  and  Cow  Creek.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war  of  1855-6.  Under  the  proclamation  of  the  Governor,  Col.  Chapman 
began  at  once  to  gather  a  company,  of  which  he  was  elected  captain.  No  sooner  was 
this  responsibility  laid  upon  him  than  he  went  to  Portland,  riding  day  and  night  to 
procure  arms  for  his  men,  and  returning  took  from  his  own  farm,  wagons,  mules  and 
horses  for  the  equipment  of  the  company.  Proceeding  thus  by  forced  marches 
toward  the  seat  of  war  at  the  Little  Meadows,  stopping  at  Roseburg  only  long  enough 
to  be  mustered  in  in  proper  form  as  Company  I,  of  Major  Martin's  battalion,  he 
proceeded  expeditiously  to  join  the  main  command. 

At  the  assembling  of  the  officers  at  the  Meadows,  Col.  Chapman  advised  that  the 
Indians  be  pursued  and  thereby  held  together,  and  protested  against  withdrawing  the 
forces.  He  also  favored  the  building  of  a  fort  and  leaving  a  strong  garrison,  being 
impressed  with  the  belief  that  if  the  forces  were  withdrawn  the  Indians  would  at  once 
scatter  out  and  fall  upon  the  settlement,  while  if  they  were  followed  and  pursued  and 


476  History  of  Portland. 


held  together,  they  would  be  prevented  from  perpetrating  outrages.  A  majority  of 
the  officers  differed  with  him  and  by  their  decision  the  troops  were  withdrawn.  His 
foresight,  however,  was  but  too  teribly  verified  by  the  massacres  committed  soon 
after  the  tioops  were  withdrawn.  During  the  winter  that  followed  the  movement  of 
troops  was  of  little  concern,  and  the  forces  were  reorganized.  Lamerick  was  chosen 
Brigadier  General  by  the  Legislature  and  appointed  commander  of  the  2d  Regiment 
of  Oregon  Volunteers.  At  an  election  John  Kelsey  was  chosen  Colonel  and  Mr. 
Chapman,  Lieutenant  Colonel.  James  Bruce,  than  whom  there  was  never  an  abler 
or  better  officer,  or  one  more  intelligent  or  more  ready  to  carry  out  a  command  to 
the  letter,  was  chosen  Major  of  the  2d  or  Southern  battalion,  and  Latshaw,  an  able 
and  energetic  officer,  Major  of  the  1st  or  Northern.  At  a  council  of  war  held  soon 
after  the  forces  were  gathered  together,  to  decide  upon  a  plan  of  campaign.  Col. 
Chapman,  basing  his  opinion  upon  the  experience  of  the  last  year,  advised  to  press 
the  Indians  and  unite  them  as  closely  as  possible,  compelling  them  to  concentrate  at 
some  point,  probably  at  the  Meadows.  This  place,  the  fastness  of  the  Indians,  was  a 
rocky  cliff,  or  bluff,  on  the  south  side  of  Rogue  River,  opposite  a  wide  strip  of  clear 
meadow  lands.  To  cross  the  meadows,  and  ford  the  swift  and  dangerous  ri\-er  in  the 
face  of  an  enemy  concealed  among  the  rocks  and  trees  was  an  impossibility.  Col. 
Chapman,  tlierefore,  advised  that  a  force,  the  Southern  battalion,  be  sent  do^Ti  the 
south  side  of  the  river  by  way  of  the  Port  Orford  trail  to  attack  tlie  Indians  from  the 
rear  of  their  stronghold,  and  another  force,  the  Northern  battalion,  be  sent  to 
co-operate  on  the  north  side,  and  if  the  Indians  fled  across  the  stream  to  be  there  to 
meet  them.  By  this  strategy  the  enemy  must  be  crushed  between  the  two  battalions. 
This  suggestion  was  adopted,  and  at  the  request  of  Gen.  Lamerick,  Chapman 
reluctantly  consented  to  take  command  of  the  Soutliem  battalion  with  headquarters 
at  Vannoy's  ferr\'.  At  once  he  began  concentrating  his  forces,  which  were  scattered  at 
various  places  in  Southern  Oregon,  and  soon  set  out  with  a  battalion  numbering  over 
three  hundred  men,  all  hardy,  sturdy  soldiers,  good  fighters,  and  mostly  miners. 
Moving  to  Hay's,  on  Slate  Creek,  where  the  Indians  had  left  tracks  by  recent 
depredations,  scouts  were  sent  out  to  find  the  enemy,  and  it  was  soon  ascertained,  as 
was  anticipated,  that  the  savages  had  concentrated  in  the  presence  of  the  large  force 
coming  after  them,  and  had  retreated  to  tlieir  great  stronghold  opposite  the  Big  or 
Lower  Meadows.  This  was  a  point  a  little  below  tlieir  place  of  defense  of  the 
previous  year,  which  was  called  the  Upper  or  Little  Meadows,  and  was  a  stronger 
position,  being  better  defended  on  the  north.  Returning  to  Vannoy*s,  preparations 
for  a  simultaneous  movement  were  made.  The  men  were  dismounted,  only  animals 
sufficient  for  the  commissar}'  were  allowed,  and  the  expedition  on  both  banks  moved 
forward.  There  was  a  point  on  the  Port  Orford  trail  known  as  Pea  vine  Camp,  high 
on  the  ridge,  not  far  from  the  Meadows  on  the  south  side,  to  which  Chapman  was  to 
repair  with  his  force,  and  from  this  point  watch  the  trail  below  on  the  north  side,  at  a 
place  where  it  came  down  to  Rogue  River,  that  he  might  ascertain  the  movement  of 
Lamerick  and  the  Northern  battalion,  whose  force  would  be  visible  there  as  he  went 
by.  Reaching  Peavine,  Chapman  waited  some  time  in  the  snow,  which  still  hung  on 
the  high  ridge,  but  failed  to  discover  his  superior,  and  at  length  was  told  that  his  flag 
had  been  seen  on  the  Upper  Meadows.  Scouts  were  sent  ahead  and  found  the 
Indians  in  force  under  the  bluff  opposite  the   Lower  Meadows,  and  all  preparations 


Biography.  477 


were  made  for  an  attack,  the  men  being  eager  for  the  work;  but  just  at  this  juncture 
a  message  was  received  by  Col.  Chapman  from  Gen.  Lamerick  that  he  had  learned 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  Col.  Chapman  to  reach  the  Indians  on  the  south  side 
and  ordering  Chapman  and  his  battalion  to  cross  the  river  to  the  north  side  and  join 
him.  Chapman  and  his  men  were  annoyed  at  this  intelligence  and  command,  and 
for  a  time  thought  seriously  of  disregarding  the  order,  but  upon  consultation,  it  was 
decided  not  to  make  the  attack  but  to  rejoin  Gen.  Lamerick,  which  they  did.  At  the 
Meadows,  considerable  fighting  was  done  across  the  river.  Major  Bruce  was  ordered,  by 
Gen.  Lamerick  with  a  small  command,  to  cross  the  river,  but  was  unable  to  cross  in  the 
face  of  the  Indians.  This  led  Col.  Chapman  to  plan  a  movement  by  which  the  South- 
em  battalion  was  to  go  down  on  the  south  side  of  Rogue  River,  and  the  Northern 
battalion  to  go  down  on  the  nortli  side,  which  he  partially  carried  out,  but  it  was 
broken  by  the  order  of  Gen.  Lamerick  (before  mentioned)  to  join  him  on  the  north 
side.  At  length  the  Indians  chose  to  leave  their  camp.  Then  an  advance  across  the 
river  was  made,  when  Gen.  Lamerick  found  them  gone  and  occupied  their  deserted 
camp.  Gen.  Lamerick  then  made  an  order  for.tlie  army  to  retire  from  the  further 
pursuit  of  the  Indians;  part  to  Illinois  River,  part  to  Jacksonville  and  part  to  other 
places.  On  the  same  day  before  these  orders  were  put  into  execution,  Col.  Chapman 
seeing  that  if  these  orders  should  be  carried  out  the  whole  plan  of  the  campaign 
would  be  broken,  the  Indians  left  free  to  destroy  the  lives  and  property  of  the 
settlers,  and  the  volunteers  left  with  the  same  unsatisfactory  results  as  after  the 
unfruitful  campaign  of  the  year  before,  urged  Gen.  Lamerick  to  build  a  fort  near  by, 
to  hold  and  keep  the  Indians  in  check.  At  this  suggestion  the  General  took  offense, 
but  said  he  would  refer  the  matter  to  a  council  of  war.  At  this  council  Chapman  was 
called  upon  to  explain  his  views,  which  were  at  once  endorsed  by  every  member  of 
the  council  and  it  was  decided  to  erect  a  fort,  which  immediately  was  done.  It  was 
named  Fort  Lamerick.  Major  Latshaw  was  placed  in  command  here,  and  the 
remaining  troops  were  sent  to  various  points.  Lamerick  went  to  Jacksonville  and 
Chapman  to  Roseburg.  LaLshaw,  a  brave  and  vigilant  officer,  soon  reported  to  Col. 
Chapman  that  he  had  found  the  Indians  on  John  Mule  Creek,  and  was  only  waiting 
orders  to  attack  them,  and  asked  also  for  a  supply  of  provisions.  Chapman  at  once 
issued  the  order  for  an  attack  and  sent  off  the  provisions.  In  pursuance  of  Col. 
Chapman's  order.  Major  Latshaw  promptly  attacked  and  defeated  the  Indians,  and 
by  this  blow  and  the  timely  aid  he  gave  the  regular  army  then  coming  up  Rogue 
River,  the  war  was  ended.  The  Indians  surrendered  to  the  United  States  trooj>s, 
having  some  natural  distrust  of  the  settlers  and  soldiers  amongst  whom  they  had 
been  pillaging  and  murdering. 

Resuming  ci\'il  life,  the  Colonel  removed  in  the  latter  part  of  1856  to  Corvallis  with 
his  family.  The  admission  of  Oregon  as  a  State  was  now  taking  definite  form,  and 
it  was  supposed  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  Colonel  would  be  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  from  the  Corvallis  district.  There  was,  however,  at  that 
time,  much  division  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  what  provision  in 
respect  to  this  institution  should  be  inserted  in  the  instrument  constituting  Oregon  a 
State.  A  meeting  of  the  Democratic  party  was  held  at  Salem,  and  while  returning 
with  a  number  of  his  party  friends  to  Corvallis,  the  subject  was  broached,  and  Col, 
Chapman  frankly  said  that  he  would  be  opposed  to  slavery,  as  it  was  a  thing  that 


478  History  of  Portland. 


could  not  be  established  in  such  a  community,  and  that  a  movement  to  attempt  this 
was  uncallcfl  for.  He  expressed  no  hostility  to  the  South,  but  believed  that  the 
attempt  of  such  a  social  change  as  this  policy  contemplated  would  be  only  evil. 
From  that  moment  he  was  droppetl  and  Judge  Kelsey  was  selected  for  the  place. 
Among  thoMf  who  discarde^l  the  Colonel  were  a  number  who  aflerwards  became 
prominent  republicans. 

During  this  or  the  following  year,  he  visited  Eugene  City,  and  purchasing  exten- 
sive farming  property,  removed  hither  with  his  family.  While  here,  occurred  the 
election  of  Territorial  and  State  Representatives,  and  he  received  the  nomination  to 
a  seat  as  territorial  member.  The  number  of  candidates  being  large,  a  very  lively 
canvass  was  conducted,  for  a  part  of  the  time  at  least  the  whole  legislative  ticket 
stumping  together.     The  Colonel  bore  a  large  part  of  the  burden  of  this  work. 

.\s  the  contest  for  Senator  drew  near  a  strong  movement  was  set  on  foot  to  elect 
Chapman.  He  would  have  iK'cn  a  very  strong  candidate  but  for  a  number  of  reasons, 
chief  among  which  was  his  opposition  to  slavery-  in  Oregon,  his  party  could  not 
allow  him  the  honor.  He  was  also  spoken  of  as  a  worthy  man  for  the  position  of 
United  States  District  Judge.  While  the  party  managers  were  trying  to  adjust  these 
claims  of  his  friends,  and  at  the  same  time  not  injure  the  party  by  offending  other 
aspirants  for  these  positions,  the  Oregon  I^egislature  being  still  in  session,  news  ^"as 
received  from  Washington  that  the  Colonel  was  appointed  Surveyor  General  of 
Oregon,  and  he  himself  received  at  the  same  time,  a  letter  from  Gen.  Lane,  strongly 
urging  him  to  accept.  Feeling  for  the  General  the  strongest  friendship  and  personal 
attachment,  he  consented  to  do  so.  and  all  the  party  claims  were  speedily  adjusted. 

In  1861.  l>elieving  it  unl>ecoming  to  hold  office  under  a  President  whose  election 
he  had  oppK>S2d,  he  tendere<l  the  resignation  of  his  office,  and  was  succeeded,  after 
some  time,  by  P.  J.  Pengra. 

During  the  fall  of  1K61,  Col.  Chapman,  ^^-ith  his  family,  returned  to  his  old 
homestead  in  Portland,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1862,  erected  the  residence 
at  Twelfth  and  Jefferson  streets,  which  has  ever  since  been  the  family  home. 
During  the  years  of  his  later  residence  in  Portland,  the  Colonel  has  practiced  law 
extensively,  especially  in  land  matters.  He  has,  moreover,  spent  a  life  of  energ\-  and 
a  magnificent  fortune  in  his  efforts  to  secure  for  Oregon  its  one  great  desideratum — 
easicni  railroad  con necl ions. 

Pioneering  the  way  in  laying  broad  the  foundations  of  our  Slate,  and  contributing 
by  his  wise  foresight  to  the  material  j^rosperity  of  Iowa  and  Oregon  in  their  organic 
laws.  Col.  Chapman  is  also  to  l>e  credited  more  than  any  other  man  or  dozen  men  in 
projwsing  safeguards  in  matters  of  railway  construction  in  Oregon.  In  1863,  the 
first  rumble  of  railroa<l  agitation  was  felt  in  the  State.  To  connect  Oregon  with  the 
Pacific  system  then  extending  across  the  plains,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  Congress  with 
a  lan<l  grant  sul>sidy  for  a  road  from  a  junction  with  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  in 
California,  northward  to  Portland  or  the  Columbia  River,  and  so  great  was  the  desire 
for  railroad  connection  that  the  people  of  the  State  were  favorable  to  the  scheme  on 
any  project  likely  to  accomplish  the  object.  .\  meeting  was  held  in  Eugene  City  on 
the  day  the  surveyors  reached  that  point.  Great  enthusiasm  prevailed  and  a 
meeting  was  called  for  the  purpo.se  of  endorsement  of  the  scheme  which  was  then 
pending  in   Congress,  and  the  approving  voice  of  the  people  was  of  course  .to  be 


Biographical.  479 


presented  to  Congress  as  an  aid  to  the  passage  of  the  bill.  Col.  Chapman  happened  to 
be  present  and  learning  the  objedl  of  the  meeting,  and  seeing  that  under  the  terms  of 
the  bill  as  introduced,  the  builders  would  begin  at  or  near  Sacramento  and  continue 
toward  Portland  as  fast  or  slow  as  they  pleased;  that  as  they  built  toward  Portland 
the  trade  would  necessarily  run  to  California,  even  till  they  would  be  in  sight  of 
Portland;  and  that  it  would  inevitably  work  greatly  to  the  disadvantage  of  Oregon 
and  her  commercial  metropolis,  wherever  that  might  be;  he  therefore  determined 
upon  a  remedy,  and  when  the  meeting  was  organized  submitted  and  procured  the 
passage  of  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions: 

Whereas,  We  learn  that  the  surveying  party  on  the  contemplated  route  for  the 
Oregon  and  California  railroad  has  arrived  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  and  that  the 
chief  engineer,  Mr.  Elliott,  is  now  on  a  tour  in  the  lower  counties  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  facts  respe<5ling  the  route  and  the  means  to  be  obtained  in  aid  of  the  survey 
and  improvement;  therefore 

Resolved  J  That  all  grants  of  land  and  other  aids  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  means  to  be  appropriated,  should  be  expended  in  equal  proportions  in 
Oregon  and  California,  and  commencing  the  work  in  Portland,  Oregon,  ana  progress- 
ing southwardly,  and  at  Sacramento,  California,  progressing  northwardly,  so  that  each 
State  and  section  may  derive  equal  advantages  therefrom,  wliile  the  road  shall  be  in 
process  of  completion. 

Resolved,  That  we  do  hereby  recommend  that  several  organizations  be  effe<5led  in 
Oregon  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  aid  of  the  Government  and  executing  the   . 
work  within  the  State. 

The  preamble  and  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted.     On  Col.  Chapman's 

return  to  Portland  the  subjedl  was  brought  before  the  people  of  the  city;  two  public 
meetings  were  held  and  the  proceedings  of  the  Eugene  meeting  were  endorsed,  with 
memorials  and  petitions  to  the  same  effedl  forwarded  to  Congress.  The  result  was 
that  the  measure  was  modified  as  was  requested.  Senator  Nesmith,  in  his  later  days, 
told  Chapman  that  he  well  remembered  the  circumstances,  and  that  upon  the  receipt 
of  the  proceedings  in  Oregon  he  did  just  as  was  suggested,  and  on  the  25th  day  of 
July,  1866,  the  a<5l  of  Congress  passed. 

Independent  of  the  advantages  that  have  accrued  to  Portland,  to  Oregon,  and, 
indeed,  to  the  whole  Pacific  Northwest,  through  the  modified  provisions  of  the  bill  as 
it  became  a  law,  causing  the  immediate  and  early  constru<5lion  of  the  road  from 
Portland  southward  through  the  Willamette,  Umpqua  and  Rogue  River  Valleys, 
infusing  new  life  and  increased  energy  into  our  people,  it  inaugurated  new  and 
important  enterprises,  developments  and  prosperity  in  Oregon,  surpassing  the  most 
sanguine  expedlations  of  our  people.  So  that  instead  of  the  last  spike  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  entire  road  being  driven  at  Portland,  it  was  driven  and  celebrated  at  Ashland, 
near  the  southern  boundary  of  our  State.  Thus,  in  the  very  embryo  stage  of  railroad 
construdlion  in  Oregon,  Col.  Chapman  gave  the  guiding  hand  and  struck  the  key 
note  for  provbions  in  the  interest  of  his  adopted  State  which  will  redound  to  her 
benefit  through  all  the  future. 

After  all  has  been  said  relative  to  these  momentous  matters,  and  when  all  the 
wheat  is  separated  from  the  chaff  of  personal  vaunt  as  to  each  one's  share  in  the 
upbuilding  of  the  superstrudlure  of  our  Statehood  and  commercial  relations,  the  name 
of  Colonel  Chapman  will  tower  above  them  all,  conspicuous  for  foresight,  and 
undaunted  perseverance — quailing  not  before  numbers  and  power — until  the  obje<5l  of 
his  effort  was  attained.  It  illustrates  a  charadler  which  never  admits  failure,  and  as 
such  is  a  glorious  example  to  our  rising  youth. 

[9lJ 


480  History  of  Portland. 


WTiile  the  Colonel  thus  kept  his  eye  vigilantly  upon  the  process  of  railroad  con- 
st ru<5lion  in  our  State  and  determined  that  corporate  abuses  should,  so  far  as 
possible,  be  forestalled  by  adequate  legislation,  he  was  no  less  watchful  of  our  commer- 
cial interests,  with  reference  to  navigation  of  our  rivers  and  improvement  of  legislation 
for  the  sake  of  securing  connection  by  ship  with  foreign  ports.  A  member  of  the 
legislature  of  1868,  his  attention  was  dire<5led  to  the  fa<5l  that  our  commerce  with 
European  and  Atlantic  ports  were  suffering  greatly  from  lack  of  towage  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia  river.  As  member  of  a  committee  to  examine  the  causes  and 
propose  a  remedy  for  this  unhappy  condition  he  found  that  from  the  experience  of 
Captain  Como,  some  years  previous,  it  was  deemed  unremunerative  to  operate  a 
steam  tug  upon  the  bar.  He,  therefore,  prepared  a  report  setting  forth  this  facft,  show- 
ing, also,  that  it  was  not  lack  of  water  so  much  as  lack  of  wind  that  had  led  to 
disasters  at  this  place,  and  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  so  long  as  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  was  considered  dangerous  by  shippers,  it  would  be  avoided,  or  at  all 
events,  excessive  rates  would  be  charged,  which  fell  with  double  severity  upon  the 
people  of  Oregon;  not  only  compelling  them  to  pay  high  tariffs  on  all  their  imports, 
but  particularly  compelling  the  producers  to  pay  the  added  charges  upon  all  exports. 
He  pointed  out  that  the  wheat  of  Oregon  was  then  taken  in  steamers  to  San  Francisco 
and  while  the  price  in  Portland  was  but  seventy  cents  per  bushel,  in  San  Francisco  it 
was  a  dollar  and  eight  cents  per  bushel.  He  urged  that  this  condition  was  working 
disastrously  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  State,  and  proposed  as  a  remedy  that  a 
tug  boat  be  secured  for  the  bar  by  means  of  a  State  subsidy.  He  reported  a  bill  pro- 
viding for  a  powerful  steam  tug  l)oat,  sufl&cient  for  towing  vessels  across  the  bar  in  all 
weather  when  it  could  be  crossed  bj-  the  best  class  of  steamers  or  sailing  vessels:  with 
proper  approval  and  license  of  irnite<l  States  inspectors.  To  secure  such  a  tug 
boat  the  bill  provided  a  subsidy  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  be  given  in  five  succes- 
sive years;  it  directed  that  the  license  of  all  pilots,  except  those  of  the  master  of  the 
tug  boat  and  of  the  pilots  employed  upon  her,  should  be  revoked;  and  that  the  fees 
for  towing  and  piloting  sail  vessels  should  be  reduced  to  the  rate  of  eight  dollars  per 
foot  for  the  first  twelve  feet  of  draft,  and  ten  dollars  for  any  excess — the  same  as  for 
piloting  steam  vessels.  This  was  a  reduction  of  twenty-five  per  cent.  To  prevent 
exorbitant  rates  of  pilotage  and  of  towage  on  the  river  from  Astoria  to  Portland,  the 
tug  was  allowed,  in  case  of  absence  of  employment  on  the  bar,  to  tow  to  Portland,  at 
rates  to  lie  fixed  by  the  Pilot  Commission,  keeping,  however,  a  sufficient  pilot  boot 
always  near  the  bar  in  case  of  need. 

The  operation  of  this  bill,  which  was  passed  almost  unanimously,  was  most 
beneficial.  By  Captain  Klavcl,  of  Astoria,  the  tug  boat  was  furnished,  and  it  was  but 
a  few  years  before  our  large  commerce  sprung  up  between  the  Atlantic  and  European 
ports  and  Portland. 

But  important  as  was  Col.  Chapman's  part  in  the  foregoing  events,  his  contest 
with  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  surpasses  them  all.  It  shows  the 
capacity  of  one  sharp,  strong  mind  to  rout  a  powerful  combination  of  financiers  and 
legislators,  and  reflects  a  credit  upon  the  unofficial  .strategy  and  statesmanship  of 
Oregon,  which  ought  to  Ix;  known  fully  in  all  our  borders.  But,  strange  to  say.  this 
action,  by  which  the  prestige  of  Oregon  was  secured,  is  almost  unknown.  It  is 
known  that  the  Northern  Pacific  somehow  once  got  a  staggering  blow,  by  which  her 
contemplated  monopoly  of  the  Pacific   Northwest,  was  completely  broken.      But  so 


Biographical.  481 


quietly  was  the  blow  given,  and  so  little  did  our  knight  care  to  blow  his  trumpet, 
that  none  knew  where  the  thrust  came  from.  Col.  Chapman  was,  in  the  years 
alluded  to,  one  of  the  most  earnest  to  get  a  railroad  for  Oregon  to  the  East,  and 
knew  fully  the  whole  political  and  financial  situation  with  reference  to  it,  as  well  as 
having  a  complete  grasp  topographically  of  the  region  to  be  traversed.  The  follow- 
ing will  remind  and  inform  many  of  the  hard  work  he  did  in  behalf  of  Portland 
and  the  whole  State  of  Oregon,  and  gives  a  concise  history  of  important  legisla- 
tion. 

The  first  charter  was  granted  to  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  about  the  year  1864, 
together  with  a  land  grant,  but  without  authority  to  issue  bonds  or  mortgages.  As 
an  argument  with  Congress,  it  was  to  be  built  on  the  subscription  to  stock.  When 
their  bill  was  before  Congress,  it  was  proposed  that  the  people  of  Oregon  have  a  land 
grant  for  a  railroad  from  Salt  Lake  to  Portland;  but  to  negative  this,  the  Northern 
Pacific  agreed  to,  and  did  add  a  branch  to  Portland.  The  main  line  was  to  run  near 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States,  across  the  Cascade  Mountains,  and  the 
Branch,  down  the  Columbia  to  Portland.  Afler  several  failures,  in  1870,  the  com- 
pany having  conceived  the  idea  of  antagonizing  Portland  and  her  trade,  got  a  bill 
before  Congress  for  an  extension.  Or,  rather,  it  was  a  joint  resolution.  It  was  an 
unparalleled  ambiguity  and  deception.  It  provided  that  the  main  line  be  transferred 
to  run  via  the  Columbia  Valley  to  Puget  Sound,  and  the  Branch,  across  the  Cascade 
Mountains  to  Puget  Sound.  In  a  joint  resolution  of  the  year  previous.  Congress 
granted  an  extension  of  the  branch  and  the  right  of  way  for  it  from  Portland  to 
Puget  Sound,  but  positively  and  expressly  refused  the  right  to  issue  bonds  or  mort- 
gage. Now,  by  this  joint  resolution  of  1870,  the  main  line  being  authorized  to  run 
via  the  Valley  of  the  Columbia,  it  was  to  be  noted  that  this  valley  was  on  both  sides 
of  the  river,  and  the  road  could  therefore  be  legally  located  on  either  side.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  its  taking  the  place  of  the  branch,  on  the  south  side  to  Portland,  as 
Congress- and  our  Congressmen  supposed  it  was  to  be  located,  after  surveying  every- 
where, and  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  it  was  located  on  the  north  side  of  the  river, 
ignoring  Portland  and  the  branch  line  it  was  intended  to  embrace. 

As  soon  as  the  joint  resolution  was  published,  before  any  survey  was  made.  Col. 
Chapman  informed  the  citizens  of  Portland  that  it  was  the  intention  to  locate  the 
road  north  of  the  river  and  leave  Portland  out,  so  that  Portland  would  lose  not  only 
the  original  branch  granted  expressly  to  and  for  Portland,  but  also  the  main  line 
intended  by  Congress  to  take  its  place.  The  people  were  incredulous.  In  1871, 
Col.  Chapman  being  in  attendance  upon  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
procured  from  the  commissioner  of  the  general  land  office  a  copy  of  the  map  of  the 
location  of  the  road  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  attested  by  the  commissioner's 
own  signature. 

This  great  wrong  to  the  people  of  Portland  and  Oregon  is  the  foundation  of  Col. 
Chapman's  war  upon  the  Northern  Pacific  Company  from  that  day  to  the  present. 
Not  only  so,  but  a  fraudulent  deprivation  of  Portland  and  Oregon  of  both  the  branch 
and  main  line,  was  a  source  of  great  wrong  and  inconvenience  to  the  public,  and  has 
given  rise  to  unending  controversy. 

But  the  wrong  to  Portland  and  Oregon  was  not  the  only  one  committed  by  author- 
ity of  that  ambiguous  resolution.  The  United  States  was  cheated  out  of  millions  of 
acres  of  public  lands  in  this  wise.    First,  the  transfer  of  the  main  line  by  way  of  the 


482  History  of  Portland. 


Columbia  to  Pu^et  Sound,  increased  its  length  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  on  a 
line  where  Congress  said  in  the  joint  resolution  of  1869.  there  should  be  no  land 
grant,  bonds,  or  mortgage.  The  increased  length  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles, 
with  a  width  of  forty  miles,  equaled  five  thousand,  six  hundred  sections,  or  three 
million  five  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand  acres.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  line  from 
Portland  to  Wallula.  two  hundred  and  fourteen  miles,  upon  this  transfer  from  State 
to  Territor>'.  was  increased  by  twenty  sections  per  mile,  or  four  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  sections,  two  million  seven  hundred  and  thirty -nine  thousand  two 
hundred  acres.  Furthermore,  the  whole  land  grant  of  two  hundred  and  fourteen 
miles  Ix^tween  Portland  and  Wallula.  has  for  manv  vears  been  withheld  from  settle- 
ment. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  the  road  on  the  south  side  of  the  Columbia,  between 
Portland  and  Wallula:  After  the  land  grant  for  this  road  was  taken  away  from 
Portland  by  the  joint  resolution  of  1870.  the  public  being  in  great  need  of  the  road, 
from  Portland  up  the  Cohunbia  River,  some  of  the  citizens  of  Portland,  including 
Col.  Chapman  in  the  number,  inaugiu-ated  measures  for  the  construction  of  a  road 
firom  Portland  to  Salt  Lake.  Part  of  the  line  was  sur%-eyed,  and  at  times  the 
prospecls  were  ver\'  favorable.  On  one  occasion,  when  their  bill  in  the  house  was 
progressing  under  favorable  circumstances,  the  Credit  Mobilier  broke  out  and  crushed 
all  railroad  bills.  Tlicre  were  several  contests  with  the  Northern  Pacific  Company 
after  they  ha<l  taken  from  Portland  the  branch  grant  under  pretense  of  giving  them 
the  main  line,  and  then  taking  the  main  line  also. 

The  most  note<l  an<l  telling  of  these  contests  was  one  late  in  the  seventies,  when 
Col.  Chapman,  in  one  of  his  unceasing  efforts  for  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of 
Oregon  and  Portland,  prepared,  and  had  introduced  in  the  l.'nited  States  Senate,  a  bill 
in  aid  of  the  Portland.  Dalles  and  Salt  Lake  Railroad.  At  this  date  such  had  become 
the  op|x>sition  to  further  land  grants  to  railroads  that  an  original  grant  was  impossible. 
This  bill,  therefore,  provided  for  the  construction  of  the  Portland  and  Salt  Lake  roads 
upon  the  Cohinibia,  as  a  common  road  for  the  Northern  Pacific  and  Salt  Lake  line, 
to  Ix:  built  as  a  common  road  with  the  land  grant  then  tied  up  idle  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river.  It  further  provided  that,  the  Northern  Pacific  should  build  this  common 
road,  but  if  they  failed  to  commence  the  road  at  Portland  within  ninety  days,  and  to 
prosecute  the  work  diligently,  the  Salt  Lake  company,  or  any  other  company  building 
that  line,  might  buil  1  it.  but  it  shoul  1,  nevertheless,  Ke  a  common  road  for  both. 
There  were  provisions  for  the  construction  of  the  Salt  Lake  road  after  leaving  the 
Columbia  River.  The  bill  was  referred  to  the  railroad  committee  of  the  Senate.  Col. 
Chapman  having  drawn  the  bill  appeared  alone  in  its  behalf,  while  the  great 
attorneys  and  others  appeared  for  the  Northern  Pacific  in  opposition  to  the  bill.  On 
l>ehalf  of  the  Northern  Pacific  the  point  was  made  that  their  road  was  only  constructed 
to  Bismarck,  and  they  coul  1  not  construct  a  road  on  the  Columbia  River  until  they 
should  reach  Ainsworth,  or  Snake  River.  Still  they  could  assign  no  reason  why 
another  company  should  not  build  the  road  on  the  Columbia,  if  when  built  it  was  to 
be  a  common  road  for  both  the  Northern  Pacific  and  Salt  Lake  lines.  The  propo- 
sitions of  the  bill  were  so  fair  that  the  committee  reported  it  to  the  Senate  and 
recommended  its, passage. 

Shortly  after,  an  article  appeared  in  a  morning  paper  of  Washington  City,  stating 
that  all  differences  between  the  Oregon  people  and  the  Northern  Pacific  were  settled, 


Biographical.  48^ 


and  the  bill  was  to  be  re-committed  to  the  Senate  Committee,  and  be  amended  to  suit 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  This  was  wholly  new  to  Col.  Chapman,  who 
was  tlius  referred  to  as  the  "Oregon  People,"  and  besought  to  appear  before  the 
committee  in  opposition  to  the  new  arrangement,  but  was  refused.  The  bill  in  the 
interest  of  the  Northern  Pacific  was  reported  back  to  the  Senate,  and  Chapman  sent 
to  the  Senate  a  written  protest  against  the  bill  as  amended.  This  protest  was  sent  to 
the  printer  without  being  read,  and  the  bill  was  taken  up  and  passed  in  its  absence. 
This  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  unjustifiable  transa(5lions,  taken  all  in 
all,  known  among  man  having  any  claim  to  honesty  and  fair  dealing.  But  the  fraud 
was  not  complete  until  the  bill  should  pass  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  which  it 
was  then  sent  and  placed  on  the  Speaker's  table. 

It  would  be  supposed  that  under  the  circumstances  Col.  Chapman  would  have 
submitted  to  the  result  and  abandoned  the  contest,  but  not  so.  Far-seeing,  full  of 
energy,  foresight  and  feeling  that  the  interests  of  Portland  and  Oregon  were  at  stake, 
he  never  lost  sight  of  his  object.  He  never  was  out  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
one  minute  while  the  bill  was  pending. 

The  Speaker  took  up  the  bill  to  refer  it  to  a  committee,  knowing  that  Chapman 
could  meet  it  in  open  house.  A  certain  man  obje<5led,  and  it  went  back  on  the  table. 
Chapman  concluded  that  it  was  the  intention  of  this  man  when  it  would  be  his  turn 
and  in  order,  to  move  to  suspend  the  rules,  and  pass  the  bill  without  debate.  He 
ascertained  from  the  Speaker's  list  of  members  to  be  recognized  to  move  to  suspend 
the  rules,  where  this  man  stood,  and  when  he  would  be  reached,  and  then  wrote  a 
scathing  review  of  the  bill,  and  had  a  sufficient  number  for  all  the  members  printed 
and -sealed  up,  and  purchased  a  sufficient  number  of  envelopes,  not  failing  to  be  in 
his  seat  every  moment  the  House  was  in  session.  In  the  evening  previous  to  the  day 
when  by  Chapman's  calculation  this  man  of  the  Northern  Pacific  would  move  to  pass 
the  bill  under  a  suspension  of  the  rules.  Chapman  invited  the  vice-president  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  to  his  room  in  the  hotel  where  both  lodged,  to  effedl  compromises, 
but  the  vice-president  was  so  confident  of  success  that  he  would  consent  to  nothing. 
After  he  left.  Chapman  put  the  printed  articles  into  the  envelopes  all  ready  for  the 
next  day.  Next  morning  with  his  documents  in  hand  he  visited  the  House  and  just 
as  the  House  was  about  to  meet,  when  too  late  for  consultation,  he  placed  prominently 
in  view  upon  each  member's  desk  a  sealed  envelope  containing  one  of  these  printed 
reviews,  on  the  theory  that  the  member  would  want  to  see  what  was  inside  first.  The 
letter  was  scarcely  read,  the  House  was  in  business  order,  and,  as  calculated,  the 
Northern  Pacific  man  was  on  his  feet  talking  loudly  in  a  firm  voice,  "Mr.  Speaker,  I 
move  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  bill." 

It  required  a  two-thirds  vote  to  suspend  the  rules  and  pass  the  bill.  The  vote  was 
taken,  and  instead  of  a  two-thirds  vote  for  it,  there  were  two-thirds  against  it,  and 
the  bill  was  lost.  Chapman,  solitary  and  alone,  against  the  officers,  attorneys,  and 
lobbj'ists,  came  out  victorious,  and  Portland  still  held  the  fort.  After  the  battle  a 
courteous  recognition  took  place  between  Colonel  Chapman  and  Mr.  Wright,  presi- 
dent of  the  Northern  Pacific.  After  the  vote  was  announced.  Chapman  went  out  at 
the  front  door  of  the  hall  and  .started  away,  but  advancing  a  few  steps,  for  some 
rea^n  turned  back,  when  Mr.  Wright  came  out  of  the  hall  door  facing  him  and 
advancing  with  an  outstretched  arm  and  the  sorrowing  words,  "O,  Colonel,  how  could 
you  have  hit  us  such  a  slap  over  the  face?"  To  which  Chapman  replied,  "All  is 
fair  in  war.'* 


484  History  of  Portland. 

The  result  of  this  victory'  was  that  the  Northern  Pacific  was  deprived  of  obtaining 
and  holding  the  right  of  way  and  control  on  the  south  or  Portland  side  of  the 
Columbia,  until  their  road,  then  completed  to  Bismarck,  should  reach  Snake  River, 
when  without  building  on  the  south  side  they  would  by  the  branch  which  they  trans- 
ferred to  Portland,  build  across  the  Cascade  Mountains  to  Tacoma,  still  holding  the 
right  of  way  and  the  land  grant  unbuilt  upon,  exactly  as  they  have  done  with  the 
main  line  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  It  was  foresight  of  such  intention  and 
adlion  by  the  Northern  Pacific  Company,  that  induced  Colonel  Chapman  to  insert  in 
his  Senate  bill  that  was  re-committed,  the  provision  that  the  Northern  Pacific  com- 
pany might  build  the  common  road  on  the  south  side  of  the  Columbia,  if  they 
**would  begin  within  ninety  days  and  prosecute  the  work  diligently;  otherwise,  the 
Salt  Lake  Company  might  build  it." 

Another  important  result  of  this  signal  victory  was  that  the  way  was  left  open  and 
straightway  seized  upon,  and  the  road  was  built  by  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Naviga- 
tion Company. 

During  his  long  career  of  public  life  and  private  enterprise,  Col.  Chapman  enjoyed 
the  comfort,  pleasure,  encouragement  and  assistance  of  a  wife,  who  was  **a  very 
help  indeed."  Her  life  was  one  of  the  utmost  fidelity  to  every  sentiment  of  duty, 
through  all  the  trials  and  privations  of  frontier  life,  and  of  pioneering  in  a  new 
world;  she  was  a  faithful  companion,  a  hospitable  neighbor  and  a  loving  wife  and 
mother.  Mrs.  Chapman  lived  for  upwards  of  twenty-seven  years  at  her  home  in 
Portland,  where  she  died  in  1889,  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  her  age. 

Of  the  eleven  children  of  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Chapman,  six  are  living.  The  vener- 
able father  still  resides  at  his  old  homestead,  which  is  part  of  the  original  "Portland 
Townsite,"  and  of  the  portion  of  his  own  and  Mrs.  Chapman's  donation  land  claim, 
which  was  set  off"  to  her  by  the  United  States  Government.  His  mental  vigor  has 
never  failed  him,  and  although  an  attack  of  paralysis,  resulting  from  over  exertion 
in  preparing  for  and  conducting  an  important  land  case,  in  November,  1888,  ren- 
dered his  right  limbs  almost  useless;  he  otherwise  has  good  health  and  is  gradually 
recovering  the  use  of  his  limbs,  notwithstanding  he  is  now  in  the  eighty-second  year 
of  his  age. 

This  record  shows  that  the  life  of  Col.  Chapman,  has  been  throughout,  the  life  of  an 
active,  useful,  far-seeing  and  courageous  man.  It  has  been  a  life  spent  largely  for 
public  purposes,  and  its  fruits  through  all  time  will  remain  no  small  part  of  the 
heritage  of  the  people  of  the  Northwest. 


CORBETT,  Hen'RV  W.  The  writer  who  seeks  to  portray  the  life  and  advancement 
of  a  people — no  matter  how  far  he  may  be  under  the  control  of  theories  pointing 
otherwise— must  at  last  come  to  the  individual  and  seek  his  best  material  in  the  lives 
and  records  of  those  by  whom  the  works  he  would  describe  have  been  performed. 
Thus  biography  becomes  not  merely  a  side  light  to  history',  but  the  very  essence  and 
vitality  of  history  itself.  In  the  stor>'  of  the  man  of  affairs  you  tell  that  of  his  times 
as  well.  Viewed  thus,  it  does  not  need  be  said  that  the  true  story  of  Portland  cannot  be 
told  as  we  have  tried  to  tell  it  in  these  pages  without  proper  reference  to  the  men 
whose  varied  lines  of  effort  have  touched  almost  every  material  interest  of  the  city  as 
well  as  many  reaching  far  beyond  its  boundaries. 


Biographical.  485 


Conspicuous  among  the  men  who  have  influenced  the  current  of  public  events,  -^ 

who  have  shaped  the  destiny  and  made  the  city  of  Portland  the  commercial  and  )         ' 

financial  metropolis  of  Oregon,  is  Henry  Winslow  Corbett.     During  forty  years  he  y         J^^ 

has  been  an  important  fa<5lor  in  the  development  which  has  been  steadily  going  on  in  r 

the  Pacific  Northwest,  and  it  is  but  simple  justice  that  a  faithful  record  of  the  part  he  ^   .  ^ 

has  borne  in  this  great  work  should  be  preserved  as  an  example  for  the  guidance  and  <s      ^ 

emulation  of  coming  generations.  ^  ' 

^e  was  born  at  Westborough,  Massachusetts,  February  18,  1827,  and  is  the 
youngest  son  in  a  family  of  eight — six  of  whom  reached  maturity.     His  parents  were  y 

Elijah  and  Melinda  (Forbush)  Corbett.     His  ancestors,  who  settled  in  Massachusetts  <^ 

in  the  seventeenth  century>were  Normans,   andQtraced  their  descent  from  Roger  y 

Corbett,  who  was  a  military  leader  under  William'  I^in  the  conquest  of  England,  V, 

gaining  distinction  and  lands  for  the  part  he  bore  in  the  struggle.  William,  the 
eldest  son  of  Roger,  was  seated  at  Wattesborough,  while  his  second  son,  Sir  Robert 
Corbett,  had  for  his  inheritance  the  castle  and  estate  of  Cans,  with  a  large  part  of  his 
father's  domain.  The  latter's  sou,  also  named  Robert,  accompanied  Richard  I  to  the 
seige  of  Acre,  bearing  on  his  coat  of  arms  two  ravens,  which  have  since  been  the 
crest  of  his  descendants. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  to  trace  in  this  sketch  the  genealogy  of  the  family  from  its 
ancient  source.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  many  achieved  distin(5lion  in  politics,  the  church 
and  in  the  learned  professions,  while  one  of  the  descendants  on  the  maternal  side  is  a 
member  of  Parliament  at  the  present  time.  The  Corbetts  in  America  are  lineal 
descendants  of  this  ancient  and  honorable  family,  as  the  family  record  at  Mendon, 
Massachusetts,  clearly  indicates. 

s^he  father  of  Henry  Winslow  Corbett  was  a  mechanic,  and  at  Westborough 
estemlished  the  first  edged  tool  manufadtory  in  that  part  of  Massachusetts.  He  subse- 
quently removed  to  Washington  county,  N.  Y.,  where  he  continued  hismanufadturing 
business  until  forced  to  abandon  it  on  account  of  failing  health.  He  then  settled  in 
Cambridge,  in  the  same  county,  and  engaged  in  the  hotel  business  and  farming  until 
his  death  in  1845^  He  was  a  man  of  progressive  ideas  and  possessed  much  mechanical 
ingenuity.  Both  he  and  his  wife  were  consistent  Christians  and  by  precept  and 
example  exerted  a  most  wholesome  influence  upon  the  lives  and  characters  of  their 
children. 

43ie  boyhood  of  the  subjedl  of  this  sketch  was  passed  in  Washington  county,  N. 
Y.,  where,  until  he  reached  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  he  received  an  ordinary 
common  school  education.  At  the  age  named  he  commenced  his  business  career  in  a 
store  at  Cambridge,  where  he  remained  two  years  and  during  that  time  attended  the 
Cambridge  Academy.  He  then  returned  home  and  after  a  short  term  at  school, 
secured  a  clerkship  in  a  store  at  Salem,  the  county  seat.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he 
went  to  New  York  city,  and  secured  a  clerkship  in  the  dry  goods  store  of  Williams, 
Bradford  &  Co.,  serving  seven  years  in  that  business.  During  this  period  he  became 
firmly  established  in  the  confidence  of  his  employers,  and  in  0<Slober,  1850,  they 
furnished  him  the  necessary  capital  to  ship  a  general  line  of  merchandise  to  Portland, 
Oregon,  by  way  of  Cape  Horn  on  the  bark  Francis  and  Louise.  He  arrived  in  Port- 
land, March  4,  1851.  At  this  time  the  embryo  city  of  Portland  contained  about  400 
inhabitants  and  five  small  stores;  ^tumps  of  trees  were  standing  on  Front  street  and 


5  oj 


back  of  First  street  stood  the  virgiii  forest.  Ole  secured  the  rental  of  a  frame  building 


486  History  of  Portland. 


then  not  fully  completed,  pn  the  corner  of  Front  and  Oak  streets,  at  the  rate  of  $125 
per  month.  He  removed"  his  goods  to  the  second  storj'  of  this  building  before  it  was 
completed,  his  customers  being  obliged  to  ascend  a  flight  of  stairs.  AAt  night,'*  said 
Mr.  Corbett  to  the  writer,  "I  slept  in  the  store  and  when  I  was  ready  to  retire  I  pulled 
the  stairs  up  after  me.  '7  It  was  amid  these  rude  surroundings  that  Mr.  Corbett  began 
his  business  career  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Me  applietl  himself  to  his  work  with  all  the 
zeal  and  earnestness  which  have  ever  chara<?lerized  him  and  within  fourteen  months 
disposed  of  his  entire  stock  of  goods,  the  net  profit  of  his  venture  amounting  to  the 
sum  of  J20,000  with  which  he  returned  to  New  York,  but  b2fore  leaving  he  became 
associated  with  Robert  and  Finley  McLaren,  who  were  to  continue  the  business  in 
Portland.  He  remained  in  New  York  one  year  and  during  this  time  continued  to  ship 
goods  to  his  partners  in  Portland.  He  tlien  detennined  to  make  Portland  his  hom^ 
and  some  months  after  his  return  dissolved  with  his  partners  and^tablished  the 
business  in  his  own  name.  He  continued  to  do  a  general  merchandise  business  until 
1860,  when  he  changed  to  a  wholesale  hardware  business.  In  1871  he  consolidated 
with  Henr>'  Failing  and  established  the  firm  of  Corbett,  Failing  &  Co.,  which  h^ 
since  occupied  the  first  place  among  the  mercantile  houses  of  the  Pacific  Northwest/ 
V,Mr.  Corbett's  mercantile  operations,  great  and  successful  as  they  have  been,  rep- 
resent but  feebly  his  capabilities  and  achievements  in  the  business  world.  As  soon  as 
he  had  gained  a  fair  financial  start  in  his  adopted  home,  he  began  to  take  a  promi- 
nent part  in  those  enterprises  which  he  saw  were  needed  to  develop  the  resources  of 
the  country*.  He  first  turned  his  attention  towards  the  improvement  of  trans- 
portation facilities  on  the  rivers,  becoming  interested  in  steamboating.  He  was 
also  among  the  first  to  advocate  the  building  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  and 
while  in  the  Senate,  labored  zealously  for  the  project,  although  he  had  no  personal 
interest  to  subser\x  in  so  doingV/ After  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke,  to  carry  the  under- 
taking through,  he  assisted  in  the  re -organization  of  the  company  by  taking  a 
pecuniar^'  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and  from  that  time  until  its  completion,  was  one 
of  its  most  active  promoters.  In  the  winter  of  1865-6,  Mr.  Corbett  secured  the 
government  contract  to  carry  the  mail  between  San  Francisco  and  Oregon.\The  line, 
some  640  miles  in  length,  he  stocked  with  four-horse  stages,  and/ successfully  con- 
tinued the  business  until  his  election  to  the  United  States  Senatb,  when  he  relin- 
quished his  contract,  believing  his  relation  to  the  business  incompatible  with  his 
duties  as  a  public  servant/^ 

,.  In  1869,  with  Henr>'  Failing,  Mr.  Corbett  purchased  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
First  National  Bank,  of  Portland,  which  had  l)een  establishetl  four  years  previously. 
Its  business,  however,  was  then  ver>-  limited,^  deposits  amounting  to  about  $40,000. 
Under  the  new  management,  it  has  steadily  grown  in  magnitude  until  at  the  present 
time  it  is  at  the  very  head  of  the  financial  institutions  of  the  Northwest,  with  deposits 
aggregating  over  ^,000,000,  and  capital  and  surplus  over  J  1,000, 000.  Ljt  is  the 
oldest  and  strongest  National  Bank  in  the  Pacific  Northwest.  Henr>*  Failing  has 
been  president  ever  since  they  took  control,  and  since  his  retirement  from  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Corbett  has  been  vice-president.    > 

Numerous  are  the  other  business  enterprises  which  have  and  are  still  receiving 
substantial  encouragement  and  pecuniary-  assistance  from  Mr.  Corbett.  /He  is  a 
director  of  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company^ and  has  always  cast  his 
influence  in  behalf  of  liberal  measures  in   its  management,  and  to  secure  the  lowest 


Biographical.  487 


rates  of  transportation  possible  with  good  and  quick  service.  /He  is  also  largely 
interested  in  the  Portland  Rope  Works,  Oregon  Linseed  Oil  Wwks,  Street  Railway, 
Oregon  Transfer  Company  and  the  Oregon  Fire  &  Marine  Insurance  Company,  being 
vice-president  of  the  last  named  company.  At  present  he  is  president  of  the  com- 
pany which  has  completed  the  erection  of  a  magnificent  hotel  in  Portland\ 
only  second  in  size  to  the  Palace  Hotel,  of  San  Francisco.  He  was  ^largely 
instrumental  in  the  organization  of  the  Portland  Board  of  Trade,  and  for  sev- 
eral years  was  its  president.^  In  all  the  important  measures  this  body  has  materially 
assisted  in  bringing  about  pertaining  to  the  commercial  and  transportation  interests 
of  the  State,  Mr.  Corbett  has  been  foremost  by  his  counsel  and  hearty  co-operation. 
He  has  also  been  prominently  connected  with  the  Board  of  Immigration,  which  has 
already  done  much  for  this  section  of  the  Union.  <^e  is  a  large  owner  of  real  estate 
in  Portland  and  has  erected  some  of  the  finest  business  blocks  in  the  city.^ 

In  private  enterprises,  which  have  promised  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  city 
or  to  promote  the  moral  and  intellectual  good  of  his  fellow  citizensj^Mr.  Corbett  has 
responded  readily  and  wisely.  His  name  heads  every  subscription  list  to  worthy 
objects.  He  gave  J20,000  towards  the  erection  of  the  Presbyterian  Church;  made  a 
liberal  endowment  for  the  Children's  Home\a  most  successful  institution;  contributes 
largely  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Assooation,  the  Boys  and  Girls  Aid  Society  and 
Sailors'  Home;  in  fact  to  everything  he  gives,  and  so  quietly  and  so  modestly  that 
half  of  his  benefactions  are  not  suspected.  He  seeks  opportunity  to  do  good  and  to 
be  helpful  to  his  fellow  citizens  and  his  city.  sHe  was  reared  in  the  Presbyterian 
doctrine  and  for  many  years  has  been  a  consistent  member  of  this  denomination^but 
his  sympathy  and  substantial  encouragement  go  out  to  all  agencies,  irrespective  of 
religion  or  creed,  which  tend  to  ameliorate  suffering  and  to  improve  mankind./ In 
politics  Mr.  Corbett  was  originally  a  whig  and  a  devoted  follower  of  Henry  Clay. 
Upon  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party  in  Oregon  he  became  one  of  its  leaders 
and  as  chairman  of  the  State  Central  Committee  he  did  valiant  service  in  securing 
the  ascendency  of  his  party  in  Oregon,  and  at  the  convention  held  in  1860  1^  and 
Leander  Holmes  were^elected  delegates  to  the  Chicago  convention  which  nominated 
Abraham  Lincoln  for  the  presidency.  They  were  unable  to  reach  the  convention  in  tim^ 
and  Horace  Greely  represented  Oregon  by  proxies  from  Mr.  Corbett  and  Mr.  Holmes 
and  the  two  votes,  Mr.  Greely  was  thus  enabled  to  cast  for  Lincoln,  backed  by  his 
powerful  influence,  had  a  most  potent  effect,  if  it  did  not  really  determine  the  result 
in  favor  of  the  then  comparatively  little  known  statesman  who  was  destined  to  play 
such  a  grand  and  heroic  part  in  our  national  history. 

Mr.  Corbett  early  foresaw,  with  the  drifl  of  events  which  preceded  and  followed 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  war  between  the  North  and  South  was  inevitable, 
and  from  the  first  intimation  o^^the  approaching  struggle  he  became  an  uncompro- 
mising Union  man.  As  soon  as  the  South  decided  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  he 
realized  the  danger  of  delay,  and  shortly  afler  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  while  in 
New  York  City  and  conversing  with  Horace  Greely,  whose  idea  originally  was  to '  'let  our 
erring  sisters  depart  in  peace;"  he  boldly  said:  "It  is  my  conviction  that  the  war  should 
be  prosecuted  with  the  utmost  vigor  to  coerce  the  States  that  have  placed  themselves  in 
open  hostility  to  the  government. '  '^  This  will  serve  to  show  the  breadth  of  his  views 
and  the  keenness  of  his  insight  into  the  requirements  of  the  emergency  of  the  times. 
Upon  his  return  to  Oregon  he  put  forth  /every  effort  to  induce  all  loyal  men  to 


488  History  of  Portland. 


combine  against  the  heresy  of  secession,  and  as  chairman  of  the  Republican  State 
Central  Committee  strongly  advocated  the  union  of  the  Republican  and  Douglas  or 
war  Democrats.  This  was,  in  great  measure,  successful,  and  at  a  union  convention 
held  in  Eugene  City,  April  9,  1862,  he  was  strongly  solicited  to  become  the  randidatr 
for  governor,  but  having  no  personal  ambition  in  this  direction  he  declined  the  honor 
and  A.  C.  Gibbs  was  selected./  So  well  managed  was  the  campaign  that  followed  that 
^Ir.  Gibbs  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  5,000  votes  whereas  the  usual  Democratic 
majority  had  been  2,500^ 

Wliile  Mr.  Corbett  continued  to  take  a  most  active  and  influential  part  in 
N^aintaining  the  a«:endency  of  his  party  during  the  war  period,  he  was  a<fhiated  by  no 
personal  ambition/  He  believed  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  and  purposes  of 
the  party  was  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and  his  labors  were 
prompted  by  purely  oatriotic  motives.  He  never  sought  or  had  any  special  desire  for 
official  position,  bifT  in  1866,  when  some  of  the  Republican  members  of  the  legis- 
lature, who  recognized  his  unselfish  labors  in  behalf  of  the  organization  of  the  party, 
asked  the  privilege  of  using  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  United  States  Senator,  in 
case  they  were  unable  to  agree  upon  any  of  the  candidates  who  had  already  entered 
the  field,  he  consented,  but  under  the  provision  that  his  name  was  not  to  be  brought 
forward  if  it  should  create  discord  in  the  party.  After  several  unsuccessfid  ballots, 
when  it  seemed  impossible  to  secure  harmonious  action  on  any  candidate,  a  majority 
of  the  Republicans  signed  an  agreement  to  support  Mr.  Corbett;  informed  him  of  their 
intention  and  asked  permission  to  present  his  nameX  He  then  went  to  Salem,  bnt 
ascertaining  that  some  of  the  other  candidates  were  dissatisfied  with  the  proposed 
settlement  of  the  election,  he  notified  his  friends  he  would  not  enter  the  race  unless 
perfe<5l  harmony  could  be  secured.  But  while  on  his  return  to  Portland  he  was 
notified  of  his  ele<5lion  as  successor  to  Hon.  J.  W.  Nesmith. 

He  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the  responsible  duties  of  his  position  in  March, 
1867.  It  was  at  a  period  when  all  of  the  financial  heresies  which  followed  the 
conclusion  of  the  war  confronted  the  nation,  and  when  the  vexed  questions  which 
arose  from  the  restoration  to  the  Union  of  the  seceding  States  were  still  imsettled.  On 
the  floor  of  the  Senate  he  had  to  contend  with  some  of  the  most  experienced  and 
wisest  legislators,  several  of  whom  are  still  conspicuous  in  national  affairs.  Equally 
a  stranger  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  deliberate  bodies,  he  applied 
himself  to  his  senatorial  lal>ors  with  characteristic  fidelity  and  by  his  votes  and 
speeches  made  a  record  which  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events  fully  demonstrated 
the  wisdom  of  his  course.  His  thorough  practical  knowledge  of  financial  afiairs 
permitted  him  to  clearly  understand  and  expose  the  financial  heresies  of  the  period, 
and  to  this  important  branch  of  national  legislation  he  addressed  himself  with  all  the 
force  and  power  of  his  nature.  Alis  arguments  on  the  resumption  of  specie  payment, 
funding  of  the  national  debt  at  a  lower  rate  of  interest  and  longer  time,  and  his 
determined  opposition  to  all  plans  that  savored  in  the  least  of  bad  faith  or  repudia- 
tion's^ have  proven  his  judgment  correct  in  every  particular,  not  only  according  to  the 
logic  of  morals  but  on  the  ground  of  expediency  as  well. 

-C^T.  Corbett's  first  speech  on  national  finances  was  delivered  December  13,  1867, 
in  support  of  his  bill  to  substitute  gold  notes  for  legal  tender  notes,  and  to  facilitate 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  x  He  strongly  condemned  the  continuance 
of    a    system    of    irredeemable    pap^r   money    and    showed    that   the   productive 


Biographical.  489 


industry  and  commerce  of  the  country  were  crippled  by  the  artificial,  delusive  and 
fickle  valuation  which  such  a  system  occasioned.  He  declared  that  a  weU  regulated 
business  basis  could  not  be  reached  until  a  return  was  made  as  soon  and  as  prudently 
as  possible  to  a  specie  basis.  He  proposed  to  reach  this  result  by  a  gradual  substi- 
tution of  gold  notes  for  the  then  existing  legal  tenders.  In  the  course  of  his  speech 
Mr.  Corbett  said: 

"If  we  would  build  our  foundation  strong  and  permanent  we  must  commence  to 
clear  away  the  rubbish,  remove  the  shifting  sands,  and  dig  until  we  strike  the  bed 
rock  of  specie.  Build  upon  that  rock,  issue  your  paper  currency  upon  that,  let  it  be 
little  or  much,  so  that  the  people  can  see  that  there  is  a  paper  currency  that  will  draw 
gold  whenever  presented.  This  will  be  something;  it  will  be  a  commencement. 
Putting  ofif  the  day  only  makes  our  destruction  the  more  sure.  How  easy  it  is  to 
quiet  the  clamor  of  drunken  men  if  you  will  only  listen  to  their  entreaties  for  more 
poison  !  Is  that  any  reason  why  we  should  give  it  them,  when  we  know  it  is  slowly 
but  the  more  surely  leading  them  on  to  destruction  ?  Sir,  the  nation  is  intoxicated! 
Shall  we  continue  to  give  them  financial  poison  or  say  stop  until  they  return  to 
reason  ? 

*' In  what  do  we  pay  the  balance  against  us?  It  is  paid  in  gold  or  United  States 
stocks.  What  will  be  the  result  when  the  gold  and  United  States  stocks  are  all 
exhausted  ?  Can  we  then  resume  specie  payment  ?  I  think  not.  As  a  war  measure 
the  Government  had  a  right  to  issue  its  notes,  and  make  them  temporarily  legal 
tender  for  the  purposes  of  carrying  on  the  war;  but  it  cannot  be  with  truth  assumed 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Government  to  substitute  this  species  of  currency  so 
as  to  supercede  entirely  an  international  currency,  a  ciurency  so  long  recognized  by 
our  own  countrj",  and  the  only  kind  of  currency  regarded  as  money  by  the  other 
great  commercial  nations  with  whom  we  deal.  If  it  had  been  so  contemplated 
Congress  would  not  have  made  a  distinction  in  the  currency  by  making  the  duties  on 
imports  payable  in  gold.  It  was  only  intended  as  a  measure  of  temporary  necessity, 
and  it  was  undoubtedly  the  intention  of  the  Government  to  return  to  specie  at  the 
earliest  practicable  moment.  While  the  present  state  of  depreciated  currency  exists, 
none  but  unsound,  unwise,  and  ventursome  traders  will  invest  their  money  in  the 
products  of  the  country  for  the  purpose  of  exp>ort,  with  the  prospect  of  finding  when 
they  return  to  our  market  that  what  they  have  brought  in  return  will  not  bring  them 
as  much  in  gold  as  the  cargo  with  which  they  started,  in  consequence  of  the 
depreciation  of  our  currency.  Therefore  it  is  a  great  hinderance  and  drawback  to 
the  increase  of  our  commercial  and  shipping  interests.  This  legal-tender  currency 
acts,  with  the  consequent  cost  of  exchanging  gold  for  legal  tenders  and  legal  tenders 
for  gold,  as  a  protective  tariff  to  foreign  countries.  It  enhances  the  price  of  every 
kind  of  product  to  such  an  extent  as  almost  to  preclude  our  competition  with  them. 

•'  To  expect  a  continued  expansion  until  every  private  speculator  disposes  of  his 
stock,  and  until  every  one  disposes  of  his  goods  on  hand  that  have  cost  him  too 
high  in  consequence  of  a  depreciated  currency,  would  be  simply  ruinous.  Kach 
imagines  he  is  losing  money.  The  whole  trouble  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  has  estimated 
legal-tender  notes  as  money,  whereas  they  are  only  a  promise  to  pay  at  a  conven- 
ient season,  and  when  he  sells  those  for  real  money ^  gold,  he  finds  the  legal-tender 
stock  on  hand,  like  his  other  notes  and  accounts,  will  not  bring  dollar  for  dollar,  and 
that  he  must  look  to  his  large  profits  incidental  to  an  inflated  currency  to  supply  the 
deficiency,  as  he  does  to  his  profits  on  goods  to  meet  his  losses  on  baa  accounts. 

"The  stringency  of  the  times  compared  with  the  time  when  there  was  a  much 
larger  amount  of  currency  in  circulation  must  be  attributed  to  some  extent  to  a 
transition  from  an  inflated  to  a  sound^  gold  basis,  and  to  a  greater  extent  to  the 
speculation  and  over-trading  of  the  community  incident  to  the  plethoric  currency 
that  has  existed  for  the  few  years  past.  Previous  to  the  war  we  were  not  able  to  prevent 
this  over-trading  and  the  results  that  ensued;  neither  can  we  do  it  now  unless  we 
continue  to  blow  up  the  bubble  of  our  currency  and  expand  it  to  suit  popular  clamor, 
and  if  we  do  so  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  how  long  it  will  float,  or  how  soon  it 
will  burst  and  fall  to  the  ground.      Therefore,   I  appeal  to  your  good  judgment  to 


490  History  of  Portland. 


look  l>eyond  the  present,  look  to  the  future,  to  the  permanent  and  abiding  pros- 
perity of  this  great  and  powerful  nation.  Let  not  other  nations  sap  the  foundation 
from  beneath  our  feet  while  we  sleep  in  fancied  security  Uf)on  our  beds  of  green- 
backs. ' ' 

■i^erhaps  Mr.  Corbett's  ablest  speech  was  delivered  on   the  Funding  Bill,  Ffbruarj- 

11,  1869,  Vhen  in  rising  to  give  notice  that  he  would  ofFer^n  amendment  to  the  bill 

making  tne  bonds  in  question,  redeemable  in  coin  after  twenty   years  instead  of  ten, 

he  turned  his  attention  to  tlie  statement  of  Senator  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  who  said  that 

for  one,  he  would  vote  to  pay  off  the  five-twenty  bonds  in  legal-tend^i^*' providing  the 

holders  do  not  see  fit  to  exchange  their  securities  for  bonds  bearing  one  per  cent,  less 

interest  than  those  now  held  by  them."  ^n  this  point,  Mr.  Corbett  said  : 

**  With  such  a  proposition  I  cannot  agree.  The  solemn  obligations  resting  upon  me 
as  a  Senator  and  tlie  solemnobligation  resting  upon  the  Government  in  this  crisis  of 
our  financial  struggle  forbid^  A  struggle,  I  say,  Ijecause  it  is  a  struggle  with  ourselves 
whether  we  will  pay  our  iKmds,  as  tliey  mature,  in  dollars  or  with  our  irredeemable 
notes,  made  a  legal  tender  under  the  pressure  of  war,  and,  as  a  war  measure,  to  be 
redeemed  with  gold  at  the  close  of  the  war  or  funded  into  United  States  bonds  bearing 
interest  that  should  be  equivalent  to  gold.  Why  did  you  pay  seven  and  three  tenths 
per  cent,  interest  if  you  considered  the  principal  payable  in  currency  ?  Why  not  have 
made  your  interest  six  per  cent.?  For  the  verj'  reason  that  you  regarded  the 
principal  and  intended  making  the  principal  payable  in  coin,  and  you  paid  the  one 
and  three  tenths  interest  over  and  above  the  six  per  cent,  to  make  it  equivalent  to 
coin  interest  upon  a  debt,  to  be  funded  into  a  six  per  cent,  bond,  redeemble  after  five 
years,  providing  you  should  have  resumed  specie  payment;  otherwise,  to  run  until 
you  could  redeem  them  any  time  during  the  fifteen  years  next  succeeding.  It  w^ 
doubtless  thought  that  after  the  five  years  we  could  negotiate  a  loan  upon  more 
favorable  terms,  and  we  doubtless  can  negotiate  such  a  loan,  providing  that  we  will 
make  the  loan  payable  in  forty  years  and  redeemable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Govern- 
ment, after  twenty  years.  The  longer  the  loan  the  more  popular,  providing  it  is  with 
a  Government  that  has  always  observed  its  obligations  without  quibble  or  question. 

'*  It  is  not  for  the  present  that  I  speak,  but  it  is  that  great,  grand,  and  glorious  future 
that  I  see  for  my  country  looming  up  before  me,  powerful  and  mighty  as  she  is  to  be, 
destined  to  withstand,  as  one  day  she  will,  all  the  governments  of  the  crowned  heads  of 
Europe,  if  occasion  requires.  I  would  lay  our  credit  deep  and  broad,  not  for  one 
century,  but  for  a  hundred  centuries.  Let  us  not  look  too  much  to  our  puny 
selves.'  We  need  only  look  back  a  hundred  years  to  the  march  of  events,  when 
an  American  drew  the  lightning  from  heaven  to  see  if  it  could  be  made  subservient  to 
man.  Another  American  takes  it  up  and  teaches  it  to  speak,  and  it  is  heard  a 
thousand  miles  distant  over  distant  portions  of  our  country.  Another  American  takes 
it  up  and  stretches  his  eleclric  wires  through  the  vast  ocean  for  thousands  of  miles, 
and  he  makes  it  talk  to  all  Kurope.  Need  I  recall  to  mind  the  revolution  caused  by 
Fulton,  another  American,  in  adapting  steam  to  the  propelling  power  upon  the 
Hudson.  Look  at  your  floating  palaces  upon  our  rivers;  your  steamships  on  the 
Atlantic;  and  that  magnificent  line  of  ships  upon  the  Pacific  and  China  seas;  and  j*et 
it  is  only  three-score  years.  Look  at  your  perlecl  network  of  railroads  East  and  West, 
and  all  this  has  been  accomplished  in  a  little  over  thirty  years.  Therefore  let  us  keep 
our  armor  bright  and  our  credit  untarnished  and  look  to  time,  to  the  great  future,  as 
our  remedy  for  this  burden.  To  say  that  we  cannot  pay  the  interest  on  this  debt  is 
folly;  there  is  no  such  sentiment  in  the  American  heart;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they 
are  determined  to  do  and  accomplish  what  ^o  other  nation  has  tlie  internal  wealth 
and  vigor  to  do.  Many  croakers  said  that  we  could  not  put  down  this  rebellion;  the 
people  said,  "We  will  try."  All  the  people  now  ask  is  that  you  should  try  to  pay  the 
debt.  As  for  myself,  I  never  had  a  doubt  that  we  could  put  down  the  rebellion. 
Neither  have  I  a  doubt  but  that  we  can  pay  this  debt  in  dollars. 

"Public  credit  should  be,  "like  Caesar's  wife,  above  suspicion."  What  shall  we 
gain  by  paying  off  these  bonds  in  legal -tender  notes,  and  where  are  we  to  get  these  notes? 
From  the  sale  of  the  five  per  cent  United  States  bonds,  when  you  declare  that  you 


Biographical.  491 


will  pay  these  five-twenty  bonds  in  legal-tender  notes.  What  do  you  suppose  you  will 
get  for  your  ten-forty  five  per  cent,  loan?  What  you  make  by  dishonoring  your  six 
per  cent  bonds,  you  will  lose  upon  your  five  per  cent,  bonds.  Do  you  suppose  capi- 
talists will  invest  in  a  five  per  cent,  loan,  that  you  can  repudiate  with  as  much  reason 
as  we  can  in  honesty  this  six  per  cent,  loan?  What  amount  shall  we  save  in  interest 
per  annum  if  you  determine  to  force  people  to  take  the  five  per  cent,  in  place  of  the 
six  per  cent?  It  is  very  easy  to  calculate  it  upon  Jl ,610,272,900.  The  five-twenty 
bonds,  at  one  per  cent.,  amounts  to  about  sixteen  millions.  The  (question  now  arises, 
can  we  afford  to  sell  our  plighted  faith  for  this  sum?  My  proposition  is  to  substitute  a 
twenty-forty  loan  instead  of  a  ten-forty  loan.  A  long  loan  nnds  a  much  more  ready 
sale  than  a  short  loan.  I  propose  to  give  these  five- twenty  bondholders  the  privilege 
of  exchanging  their  bonds  for  a  long  loan,  bearing  interest  at  five  per  cent., 
principal  and  interest  payable  in  coin,  and  free  from  State,  municipal,  or  local 
taxation.  This  is  an  equivalent  to  a  tax  upon  their  income  of  sixteen  and  two-thirds 
per  cent.    This  is  a  large  deduction . 

•*  When  we  look  to  the  future  of  this  great  Republic,  embracing  twenty-three 
degrees  of  longitude  by  fifty-seven  degrees  of  latitude,  with  all  variety  of  climate, 
producing  the  most  delicate  and  delicious  fruits  of  the  South,  with  abundance  of  the 
more  substantial  productions  of  the  temperate  zone  and  the  hardy  productions  of  the 
North — when  we  contemplate  this  vast  and  varied  country,  its  climate,  its  production 
for  the  sustenance,  comfort  and  luxury  of  man,  the  vast  resources  of  all  its  varied 
hidden  riches  of  the  earth,  composing  metals  for  all  the  most  substantial  and  useful 
arts  of  life,  with  all  the  most  precious  metals  to  tempt  the  cupidity  of  man;  test  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  it  sends  forth  its  fatness  in  living  streams  of  oil  like  the  perennial 
fountain;  add  to  these  our  beds  of  coal,  our  forests  of  timber,  our  mountains  of  iron, 
where  is  its  equal  ?  Have  we  tlie  capacity  to  make  them  useful — who  doubts  it  ? 
With  all  the  thousands  of  inventors,  combining  the  greatest  inventive  genius  of  the 
world,  we  can  outstrip  all  other  nations  combined.  A  population  from  every  land 
and  nation  under  the  sun,  a  land  now  happily  free  from  the  oppressor's  ro<l,  to  be 
rebuilt  upon  a  firm  and  enduring  foundation  made  sacred  and  cemented  by  the  bloo<l 
of  a  million  of  our  noblest  sons. 

•'Therefore,  let  us  not  crown  this  temple,  hewn  by  the  sweat  of  so  many  brows, 
reared  by  the  blood  of  so  many  brave  lads,  with  the  capstone  of  repudiation.  Let  us 
do  nothing  as  a  great  and  noble  and  suffering  people  that  shall  detract  from  the 
honor  of  those  that  lie  .silent  and  cold  in  their  blood-bought  graves,  with  naught  but 
their  country's  banner  over  them.  To  me,  Mr.  President,  my  duty  is  plain;  my  duty 
to  the  men  that  came  forward  to  supply  our  suffering  army,  to  succor  our  noble  boys, 
in  the  days  of  the  national  darkness  and  despair,  and  to  the  capitalists  of  Germany,  of 
Frankfort,  who  took  our  securities,  and  spewed  out  the  rebel  bonds,  and  gave  to  us 
money,  the  sinew  of  war,  to  assist  us  in  maintaining  the  life  of  the  nation.  I  need 
not  the  example  of  other  nations  to  tell  me  what  is  right  between  man  and  man  or 
between  nation  and  nation;  it  needs  not  the  shrewd  argument  of  a  lawyer  to  tell  me 
what  is  due  to  my  creditor — if  there  is  any  one  thing  that  I  regard  more  sacred  in 
life,  after  my  duty  to  my  God,  it  is  to  fulfill  all  m^'  engagements,  both  written  and 
implied,  and  nothing  shall  drive  nic  from  this  position." 

The  above  will  give   a   fair   idea   of  Mr.  Corbett's  power  of    reasoning.     Space 

forbids  our  following  in  detail  the  determined  stand  he  took  against  all   measures 

which  seemed  to  savor  of  bad  faith  or  repudiation  of  any  of  the  financial  obligations 

the  government  had  incurred  to  carry  on  the  war.     In  his  many  speeches  in  behalf  of 

sustaining  the  national  credit  he  displayed  unusual  powers  of  statement  and  of  close 

logical  argument,  and  no  mere  extracts  can  do  them  justice.      They  are   recorded  in 

the  archives  of  the  national  government  and  history  has  already  proved  the  soundness 

and  wisdom   of  the   \4ews  they   contain.      Most  of  the    great   financial   ideas  he 

advocated  have  been  adopted,  and  to-day  our  four  per  cent,  government  bonds  have 

sold  for  higher  prices  than  the  British  three  per  cent  consols,  and  are  considered  the 

best  security  in  the  world. 


I 


492  History  of  Portland. 


< 


\%liile  Mr.  Corbett  gave  much  of  his  time  and  attention  to  grave  national  qncstioiis 
he  was  br  no  means  mimindfiil  of  the  needs  of  the  State  he  represented.  'U'hen  he 
took  his  seat,  the  ocean  mail  service  between  Portland  and  San  Francisco  had  been 
discontinued.  Through  his  efforts  this  was  s|>eedil y  restored.  \  Among  other  local 
measures  which  especiaUy  received  his  attention  and  were  cmied  out,  wcre^the 
remo\'al  of  obstruction  to  navigation  in  the  Willamette  River,  the  erection  of  light 
houses  along  the  coast  and  the  location  of  fog  whistles  and  buoys  to  mark  the 
channel  of  the  navigable  streams?  an  additional  customs  district  with  port  of  entry 
and  bonded  warehouse  was  established;  large  addition  was  made  to  to  the  appropri- 
ations to  survey  the  public  lands  in  Oregon;  the  headquarters  of  the  Military 
Department  of  the  Columbia  were  removed  from  Washington  Territory  to  Oregon, 
ancKan  appropriation  was  secured  to  erect  the  Post  Office  building  at  Portland.  ^The 
opening  up  of  new  lines  of  communication  and  securing  greater  facilities  in  the  use  of 
old  ones  were  matters  of  constant  thought  and  care  and  received  all  the  advantages 
which  his  personal  influence  and  extensive  commercial  experience  commanded. 

Near  the  close  of  his  senatorial  term  an  ovation  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Corbett  at  his 
home  in  Portland  by  his  fellow  citizens  and  in  the  address  of  welcome  his  political 
career  was  reviewed  as  follows  by  the  speaker  of  the  occasion:  **As  citizens  of 
Oregon  and  perhaps  just  now  better  situated  than  yourself  to  judge  correctly  of  the 
sentiment  prevailing  throughout  the  State,  we  congratulate  you  upon  having  so 
prudently  and  effectually  served  the  public  that  there  are  few,  if  any,  whether 
members  of  the  party  that  elected  you,  or  of  the  opposition,  who  express  dissatis> 
faction  with  your  course.  The  Republicans  say  you  have  been  true  to  the  principles 
of  the  party  and  faithful  to  the  pledges  implied  in  receiving  the  office  at  their  hands; 
the  Democrats  admit  that  you  have  been  no  ungenerous  opponent;  while  both  agree 
that  your  conduct  on  all  occasions  has  been  governed  by  considerations  affecting  the 
welfare  of  our  common  country,  and  not  by  those  of  part\'  expediency  or  personal 
advantage.  Such  indorsement  and  approbation  by  an  intelligent  people  is  hi^  praise 
in  these  times  of  corruption  in  high  places— in  these  times  when  it  is  almost  expected 
that  wealth,  and  social  position,  and  commercial  enterprise,  and  local  power,  and 
official  patronage,  will  join  in  any  unholy  alliance  and  adopt  any  means,  howsoever 
corrupt,  that  may  appear  necessary-  to  bribe  the  weak  and  bruise  the  strong  into 
lending  their  aid  and  countenance  to  the  schemes  of  ambitious  and  selfish  men  for 
personal  aggrandizement  and  private  plunder."  This  was  strong  praise  but  richly 
deserved, and  the  historian  who  records  the  political  period  in  which  he  so  conspicuously 
figured  will  give  him  a  high  place  among  the  statesman  who  left  the  impress  of 
their  work  upon  the  destiny  of  the  nation. 

^^r.  Corbett  was  married  in  February',  1853  to  Miss  Caroline  E.  Jagger,  who  died 
in  1865,  leaving  him  two  sons,  both  bom  in  Portland,  the  younger  of  whom,  Ham- 
ilton F.  Corbett,  died  a  few  years  ago.  The  elder  son,  Henry  J.  Corbett,  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  is  assistant  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank,  and  has  inherited 
his  father's  tastes  and  aptitude  for  business.  In  1867,  Mr.  CiH-bett  was  again 
married,  to  Miss  Emma  L.  Ruggles,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  a  lady  of  rare 
character  and  mind,  whose  graces  and  social  accomplishments  are  the  best  adorn- 
ment of  his  home,  and  make  it  the  center  of  a  charmed  and  charming  circle.  \Their 
Portland  residence  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  in  a  city  noted  for  its  elegant  dwell- 
ings, while  their  summer  home  on  the  Columbia  River,  called  the  **  Highlands,"  is  a 
delightful  retreat.^ 


Biographical.  493 


<tn  person,  Mr.  Corbett  is  six  feet  high,  straight  and  spare  in  figure,  but  symmet- 
rically formedX  Cautious,  cool-headed  and  decided,  he  is  not  an  inviting  mark  for 
the  wiles  of  the  schemer  or  imposter,  but  he .  is  thoroughly  approachable,  respectful 
and  considerate  toward  those  whom  he  meets,  and  utterly  lacking  either  in  tlie 
arrogance  of  small  greatness,  or  in  the  still  more  objectionable  truckling  and 
assumed  bonbommie  of  the  small  politician.  He  is  thoroughly  dignified,  and  yet 
his  manners  are  so  unassumingly  easy  that  one-  hardly  notices  them.  Indeed  he  is 
a  fine  type  of  that  well  approved  manhood  in  which  courtesy,  kindness,  dignity, 
culture,  honor  and  charity  are  most  happily  blended.  To  these  excellences  can  be 
added  unswerving  integrity,  honesty  of  purpose,  purity  of  thought  and  act,  and 
those  crowning  virtues  bom  of  an  ever  present  and  controlling  moral  sentiment. 
His  career  shows  what  can  be  accomplished  by  steady  and  quiet  energy,  directed  by 
sound  judgment  and  high  purpose.  His  name  has  been  associated  with  numberless 
successful  enterprises,  but  not  one  failure,  and  he  is  justly  entitled  to  a  foremost 
place  among  those  who  have  created,  established  and  maintained  the  commercial 
and  industrial  supremacy  of  Portland. 


DEADY,  Matthew  P.  Any  work  professing  to  describe  the  representative 
men  of  the  Pacific  Coast  would  be  very  incomplete  which  failed  to  present  a 
sketch  of  the  life  and  labors  of  the  distinguished  jurist  whose  name  stands  at  the 
head  of  this  article.  Coming  to  Oregon  in  the  flower  of  his  early  manhood,  he  has 
grown  with  the  growth  of  his  adopted  State,  and  strengthened  with  her  strength. 
His  hand  and  mind  are  everywhere  seen  in  her  constitution,  her  laws  and  her  polity. 
Her  material  advancement  has  been  greatly  promoted  by  his  efforts,  and  his  name 
will  ever  remain  indelibly  impressed  upon  her  history. 

Judge  Deady  was  bom  near  Kaston,  in  Talbot  County,  Maryland,  on  May  12, 
1824.  His  parents  were  substantial  and  respectable  people,  his  father  being  a  teacher 
by  profession.  In  1828,  the  family  removed  to  Wheeling,  Virginia,  where  the 
father  was  employed  as  principal  of  the  Lancasterian  Academy  for  some  years.  In 
1834  the  mother  died  on  her  way  back  to  Wheeling  from  Baltimore,  where  the 
family  had  gone  on  a  visit  to  her  father.  In  1837  young  Deady  removed  to  Ohio 
with  his  father,  and  spent  some  years  on  a  farm.  He  left  the  farm  in  1841,  and 
went  to  Barnesville,  where  for  four  years  he  wrought  at  the  anvil  and  attended  the 
then  somewhat  famous  Barnesville  Academy,  working  as  well  at  the  forge  of  thought 
as  that  of  matter,  hammering  and  shaping  to  his  mind  the  ores  of  knowledge,  found 
in  the  mine  of  good  books.  Having  completed  his  apprenticeship,  he  listened  to  the 
promptings  of  ^  laudable  ambition  and  determined  to  read  law,  a  profession  that 
reserves  its  rewards  and  honors  for  those  alone  who  combine  great  mental  p>ower  with 
severe  application.  Supporting  himself  by  teaching  school,  he  began  the  study  of 
law  in  1845,  with  the  Hon.  William  Kennon,  of  St.  Clairsville,  Ohio,  since  on  the 
Supreme  Bench  of  the  State,  and  now  deceased.  In  October,  1847,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and  commenced  practice  in  St.  Clairsville. 

He  crossed  the  plains  to  Oregon  in  the  year  1849.  Here  he  supported  himself 
during  the  winter  by  teaching,  and  in  the  spring  of  1850,  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  and  soon  became  a  man  of  mark  in  the  community.  Such  was  the 
confidence  he  inspired  that  he  was  chosen  from  Yamhill  County  at  the  June  election 


494  History  of  Portland. 


in  1850,  to  the  lower  house  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  in  which  he  was  an  active 
and  leading  member  during  the  session  of  1850.  In  1851,  after  a  severe  contest,  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Territorial  Council,  from  the  same  county,  over  David 
Logan,  and  served  as  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  that  body,  in  the 
session  of  1851-2,  and  as  presiding  officer  during  the  special  session  of  July,  1852, 
and  the  regular  one  of  1852-3. 

At  this  early  period  of  his  career  he  had  already  won  his  spurs,  and  was  generally 
recognized  as  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  country,  both  at  the  Bar  and  in  the 
Legislature.  He  was  strongly  urged  in  the  spring  of  1853,  as  a  candidate  for 
Delegate  to  Congress,  but  received  the  appointment  of  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  Territory,  which  he  accepted  and  held  by  subsequent  reappoint- 
ment, until  the  admission  of  the  State  to  the  Union  in  February  14,  1859.  Soon 
after  his  appointment,  he  removed  to  the  Southern  District,  then  comprising  the 
country  south  of  the  Calapooia  Mountains,  and  settled  in  the  Valley  of  the  Umpqua 
upon  a  farm,  where  still  may  be  seen  the  fruitful  orchards  and  vines  planted  and 
trained  by  his  own  hands  during  the  intervals  of  judicial  labor.  Whilst  occupying 
this  position,  he  was  elected  from  Douglas  County  one  of  the  Delegates  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  that  met  at  Salem  in  1857,  and  formed  the  present  Constitution 
of  the  State.  Of  this  body  he  was  chosen  president  and  took  an  active  and  influential 
part  in  its  deliberations  and  conclusions.  In  a  brief  sketch  of  Judge  Deady,  written 
by  the  present  editor  of  the  Oregonian,  it  is  said,  in  illusion  to  the  part  borne  by 
Judge  Deady  in  the  framing  of  this  Constitution:  "Many  parts  of  the  instrument 
were  either  suggested  by  him  or  modified  by  his  hand.  He  procured  the  insertion  of 
the  clause  in  relation  to  suffi-age,  which  requires  persons  of  foreign  birth  to  declare 
their  intention  to  become  citizens  at  least  one  year  before  they  are  allowed  to  vote;— 
a  measure  which  is  necessary  in  every  State  to  insure  the  purity  of  elections.  Others 
wished  to  allow  the  privilege  of  suffrage  to  every  person  of  foreign  birth  who  had 
been  six  months  in  the  State,  immediately  upon  his  declaration  to  become  a  citizen;  a 
policy  which  opens  a  wide  door  for  fraud,  as  it  offers  an  inducement  to  persons  to 
declare  their  intention  to  assume  citizenship  for  the  special  purpose  of  voting,  and 
puts  it  in  the  power  of  politicians  to  make  use  of  them  on  special  occasions  to 
exercise  an  undue  influence  in  elections.  By  his  efforts,  also,  the  official  terms  of 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  made  six  years  instead  of  four.  In  the  conven- 
tion, there  were  those  who  advocated  annual  sessions  of  the  Legislature  and  the 
election  of  the  Governor  and  officers  of  the  Administrative  Department  every  two 
years.  Judge  Deady  advocated  biennial  sessions  of  the  Legislature  and  official 
tenures  for  these  officers  of  four  years'  duration,  and  his  views  were  adopted.  He  was 
an  earnest  advocate  of  those  provisions  of  the  Constitution  which  secure  the  State 
against  the  creation  of  large  indebtedness,  prevent  the  Legislature  from  lending  the 
credit  of  the  State  to  any  corporation,  and  prohibit  counties,  cities  and  towns  from 
subscribing  money  to  corporate  bodies,  or  creating  excessive  liabilities.  Experience 
has  shown  that  for  an  infant  State  these  are  wholesome  restrictions.  He  opposed 
those  clauses  of  the  Constitution  which  attempted  to  prevent  the  coming  of  Chinese 
and  persons  of  African  descent  into  the  State,  holding  that  such  attempts  to  restrict 
intercourse  were  in  conflict  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  it  is 
proper  to  add  that  time  has  fully  sustained  his  position. ' ' 


Biographical.  495 


At  the  first  election  under  this  Constitution,  Judge  Deady  was  elected  from  the 
Southern  District,  without  opposition,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State;  but  being  upon  the  admission  of  the  State  in  1859,  also  appointed  Judge 
of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  the  State,  he  accepted  the  latter  position,  and 
removed  to  Portland  in  1860,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided  and  sat  in  the  District 
and  Circuit  Courts  with  marked  industry,  integrity  and  ability.  In  1861-2  he 
prepared  and  reported  to  the  Legislature  of  1862  the  present  Code  of  Civil  Procedure. 
It  was  adopted  with  two  small  amendments,  and,  with  slight  alterations,  has 
constituted  the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure  for  the  State  since  it  went  into  effect  in 
May,  1863.  At  the  request  of  the  Legislature  of  1862  he  also  prepared  and  reported 
to  the  Legislature  of  1864,  a  Code  of  Criminal  I^rocedure,  including  the  definition 
of  crimes  and  their  punishments,  which  was  passed  at  that  session  without  amend- 
ment and  which,  substantially,  is  still  in  force.  These  codes  will  ever  remain  worthy 
monuments  to  the  fame  of  their  author.  Wherever  the  common  law  has  been 
changed  or  modified  in  these  codes,  it  has  been  done  in  no  iconoclastic  spirit.  Indeed, 
the  reverence  which  Judge  Deady  entertains  for  its  maxims  and  teachings  is  every- 
where apparent,  yet  he  has  not  permitted  conservatism  or  tradition  to  stay  the  hand 
of  improvement,  or  prevent  the  adoption  of  progressive  ideas.  In  an  able  and 
instructive  lecture  entitled  "Law  and  Lawyers,"  delivered  before  the  Portland  Law 
Association,  December  6,  1866,  Judge  Deady  proceeds  to  demonstrate  that  "what  are 
supposed  by  many  to  be  innovations  upon  the  common  law,  in  the  modem  codes  of 
procedure,  so  far  from  being  changes,  are  often  only  a  return  to  the  old  way,  after  an 
exhaustive  trial  of  experiments  to  the  contrary,"  and  concludes  "that  the  modem 
codes  of  procedure,  instead  of  superceding  the  common  law,  are,  in  a  great  measure, 
a  return  to  it,  and  a  re-establishment  of  its  early  and  elementary  principles."  He 
adds:  "True,  the  artificial  distinctions  between  •  the  forms  of  action  at  the  common 
law  have  been  abolished.  On  this  accoimt,  much  of  the  curious  and  fanciful  learning 
of  the  books  which  treat  of  the  practice  at  common  law,  have  become  useless.  But 
these  distinctions  were  the  mere  outgrowth,  or,  as  the  logicians  say,  separable 
accidents  of  the  system — the  professional  fashion  of  the  times,  and  the  system  itself 
is  independent  of  them."  In  another  part  of  the  same  lecture  he  advises  his 
auditors  not  to  remain  satisfied  with  such  a  knowledge  as  may  be  gleaned  from  the 
modem  codes  and  practice  reports,  but  to  turn  their  faces  to  the  past  and  explore  the 
fields  of  the  common  law."  These  and  other  quotations  which  we  might  add  clearly 
show  the  spirit  with  which  Judge  Deady  approached,  and  the  objects  he  sought  to 
fulfill  in  the  preparation  of  these  codes.  The  leaders  of  the  •  bar  appreciate  these 
codes  and  speak  well  of  their  arrangement  and  provisions. 

From  his  first  coming  to  Oregon,  Judge  Deady  has  been  an  industrious  worker  in 
other  departments  than  those  pertaining  to  judicial  and  juridical  affairs.  During  this 
period  he  has  contributed  many  papers  to  the  local  and  Californian  press,  replete  with 
interesting  fa(5ls  concerning  the  early  history  and  settlement  of  his  adopted  State. 
In  the  midst  of  his  severe  and  constant  judicial  and  juridical  labors.  Judge  Deady  has 
found  time  to  discuss  in  the  public  press  the  current  topics  affe<5ling  his  adopted  State 
and  his  efforts  in  this  direction  have  done  much  toward  making  the  needs  and 
resources  of  the  State  known  abroad,  and  in  directing  emigration  to  its  fruitful  shores. 
He  has  ever  been  a  devoted  friend  to  education,  and  has  spent  much  time  and  labor 
in  the  fostering  care  of  institutions  calculated  for  the  culture  and  instrudtion  of  the 

[82] 


406  History  of  PoRTL,\:n). 


.^nmniiinitv'.  Chief  ^unnnaf  these  is  the  Pnrtlanil  Library  jLasociatioii,  of  Portland, 
<'m^i^nn.  .nn  inntitiition  now  containtnj^  about  17. 'MM)  volumes  of  historical  biograph- 
w'aI.  v:ent;nc.  rpHjpnuH  and  nxiscsllaaeous  worits,  ami  :KippIied  with,  the  leading 
p^r.ortxrAlrt  and  mA^Azine:^^  of  our  own  country  aail  Europe.  Of  this  association  Judge 
tf^:viy  ha«  been  the  presuient  ever  -iince  the  year  l''*6J*.  an«i  its  present  financial 
f/r.-v«*p^ty  i-«  largely  due  tJ->  hw  uureniittin^r  attention  ant  I  care.  The  institution  ha? 
now  the  handsome  4ums  of  525. OO*")  ami  523jX)«)  securely  invested  at  interest;  the 
firrt  named  amount  constituting?  a  book  fixnii,  anil  the  latter  a  building  fund.  The 
arr.nmulation  of  the?*e  fumis  is  almost  entirely  tine  to  the  personal  solicitation  and 
HBrwti*  of  Judjape  fjeady.  He  is  also  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the 
CniviT^ity  of  r>regon,  in  which  capacity  he  has  contributed  much,  to  its  elevation  and 
unefulne**.  At  the  Annual  Commencements  of  1878  and  1879,  Judge  Deady 
delivered  two  addrpiwe?*  to  the  graduating  classes  of  those  years,  which  were  by  order 
of  the  Board  of  Regent*  publwhed  in  pamphlet  form. 

Rat  whiUt  the  philanthropic  and  literary  labors  of  Judge  Deady  justly  entitle  him 
tr>  the  re!*pert  anri  honor  of  the  wise  and  good,  his  &me  must  rest  upon  his  acimien 
an  a  jnrirtt,  roupled  as  it  w  with  unswerving  integrity,  and  great  moral  courage.  To 
knr>w  the  right  i.«*  with  him  to  do  it,  and  no  personal  considerations  of  fear  or  favor 
will  divert  him  from  the  conclusion  to  which  his  reason,  his  learning  and  his  con- 
vience  conduct  him.  Besides  giving  a  great  number  of  oral  opinions  and  decisions 
in  the  cau«en  Ytc.ffjre.  him.  Judge  Deady  has  written  carefully  prepared  opinions  in 
more  than  ^(Hi  causes  since  his  advent  to  the  Bench,  embracing  law,  equity,  bank- 
niptry  and  admiralty  causes,  many  of  them  involving  mooted  questions  as  to  the 
pTffper  construction  of  State  and  Federal  Statues,  and  of  the  Constitution.  These 
d^riiions  will  t*c  found  recorrled  in  the  first  volume  of  Oregon  Reports,  Deady's 
RrfK^rt*  and  Sawyer's  Reports  from  Vol.  I  to  Vol.  XII,  and  the  Federal  Reports 
incluHiver.  He  has,  indeed,  not  only  paid  the  debt  which  it  is  said  every  lawyer  owes 
Ut  his  profession ,  but  has  laid  it  under  many  obligations  of  respect  and  gratitude  for 
\Uc  ifidtiHtry  and  legal  acumen  which  have  ren<iered  much  that  was  crooked  straight, 
and  shf'd  light  in  manv  dark  places. 

In  I HH I,  Jiidgf  Dearly  enjoyed  a  brief  respite  from  his  arduous  labors.  .Accom- 
pafiirrl  by  hi-t  wife,  formerly  Miss  Lucy  .A.  Henderson,  a  lady  of  culture  and 
ri-finr-ni#nt.  to  whom  he  was  married  in  June,  1852,  he  paid  a  visit  to  the  Eastern 
States.  In  n-HjKinH!  to  an  invitation  from  the  Law  School  at  Washington,  he 
M\vvrf(\  his  lecture  on  "Law  and  Lawyers, "  and  "  Trial  by  Jury,"  which  were 
highly  HjK>kcn  r)f  by  the  leading  newspapers,  and  well  appreciated  by  the  intelligent 
aufliences  tx-forc  which  they  were  delivereil. 

In  his  religi^Hi.H  relations,  Judge  Deady  is  an  Episcopalian,  both  he  and  his  ^4fe 
iH'ing  communicants  of  Trinity  Church,  in  which  he  is  a  vestryman  of  long  standing. 
They  rKcupy  a  high  sf>cial  position,  which  is  due  as  much  to  natural,  as  acquired 
r|ualificatiotiH. 

Judge  Deady  is  quite  six  feet,  two  inches  in  height,  with  a  form  and  figure  duly 
pro|»ortioned.  His  eyes  are  blue  and  sparkle  with  good  humor  and  intelligence. 
His  hair,  originally  a  wavy  auburn,  is  now  sprinkled  with  gray,  setting  off  to  advan- 
Xn^v  his  large,  well  poised  he«ad,  and  ruddy,  clear  complexion.  The  brow  is  broad 
iind  massive,  particularly  showing  what,  phrenologically  speaking,  are  denominated 
the  ]Krrceptivc  and  rea.soning  faculties.     On  the  Bench  he  is  urbane  and  courteons, 


Biographical. 


497 


but  observes  and  requires  that  decorum  which  he  regards  as  indispensable  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Court  and  the  orderly  transaction  of  its  business.  In  practice  before 
him  it  is  necessary  to  work,  neither  reputation  or  eloquence  being  sufficient  to  com- 
pensate for  neglect  or  carelessness  in  the  preparation  or  conduct  of  a  case.  To  the 
young  and  inexperienced  lawyer,  just  commencing  the  struggle  of  life,  he  is  partic- 
ularly kind  and  encouraging,  and  not  a  few  who  have  achieved  distinction  during  his 
time  on  the  Bench,  remember  with  gratitude  the  kind  words  which  conveyed  to 
others  his  recognition  of  the  genius  or  ability  displayed  in  their  first  efforts  before 
him.  He  possesses  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  the  faculty  of  judicial  analysis,  and  can 
sele<5l  from  the  most  complicated  mass  of  fa<fts,  the  point  or  circumstance  on  which 
the  case  must  turn;  and  so  clearly  is  the  ground  of  his  decision  set  forth  in  the 
opinion  as  often  to  evoke  surprise,  that  any  other  view  than  the  one  expressed  could 
ever  have  been  entertained.  A  distinguished  member  of  the  Portland  bar  once  said  : 
"  I  have  never  known  any  one  who,  to  a  greater  degree  than  Judge  Deady,  sought 
to  honor  his  station  by  being  inflexibly  just,  nor  one  who  held  the  scales  with  a 
more  impartial  hand.  If  I  were  to  characterize  him  by  allusion  to  his  predominant 
mental  traits,  I  would  say  that  above  most  men  of  my  acquaintance,  he  is  distin- 
guished for  what  we  may  call  mental  intrepidity,  and  his  chief  ambition  in  the 
administration  of  his  office,  is  to  preserve  inviolately  spotless  the  ermine  he  wears." 
In  conversation  in  the  social  circle,  Judge  Deady  is  corredl,  lively  and  entertaining, 
though  in  animated  debate,  he  sometimes  gives  the  impression  that,  like  Dr.  Johnson, 
he  argues  for  victory.  As  a  speaker,  his  merits  are  not  generally  known.  His 
position  on  the  bench  has  necessarily  kept  him  from  public  discussion  through 
which  his  ability  in  this  field  would  have  been  universally  made  known.  Those, 
however,  who  have  met  him  in  assemblages  where  mind  was  acting  on  mind, 
and  wit  and  eloquence  ruled  the  hour,  remember  with  delight  the  graceful  humor, 
elegant  diction  and  forcible  expression,  which  there  characterized  his  impromptu 
utterances.  In  the  lecture  room  he  is  always  instrudlive,  sound  and  entertaining, 
often  giving  diredlion  to,  and  leading  the  public  mind  in  new  channels  of  investi- 
gation. Indeed,  his  lectures  on  "Law  and  Lawyers,"  "Trial  by  Jury,"  and 
•'Towns  and  Cities,"  are  not  only  excellent  monographs  on  the  subjects  indicated 
by  the  titles,  but  abound  with  much  original  thought  and  curious  learning.  He  is 
indeed  a  man  of  whom  the  State  may  be  proud,  and  of  whom  it  may  well  be  said  : 
"His  aims  are  noble  and  his  methods  just."  He  has  been  a  leader  in  public 
thought,  an  authority  in  law  and  legislation,  and  there  are  few  instances  in  which  a 
single   mind  has  impressed  itself  so  strongly  upon  the  affairs  of  a  State. 


LOWNSDALE,  Daniel  H.,  the  son  of  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Kentucky,  was 
bom  in  Mason  county,  in  that  State,  April  8,  1803.  As  was  the  custom  in  those 
days,  he  was  married  young,  at  the  age  of  23,  to  Ruth,  youngest  daughter  of  Paul 
Overfield,  Esq.,  the  head  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  families  of  northeastern 
Kentucky.  In  obedience  to  the  adventuresome  spirit  inherited  from  his  father,  who 
had  abandoned  tlie  comforts  of  civilization  in  his  youth  to  become  one  of  the 
conquerors  of  Kentucky,  Lownsdale,  with  his  young  wife,  "moved  on"  and  settled 
in  Gibson  county,  Indiana,  which  was  then  almost  on  the  frontier.  Here  he  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose  his  wife,  who  died  in   1830,  leaving  three  children,  one  boy  and 


498  History  of  Portland. 


two  girls.  Scon  after  this,  making  suitable  proN-ision  for  his  children,  he  went  south, 
remaining  for  a  time  in  Georgia,  engaging  in  mercantile  pursuits.  His  health  failing, 
he  accepted  the  advice  of  physicians,  and  embarked  in  1842  on  a  voyage  to  Europe, 
and  remained  abroad  visiting  various  countries  until  184-4.  '  Returning  to  the  United 
States  in  that  year,  he  found  the  country  excited  over  the  Oregon  question,  and 
without  parleying,  joined  one  of  those  devoted  bands  that  crossed  two  thousand 
miles  of  hostile  Indian  countr>%  to  settle  our  title  by  actual  occupation.  He  arrived 
at  the  present  site  of  Portland  late  in  1845,  and  appears  to  have  realized  the 
importance  of  the  position,  since  he  located  a  claim,  (now  the  Amos  N.  King  claim), 
joining  that  of  Lovejoy  and  Pettygrove,  and  soon  thereafter  formed  the  desire  to 
gain  possession  of  the  river  front  The  opportunity  offered  in  1848,  when  Mr. 
Lownsdale  purchased  the  site  of  Portland  from  F.  W.  Pettygrove,  for  what  then  must 
have  been  considered  the  extravagant  price  of  five  thousand  dollars.  This  enter- 
prise, now  having  energy  and  foresight  to  steer  it,  began  that  advance  which  will 
never  cease  until  some  revolutionary  invention  shall  change  our  methods  of  trans- 
portation, or  man  shall  lose  his  gregarious  disposition.  With  f-jresight  that  has  been 
proven  by  events,  he  staked  his  fortune  on  the  issue,  that  Portland  was  destined  to 
become  what  she  now  is,  the  metropolis  of  a  great  commonwealth. 

Mr.  Lownsdale 's  policy  as  to  Portland  was  quite  different  from  that  pursued  by 
many  town  proprietors.  When  there  were  indications  of  growth  in  the  embryo  citv, 
instead  of  putting  up  the  price  of  proj^rty  with  a  vdew  to  his  own  personal  advantage 
he  continued  to  offer  property  for  sale  at  very  reasonable  prices  and  upon  the  most 
liberal  terms — there  being  instances  in  which  the  only  consideration  required,  was 
that  the  lots  should  be  built  upon.  The  consequence  was  that  Portland  soon  oat- 
stripped  all  her  rivals  in  population  and  business.  Mr.  Lownsdale  was  very 
unsuspicious  and  confiding  in  his  nature.  This  was  a  fault  "that  leaned  to  virtue's 
side,"  but  the  result  was  that  he  was  at  times  \*Tonged  by  designing  and  unscnipuloos 
persons.  He  was  singularly  free,  however,  from  feelings  of  revenge  and  resentment, 
and  accepted  his  disappointments  with  a  cheerful  resignation  to  the  ups  and  downs  of 
life. 

He  never  doubted  the  ultimate  ascendency  of  Portland,  and  in  this  hope  he  lived 
and  died.  Resting  in  this  faith,  he  looked  constantly  toward  the  main  point,  and  to 
his  energy  Portland  largely  owes  the  vi<5lor>'  she  gained  over  numerous  rivals,  that 
seemed  to  have  heavier  backing  and  better  chances.  In  the  spring  of  1849,  Mr. 
Lownsdale,  feeling  the  need  of  assistance  in  his  enterprise,  disposed  of  a  half  interest 
in  the  Portland  claim  to  Mr.  Stephen  Coffin,  then  a  resident  of  Oregon  City;  and  in 
December  of  that  year  the  two  disposed  of  an  interest  to  Col.  W\  W.  Chapman. 
Being  a  man  of  great  energ>'  and  nerve,  he  was  not  dismayed  by  obstacles,  but  kept 
his  ends  steadily  in  view,  and  surmounted  them.  As  a  reward  for  his  faith  he  lived 
to  see  Portland's  supremacy  acknowledged  by  all,  and  to  see  Oregon  on  the  road  to 
that  degree  of  prosperity  that  he  had  predicted  for  her* 

In  1850,  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Nancy  Gillihan,  widow  of  Wm.  Gillihan, 
deceased.  By  this  second  marriage  he  had  but  two  children,  one  son,  M.  O.  Lowns- 
dale, and  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Ruth  A.  Hoyt,  now  a  resident  of  Columbia  countv.  Of 
the  children  of  his  first  wife,  only  one,  J.  P.  O.  Lownsdale,  Esq.,  of  Portland,  now 
survives. 


Biographical.  499 


Mr.  Lownsdale  occupied  several  public  positions,  having  been  U.  S.  postal  agent, 
for  Oregon,  during  the  administration  of  Fillmore,  and  representing  his  county  in 
the  legislature.  He  was  always  known  as  a  public  spirited  citizen,  ever  ready  to 
forward  any  enterprise  that  promised  good  to  the  city  or  State  and  always  ready  to  lend 
a  helping  hand  to  those  in  distress,  as  many  early  immigrants  who  arrived  in 
destitute  circumstances  can  testify.  In  the  Indian  wars  of  1848  and  '55-'56,  he  bore 
his  part,  serving  in  the  latter  with  the  regiment  of  Col.  Cornelius,  in  the  capacity  of 
regimental  quartermaster,  and  performing  his  very  difficult  duties  to  the  satisfaction 
of  his  superiors.  He  died  May  4th,  1862,  and  is  buried  in  Lone  Fir  cemetery,  near 
Portland.    A  neat  monument  marks  his  last  resting  place. 


STRONG,  Wii^i^iAM.  The  name  of  William  Strong  is  thoroughly  associated  with 
the  judicature  both  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  His  marked  characteristics  are 
indelibly  impressed  upon  the  system  of  law  of  both  States,  especially  that  of  the 
latter.  To  long  and  distinguished  service  as  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
and  in  the  ex-officio  character  of  Judge  of  the  District  Courts  in  both  States  while 
they  were  Territorial  Governments,  must  be  added  his  connection  with  their  legisla- 
tion and  also  his  brilliant  career  as  a  law  practitioner,  for  over  a  generation,  in  all  the 
Courts  of  both  States. 

He  was  bom  at  St.  Albans,  Vermont,  on  the  15th  of  July,  1817.  His  youth  was 
spent  in  the  vicinity  of  Rushville,  New  York,  where  he  received  his  preparatory 
education.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  Yale  College,  from  which  he 
graduated  with  distinguished  honors  in  the  class  of  1838.  Having  selected  the  law 
for  his  profession,  he  engaged  in  teaching  during  the  next  two  years.  So  ambitious 
was  he,  that  by  industry  and  close  application  to  study  in  the  intervals  from 
teaching,  he  had  made  sufficient  progress  in  his  studies  to  secure  a  license  in  1840  to 
practice  law.  Admitted  to  the  bar,  he  immediately  removed  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
at  once  entered  upon  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  took  a  foremost  rank  in  the 
profession.  On  the  15th  of  October,  1840,  he  married  Lucretia  Robinson,  whom  he 
survived  about  two  years. 

In  1849,  having  resolved  upon  migrating  to  Oregon,  his  many  friends  procured 
for  him,  September  17, 1849,  the  appointment  by  President  Zachary  Taylor  of  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Oregon  Territory,  to  succeed  the  Hon.  Peter  H. 
Burnett,  an  appointee  of  President  James  K.  Polk,  who  had  removed  to  California 
and  had  declined  the  appointment.  At  about  the  same  date  Major  John  P.  Gaines  of 
Kentucky  had  received  the  appointment  of  Governor,  and  Gen.  Edward  Hamilton,  of 
Ohio,  had  been  commissioned  Secretary  of  the  Territory.  Judge  Strong  arrived  in 
Oregon  in  August,  1850. 

At  the  time  when  Judge  Strong  entered  upon  the  performance  of  his  official 
duties,  Oregon  embraced  all  of  the  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  lying 
between  42  degrees  North  latitude  (the  northern  boundary  line  of  California)  and 
the  49th  parallel  of  North  latitude  (the  southern  boundary  of  British  Columbia). 
That  immense  area  was  divided  into  three  judicial  districts,  to  each  of  which  was 
assigned  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Oregon  Supreme  Court,  as  presiding  judge  of  the 
Courts  in  their  respective  district.  The  Third  Judicial  District  of  Oregon  Territory 
comprised  all  of  Oregon  north  of  the  Columbia  River,   and  the  county  of  Clatsop 


500  History  of  Portland. 


south  of  that  river.  There  was  no  organized  counties  east  of  Clark  County  at 
that  time,  but  that  county  extended  eastward  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  other 
county  north  of  the  river  was  named  Lewis;  it  extended  northward  to  the  British 
boundar\-.  Thus  it  was  that  Judge  Strong's  district  included  all  of  what  is  now 
Washington,  Idaho  and  Montana  north  of  the  4-6th  parallel,  and  west  of  the  Rockies, 
besides  the  county  of  Clatsop  in  Oregon,  of  which  Astoria  is  the  county  seat. 

During  the  winter  of  1850-1,  Judge  Strong  with  his  family  resided  at  Vancouver. 
In  early  spring  of  1851,  he  took  a  land  claim  at  Cathlamet,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Columbia  river,  under  the  "Donation  Acl"  of  September  27,  1850,  which 
required  four  years'  residence  upon  the  land,  and  where  he  did  reside  until  his 
removal  to  Portland,  Oregon,  in  1862.  This  is  not  the  place  in  which  to  chronicle 
the  proceedings  in  detail  of  the  courts  over  which  Judge  Strong  presided.  His 
judicial  life  was  commenced  in  Oregon,  when  party  spirit  ran  high,  when  politics  to 
great  extent  became  matters  of  personal  difference,  when  differences  as  to  political 
questions  were  made  the  occasions  to  mar  and  destroy  social  relations,  to  alienate  and 
estrange  personal  friends  and  neighbors.-  This  strange  result  arose  from  local  issues, 
from  the  intensity  of  personal  feeling  growing  out  of  the  location  or  rather  the 
removal  of  the  seat  of  government.  It  became  necessary*  for  the  Supreme  Comt  of 
the  Territor\-  to  decide  where  the  seat  of  government  was  located.  It  so  happened 
that  the  dominant  party  in  the  territory-  made  the  capital  removal  a  party  question, 
and  it  was  perhaps  unfortunate  that  the  majority  or  quorum  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
appointees  of  a  whig  national  administration  viewed  the  law  which  they  were  called 
upon  to  administer  as  inoperative  to  effect  that  removal. 

During  all  the  years  of  Judge  Strong's  first  judicial  term,  that  and  kindred 
questions  were  constantlj-  agitated  and  embroiling  the  public  mind.  Never  were 
judges  more  severely  denounced,  more  the  subje<5ls  of  personal  and  malevolent 
attack  than  were  Justices  Nelson  and  Strong,  the  quorum  of  the  Supreme  Court  who 
decided  that  the  **Omnibus  Bill,"  as  it  was  called  (which  had  proWded  for  the  location 
of  the  seat  of  government,  at  Salem,  and  for  a  commission  to  supervise  the  ere<5tion 
of  the  capitol  buildings  thereat;  the  location  of  a  university,  and  for  a  commission  to 
sell  the  university  lands  to  provide  funds  for  its  erection ;  and  nominating  the  site,  as 
also  providing  for  the  building  of  a  penitentiary',  as  also  a  commission  to  build  it)  was 
inoperative  and  void  under  the  organic  act,  because  it  included  more  than  one  object, 
and  the  title  of  the  bill  clearly  failed  to  express  its  obje<5t.  Unawed  and  unmoved 
the  quorum  of  the  Supreme  Court  met  at  Oregon  City,  the  place  by  them  decided  as 
tlie  seat  of  goveninient.  They  calmly  heard  the  question  argued;  bravely  and 
judiciously,  in  opinions  cretlitable  for  ability  and  for  evidence  of  pains-taking  consider- 
ation, each  filed  an  opinion  announcing  the  conclusion  reached.  There  is  no 
necessity  to  call  back  any  humiliating  incidents  which  mark  tliose  years  of  Oregon 
politics  or  social  life.  After  well  nigh  two  score  of  years  completed  who  will  attempt 
to  dctra<5l  from  any  honors  sought  to  be  accorded  to  the  scholarly  and  gentlemanly  Chief 
Justice  Nelson  ?  Who  will  stop  short  in  hearty  commendation  of  the  ability  and 
integrity  which  marked  the  judicial  career  of  his  more  vigorous  and  stalwart  brother, 
Strong,  in  these  troublous,  stonny  days,  when  juridical  administration  had  become  the 
issue  whereby  partisan  rancor  was  kindled  ?  Nor  will  it  be  denied  that  each  possessed 
to  an  eminent  degree  those  four  motives  or  qualities  which  the  wise  Socrates  has  said 
must  actuate  the  Judge:  **To  hear  courteously,  to  answer  wisely,  to  consider  soberly, 
and  to  decide  impartially." 


Biographical.  501 


Judge  Strong  was  still  on  the  Bench  when  Washington  Territory  was  (March  2, 
1853),  set  off  from  Oregon.  In  the  whole  of  that  newly  created  territory,  as  defined 
by  its  organic  act,  he  continued  to  act  as  sole  Judge  until  Governor  Stevens' 
proclamation,  late  in  November,  divided  the  Territoiy  into  three  Judicial  Districts, 
and  assigned  to  each  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Washington  Terri- 
tory, appointed  by  President  Franklin  Pierce.  The  first  Legislature  of  Washington 
Territory  was  in  politics.  Democratic;  yet  William  Strong,  the  late  Whig  Judge,  was 
by  an  unanimous  vote  associated  with  Chief  Justice  ^dward  Lander  and  Associate 
Justice  Victor  Monroe,  as  a  commission  to  sit  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature,  to 
report  laws  from  day  to  day.  That  commission  worked  laboriously;  but  it  is  not 
derogatory  to  either  of  the  other  members  to  say  that  by  far  the  largest  portion  of  the 
body  of  law  enacted  at  that  first  session  was  reported  in  the  admirable  clerical 
hand  of  Judge  Strong.  But  little  of  his  work  needed  revision  or  re-writing.  Judge 
Lander  gave  as  much  time  and  valuable  service  as  did  Judge  Strong,  but  the  clerk  of 
the  commission  was  obliged  in  laws  reported  by  him,  to  make  copies.  That  body  of 
law  was  very  generally  enacted  with  little  or  no  alteration,  and  was  infinitely  better 
when  first  adopted  than  now,  with  the  innovations  of  a  quarter  century's  legislation. 

After  the  close  of  that  session  Judge  Strong  retired  to  his  residence  in  Cathlamet, 
For  the  next  few  years  he  divided  his  time  between  practicing  law  in  the  various 
courts  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  in  which  he  was  employed  in  almost  every  suit  of 
importance,  and  in  surveying  the  public  lands,  at  which  he  was  a  thorough  adept,  and 
for  which  he  took  several  government  contracts. 

In  May,  1855,  he  received  the  Whig  nomination  for  Delegate  to  Congress.  He 
and  the  Democratic  nominee,  Col.  J.  Patton  Anderson,  made  a  joint  canvass  of  the 
Territory,  which  was  ably  conducted,  nor  were  the  amenities  of  social  life  and 
the  relations  of  gentlemen  ever  ignored.  Washington  Territory'  was  ^thoroughly 
Democratic.  Judge  Strong  received  his  full  party  vote,  which  was  all  that  he  had  any 
right  to  expect  against  his  gallant  and  generous  competitor.  At  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Indian  hostilities  in  the  fall  of  1855,  when  Governor  Mason  called  for  two  com- 
panies of  volunteers  in  response  to  requisition  of  Major  Rains,  U.  S.  Army,  Commander 
of  the  Columbia  River  and  Puget  Sound  districts,  one  to  rendezvous  at  Vancouver 
and  report  to  Major  Rains.  Judge  Strong  raised  a  company  and  was  unanimously 
elected  its  captain.  That  company  was  known  as  Company  "A"  First  Regiment 
Washington  Territory  Volunteers.  It  was  mustered  into  the  United  States  Service 
and  performed  considerable  duty  in  Clark  County  and  vicinity.  The  company  prayed 
to  be  sent  to  the  up|>er  country  to  escort  Governor  Stevens  on  his  return  from  the 
Blackfoot  Council,  through  the  hostile  Indian  country,  but  so  hostile  was  General 
Wool,  tlien  commanding  the  Department  of  the  Pacific  to  Governor  Stevens  and  the 
two  Territories,  that  against  the  urgent  protest  of  Captain  Strong,  he  disbanded 
Company  "  A  "  before  their  term  of  enlistment  had  expired. 

In  April  and  May,  1856,  Governor  Stevens  caused  the  arrest  of  certain  persons  in 
Pierce  County,  Washington  Territory,  who  being  intermarried  with  Indian  women 
and  living  in  the  hostile  region  were  suspected  and  accused  of  furnishing  the  hostile 
Indians  with  supplies  and  information  that  led  to  a  serious  and  protracted  conflict 
between  the  Courts  and  Territorial  military  authorities.  Judge  Strong  was  retained 
by  the  Governor  as  his  law  adviser;  perhaps  it  would  be  proper  to  say  that  his  duties 


502  History  of  Portland. 

partook  of  the  nature  of  Attorney  General  as  also  of  Jndge  AdTOcate  General  on  the 
Governor's  Staff,  although  no  commission  was  issued  to  him.  That  clientage 
necessitated  the  most  intimate  confidential  relations  with  the  Governor  and 
identified  him  with  the  war  policy  of  the  executive. 

Shortly  subsequent,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  territorj*.  The  issue  in  great  measure  at  the  election  of  1856,  was  "Stevem^" 
and  "Anti-Stevens."  The  whig  party  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  those  who  know  how 
strongly  Judge  Strong  was  influenced  by  personal  associations  and  surroundings,  his 
party,  a  matter  of  the  past,  and  with  him  a  secondary  consideration,  the  politics  of 
the  territory'  almost  entirely  based  upon  personal  support  of  personal  policy,  will  not  for 
a  moment  be  surprised  that  Judge  Strong  espoused  the  cause  of  his  client  and  cast  his 
political  lot  with  his  personal  friends.  He  gave  his  adhesion  to  the  Democratic  party, 
not  to  the  Republican  organization  which  had  just  been  inaugurated  in  the  territory. 
At  the  session  of  the  legislature  he  championed  Gov.  Stevens  and  his  war  policy.  At 
that  session,  upon  him  devolved  the  duty  of  conforming  the  various  practice  acts  of 
the  territory,  the  laws  for  the  empanneling  of  juries  and  providing  for  terms  of  court 
to  a  recently  passed  a<5l  of  Congress  which  limited  the  courts,  the  expenses  of  which 
were  borne  by  the  United  States,  to  three,  to  be  held  only  at  three  places.  In  1858, 
Hon.  O.  P.  McFadden  having  been  promoted  to  the  office  of  Chief  Justice,  Judge 
Strong  was  appointed  Associate  Justice,  succeeding  Judge  McFadden  as  Judge  of  the 
First  Judicial  District  He  held  this  office  until  succeeded  by  Hon.  James  E.  Wyche, 
in  1861.  Judge  Strong  continued  to  reside  and  practice  law  within  Washington 
Territory  until  December,  1862,  at  which  time  he  removed  to  Portland,  Oregon.  He 
at  once  acquired  an  extensive  and  profitable  general  practice,  but  later  on  was  almost 
exclusively  engaged  in  the  business  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company, 
whose  counsel  he  continued  to  be  until  the  transfer  of  their  interests  to  the  Henry 
Villard  combination,  resulting  in  the  organization  of  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navi- 
gation Company  as  its  successor. 

Thereafter  he  gradually  retired  from  aclive  practice;  his  large  business  was  ably 
handled  by  his  two  ver>'  intelligent  and  competent  sons,  Fred  R.  and  Thomas 
Nelson  Strong.  And  the  good  old  man  rested  from  his  long  and  arduous  professional 
labors.  From  1883,  the  profession  had  been  abandoned  by  him.  Yet  he  was  not 
idle.  His  busy  p>en  continued  to  work  in  treasuring  the  reminiscences  of  early  years, 
of  the  men  who  had  been  his  co-temporaries,  and  the  events  in  which  he  had  been 
so  conspicuous  an  actor. 

In  April,  1887,  the  full  three  score  years  and  ten  completed,  that  stalwart  frame, 
that  manly  and  robust  form  succumbed  to  age  and  bodily  infirmity;  that  vigorous 
intellect,  that  active  brain,  that  large  generous  heart  yielded  to  the  inexorable.  An 
active,  busy,  useful  life  was  ended. 

He  was  a  most  untiring  worker  and  few  indeed  could  accomplish  so  much.  His 
mind  was  of  the  most  aclive  and  vigorous  character,  and  he  carried  to  his  practice 
at  the  bar.  or  his  administration  upon  the  bench,  that  marked  individuality  for  which 
he  was  distinguished.  He  was  always  positive;  no  uncertain  language  or  words  ot 
compromise,  or  demagogic  attempts  to  conciliate  the  public,  marked  his  enunciations 
of  a  conclusion  reached.  He  was  one  thing  or  the  other,  and  hence  he  was  at  times 
the  object  of  ultra  and  bitter  partisan  criticism;  but  that  never  swerved  him  from  his 
own  chosen  line  of  duty,   neither  did  such  criticisms  influence  him  to  personal 


Biographical-  503 

controversy  or  justification.  He  ignored  these  assaults  and  was  as  kind  and  urbane 
to  those  who  censured  his  judicial  adls,  as  though  they  had  spoken  of  him  in  terms 
of  laudation. 

As  Judge,  none  were  readier  than  he  to  seize  instantly  the  pivotal  points  of  a 
case;  few  indeed  possessed  greater  acumen  power  of  analysis  or  resources  to  fortify 
the  conclusion  reached.  As  a  speaker  he  was  fluent,  earnest,  impressive;  too  prac- 
tical to  be  eloquent. 

As  lawyer,  counsellor,  legislator  or  judge  he  was  alike  at  home  in  each  capacity. 
His  forte,  however,  was  perhaps  in  felicitous,  happy  and  forcible  expression  in  aptest 
language  of  a  proposition  or  conclusion  of  law.  In  dictating  a  decree,  making  a 
record  of  an"  order  or  judgment,  he  needed  no  form-book,  he  had  no  superior  in 
announcing  in  the  fewest  appropriate  words  a  conclusion  of  law  or  a  judicial  deter- 
mination. He  was  a  natural  clerk.  He  made  practice,  moulded  procediu^  and 
established  precedents  for  his  bar  to  follow.  His  orders  of  Court,  his  decrees  in 
chancery,  his  drafts  of  laws  are  models  of  expression.  How  aptly  he  placed  the 
right  word  in  the  right  place.  As  a  lawyer  he  was  ingenious  and  untiring  in  resource. 
Thoroughly  equipped  for  every-day  practice  and  every  vicissitude,  he  was  learned  in 
the  science  of  his  profession  and  loved  it  as  such,  and  was  thoroughly  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  his  client,  for  whom  he  labored  to  succeed,  while  there  was  any  hope  to 
win.  As  a  judge  he  was  patient,  urbane,  fearless,  independent,  unselfish,  deferen- 
tial to  his  brethren  of  the  bench,  and  considerate  to  members  of  the  bar. 

Those  who  knew  him  in  the  early  days,  the  old  settlers  of  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton, will  treasure  his  memory,  will  continue  to  recall  his  genial  kindness,  his  encour- 
aging and  cheerful  sympathy. 


LADD,  W.  S.  It  is  seldom  throughout  the  incipient  stages  of  growth,  down  to  a 
period  covering  many  years  in  the  development  of  a  progressive  commonwealth, 
that  to  any  one  man  is  accorded  a  foremost  place  by  general  consent  New  countries, 
in  these  latter  days  of  steam  and  electricity,  develop  often  with  rapidity;  new  issues 
are  met  by  new  leaders,  while  those  who  laid  the  foundation  of  society  rarely  retain  their 
hold  on  affairs  for  any  extended  period  of  time.  In  this,  however,  Oregon  has  been 
an  exception  to  the  rule,  and  the  career  of  William  Sargent  Ladd  is  a  conspicuous  exam- 
ple of  the  exception.  Coming  to  Oregon  when  the  country  was  young  and  there  was  no 
settled  social, political  or  business  order,hehas  exerted  a  continually  increasing  influence 
in  the  various  lines  of  development  which  have  added  to  the  wealth  and  greatness  of 
the  State.  Apart  fi-om  his  financial  operations,  which  long  ago  placed  him  among  the 
most  wealthy  men  of  the  West,  he  has  been  among  the  builders  of  our  State  who 
have  been  most  earnest  for  its  social  and  moral  progress.  The  results  of  his  high 
integrity  and  of  his  efforts  to  elevate  the  tone  of  society  and  keep  pure  the  moral 
sentiment  of  the  community,  make  a  double  claim  upon  our  respe(5l  and  recognition. 
Fortunate,  indeed,  has  it  been  for  the  State  that  its  business  leaders,  like  our  subject, 
have  been  men  whose  social,  religious  and  domestic  relations  have  stimulated  and 
honored  the  highest  of  her  people.  The  lessons  of  such  lives  are  the  best  inheritance 
of  a  State  or  people. 

W.  S.   Ladd  was  bom    at  Holland,   Vermont,   0<5lober  10,    1826.     His  father, 
Nathaniel  Gould  Ladd,  was  a  physician,  of  a  family  that  came  to  America  in  1633. 


504  History  of  Portland. 


His  mother,  Abigail  Kelley  Mead,  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  from  her  the 
son  received  the  most  prominent  traits  in  his  characfler,  industr>'  and  power  of  con- 
tinued mental  effort  Both  his  parents  were  Methodists,  and  his  youth  was  passed 
under  the  wholesome  instructions  and  training  which  usually  lead  to  success.  In 
1830,  his  parents  removed  to  Meredith  Village,  New  Hampshire,  and  three  years 
later  to  a  place  called  Sandbornton  Bridge,  now  known  as  Tilton.  Like  other  New 
England  boys  he  went  to  school,  and  also  learned  to  work.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
began  to  apply  himself  in  earnest  to  labor.  His  father  then  having  no  farm  of  his 
own,  permitted  him  to  try  his  hand  at  a  neighbor's,  and  afterward  bought  for  him 
fifteen  acres  of  very  rough,  rocky  and  wooded  land  which  the  youth  brought  into 
cultivation  by  his  own  personal  labor. 

Reaching  the  age  of  nineteen  he  found  a  somewhat  wider  scope  for  his  abilities  in 
teaching  a  public  school — an  experience  few  New  England  boys  or  girls  have  not  had 
at  some  period  of  their  lives.  The  school  he  undertook  to  condu<5l  bore  the 
reputation  of  being  the  roughest  in  that  region,  and  pitched  battles  between  teachers 
and  pupils  had  been  frequent.  Young  Ladd,  however,  was  successful  in  subduing  his 
refra<5lory  pupils  at  the  first  encounter,  and  not  only  maintained  excellent  order 
thereafter,  but  kept  his  scholars  interestetl  by  the  use  of  quick  methods  and  pra<^cal 
suggestions. 

About  the  time  his  term  as  a  teacher  ended,  the  Boston,  Concord  &  Montreal 
Railway  w^as  running  its  line  past  Sanbomton  Bridge  where  he  was  then  residing.  He 
sought  and  obtained  a  position  in  the  freight  house  which  was  established  there, 
continuing  in  this  and  other  work  connected  with  railroading,  until  he  left  for  the 
Pacific  Coast.  During  his  school  days,  and  for  some  time  after  he  had  reached  man- 
hood, he  had  continued  to  feel  a  deep  interest  in  this  part  of  the  country.  This 
interest  was  intensified  by  the  subsequent  discover}'  of  gold  in  California.  Unlike 
most  men,  however,  the  prospects  of  making  a  fortune  out  of  mining  had  little 
attraction  for  him.  He  became  impressed  with  the  idea  that  not  the  region  out  of 
which  the  gold  was  dug,  but  that  from  which  supplies  and  products  were  had  for  the 
miners,  would  obtain  the  greatest  permanent  wealth.  This  consideration,  together 
with  the  information  he  gained  of  tlie  country-,  from  a  Mr.  Carr,  who  had  lately 
returned  to  Sanbornton  Bridge,  after  hax-ing  been  verj'  successful  in  business  oi>era- 
tions  at  Portland  and  San  Francisco,  led  him  to  the  determination  of  making  Oregon 
his  home.  Acting  on  this  resolve,  on  Februar>*  27,  1851,  he  started  in  a  sailing 
vessel  from  New  York  for  the  Pacific  Coast.  Arriving  at  San  Francisco  he  met  an  old 
school  friend,  Chas.  E.  Tilton,  who  was  engaged  in  selling  consignments  which  he 
was  receiving  from  New  York  jobbers.  Mr.  Ladd  proposed  to  him  that  they  go  into 
business  and  sell  goo<ls  on  their  own  account.  To  this  Tilton  did  not  agree,  and  Ladd 
came  on  to  Oregon,  locating  at  Portland,  where  at  that  time  everything  was  new  and 
crude.  He  at  first  carried  on  a  small  business  in  selling  out  a  few  articles  that  he  had 
brought  with  him.  At  one  time  his  affairs  reached  so  low  an  ebb  that  he  was  glad  to 
save  payment  of  six  dollars  for  road  tax  by  digging  out  and  burning  up  two  great 
stumps  which  stood  opposite  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  Esmond  Hotel. 

About  this  time  W.  D.  Gookin,  who  had  known  Mr.  Ladd's  father  in  New  Ham- 
shire,  arrived  in  Portland  with  a  cargo  of  goods.  This  stock  Mr.  Ladd  sold  out,  and 
cleared  by  the  transaction  $1,000.  This  sum  he  re-invested  in  articles  of  ready  sale, 
and  from  that  time  was  enabled  to  prosecute  his  mercantile  operations  with  vigor. 


Biographical.  505 


In  1852,  he  was  conducting  an  independent  business,  operating,  however,  with  Mr. 
Gookin,  who  had  made  some  |20,000  by  a  successful  business  venture  in  San 
Francisco. 

"  His  business  habits  at  this  time,"  says  one  who  remembers  them,  "were  most 
exemplary.  He  was  promptly  at  his  place,  often  being  at  hand  as  early  as  four  o'clock 
in  the  summer  mornings,  to  help  off  his  customers  with  their  wagon  loads  in  the  cool 
of  the  day.  He  economized  his  strength,  avoided  saloons,  spent  his  nights  in  sleep, 
not  in  carousals — which  have  ruined  many  of  Portland's  brightest  men— and  made  it 
a  point  to  observe  the  Sabbath  by  attendance  upon  public  worship.  He  was  a  shrewd 
trader,  meeting  loss  and  profit  with  equal  equanimity.  Not  easily  excited  he  could 
view  business  affairs  with  coolness,  and  make  the  most  advantageous  moves  in  the 
hours  of  opportun  ity . " 

In  1857  Mr.  Ladd  married  Miss  Caroline  A.  Elliott,  of  New  Hampshire,  a  young 
woman  of  excellent  mental  endowments,  with  whom  he  had  been  acquainted  since 
school  days. 

In  1852  Ladd  &  Tilton  entered  into  partnership  and  continued  their  mercantile 
operations  together  until  the  spring  of  1855,  when  the  former  bought  out  the  latter, 
who  thereupon  returned  to  New  Hampshire.  Three  years  later  Mr.  Tilton  returned 
and  again  became  associated  with  Mr.  Ladd,  forming  the  banking  house  of  Ladd  & 
Tilton,  which  was  oi>ened  for  business  in  April,  1859.  The  bank  has  grown  steadily 
and  through  it  has  been  transacted  a  large  part  of  the  monetary  business  of  Oregon. 
The  capital  was  small  at  the  start,  but  in  1861  it  was  increased  to  |150,000,  and  not 
many  years  elapsed  before  the  capital  was  brought  up  to  $1,000,000.  When  the 
partnership  was  dissolved  in  1880,  bills  receivable  amounted  to  upwards  of  J2,500,- 
000,  and  so  select  and  sound  had  been  the  conduct  of  this  business,  that  when  the 
bank  made  its  statement  in  1888  there  was  less  than  thirteen  hundred  dollars  of  this 
large  sum  outstanding. 

Though  the  old  store  first,  and  his  bank  afterwards,  occupied  his  close  attention 
and  were  the  means  of  making  his  fortune,  Mr.  Ladd  also  branched  out  into  a 
number  of  other  ventures.  He  has  been  most  active  in  developing  the  agricultural 
resources  of  the  State,  owning  three  farms  of  his  own  and  five  in  partnership  with  S. 
G.  Reed.  These  he  conducts  partly  for  recreation  and  amusement.  He  has  been 
lavish  of  his  means  in  this  particular  and  has  done  much  in  the  way  of  introducing 
new  and  improved  methods  of  farming,  and  in  importing  and  breeding  fine  live 
stock.  He  is  also  largely  interested  in  flouring  mills,  controlling  at  the  present 
time  about  three-fourths  of  the  entire  flouring  mill  business  of  the  Pacific  Northwest. 
He  is  identified  with  what  is  now  the  Oregon  Iron  and  Steel  Company  at  Oswego,  and  has 
been  a  leading  stockholder  of  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company. 
Besides  these  interests  he  is  one  of  the  largest  property  holders  in  Portland  and 
vicinity,  owning  many  acres  of  valuable  city  land  and  a  large  number  of  business 
and  residence  buildings.  He  built  the  first  brick  building  in  Portland.  His 
interest  in  school  matters  and  public  education  has  been  long  and  continuous, 
being  among  the  first  to  ser\'e  as  a  school  director.  He  has  been  a 
friend  of  churches  and  public  charities  and  his  gifts  have  been  munifi- 
cent. He  endowed  the  chairs  of  practical  theology  in  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  Seminary,  in  San  Francisco  in  1886  with  |50,000,  and  gave 
several  scholarships  to  the  Willamette  University.      Throughout  a  wide  extent  of 


506  History  of  Portland. 


country  few  churches  have  been  built  without  aid  from  him.  The  Library  Associatioa 
of  Portland,  one  of  the  most  creditable  and  useful  institutions  of  the  city,  has 
always  felt  his  fostering  care.  For  twenty  y«;ars  it  has  occupied  the  second  floor  of 
his  bank  building,  on  the  comer  of  First  and  Stark  streets  free  of  charge.  It  has 
been  Mr.  Ladd's  custom  from  the  first  to  set  aside  one-tenth  of  his  net  income  for 
charitable  purposes,  placing  it  as  a  gift  apart  from  other  funds.  It  is  said  that  an 
appeal  for  sufferers,  if  worthy,  has  never  been  refused  by  him  nor  by  any  member  of 
his  family. 

To  his  wife  he  ascribes  a  great  portion  of  his  success,  saying :  *'  I  owe  everything 
to  her.  Through  all  she  has  been  to  me  most  emphatically  a  helpmate,  in  the  best 
and  highest  sense,  a  noble  wife,  a  saintly  mother  to  our  children.  Always  patient, 
thoughtful  and  courageous,  she  has  cheerfully  assumed  her  part  of  whatever  load  I 
have  had  to  carry.  We  both  started  together  at  bed-rock;  and  from  then  until  now 
we  have  taken  every  step  in  harmony." 

Their  eldest  son,  William  M.  Ladd,  has  for  several  years  efficiently  aided  his 
father  in  the  management  of  his  largely  increased  interests.  He  is  an  alumnus  of 
Amherst  College  and  since  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Tilton,  he  has  been  a  partner  in 
the  bank.  The  second  son,  Charles  HHiott,  is  at  the  head  of  the  large  flouring 
business  which  his  father  in  a  large  part  created  and  now  controls.  The  eldest 
daughter  is  the  wife  of  Henr}'  J.  Corbett,  son  of  Henry  W.  Corbett.  The  second 
daughter  is  the  wife  of  Charles  Pratt,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  who  is  largely  interested 
in  the  Standard  Oil  Company. 

A  man  of  Mr.  Ladd's  intelligence  and  enterprise  would  be  naturally  sought  after 
by  his  fellow  citizens  to  fill  positions  of  public  trust.  He  has,  however,  invariably 
declined  accepting  any  public  office  other  than  those  involving  usefulness  without 
regard  to  public  honors  or  emoluments.  He  has  held  the  position  of  Mayor  of 
Portland,  and  his  name  has  repeatedly  been  mentioned  for  high  public  stations, 
but  he  has  persistently  refused  to  enter  the  arena  of  political  strife.  During  the 
war  he  was  a  war  Democrat,  and  has  since  exercised  his  right  of  voting  his 
own  ticket,  although  in  national  matters,  he  has  of  late  years,  sided  with  the 
Republicans. 

Mr.  Ladd's  main  characteristic  has  been  the  indomitable  persistence  with  which 
his  plans  have  been  pursued.  The  strength  of  his  will  has  been  marked  in  every 
phase  of  his  career,  but  "perhaps  nothing  shows,"  says  another,  "more  fully  his 
unquailing  spirit  and  the  preponderance  of  his  will,  than  his  steady  and  persistent 
application  to  business  since  the  infirmity  came  upon  him  by  which  he  has  been 
rendered  incapable  of  physical  activity.  His  uninterrupted  application  to  business 
and  development  of  great  plans,  is  an  example  of  how  little  the  operations  of  a  great 
mind  and  spirit  depend  upon  the  completeness  of  these  temples  of  clay  in  which  the 
soul  spends  its  earthly  life." 

Few  men  who  could  more  fitly  assume  the  name  of  "Money  King,"  realize  more 
fully  than  Mr.  Ladd,  the  idea  of  a  man  of  great  wealth  and  power  holding  his 
possessions  as  a  public  trust  and  sincerely  striving  to  return  all  his  dollars  to  the 
use  of  society,  and  to  the  advantage  of  his  fellow  men.  While  he  is  easily  master, 
he  is,  nevertheless,  a  friend  and  favorite  with  his  workmen  and  employees.  He 
believes  in  fairness  to  all  who  work  and  that  their  rights  and  liberty  be  respected, 
and  denounces  the  iniquity  of  combinations  of  capital  which  would  deprive  trade  or 


Biographical.  507 


labor  of  its  freedom.  It  is  for  these  qualities  he  stands  closer  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people  than  most  men  of  wealth,  and  suffers  as  little  from  envy  as  any  rich  man  in 
the  nation. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  history  of  a  man  whose  active  and  enterprising 
spirit,  sound  business  sagacity,  open-handed  liberality  and  pronounced  Christian 
character,  have  contributed  largely  to  mould  the  character  of  a  growing  city,  and 
lay  deep  and  broad  the  commercial  honor,  political  virtue,  enlightened  education  and 
sound  principles  of  our  young  and  growing  commonwealth.  Mr.  Ladd  is  one  of 
those  who  realize  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  wealth,  and  tlie  large  assistance 
he  has  alwa3rs  lent  to  worthy  objects  of  public  effort  are  among  the  proofs  of  his 
benevolence  and  breadth  of  character. 


WILLIAMS,  George  H.  Judge  Williams,  alone  among  the  citizens  of  Oregon, 
has  had  the  distinction  of  occupying  a  place  in  the  highest  councils  of  the 
nation — in  the  cabinet  of  a  president.  He  was  also  regarded  by  President  Grant  as 
the  man  most  fit  and  able  to  hold  the  position  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States. 
The  bitter  struggle  following  his  nomination  to  this  supreme  position  is  well  remem- 
bered for  the  sectional  feeling  displayed  and  the  dissent  of  certain  members  of  the 
senate  which  led  the  Judge  to  withdraw  his  name.  It  is  not  the  intention,  however, 
to  recall  the  personal  contests  of  the  past — they  have  been  long  forgotten  and 
forgiven — but  to  remind  the  reader  that  it  was  upon  an  arena  no  less  great  than  the 
nation  that  Judge  Williams  has  passed  the  most  intense  years  of  his  life,  and  that  it 
was  as  one  of  a  group  of  men  the  first  among  Americans — a  company  composing  the 
* 'Great  Round  Table"  in  the  most  eventful  years  of  our  national  history — that  he  has 
been  accustomed  to  move.  The  people  of  Oregon  have  reason  to  feel  a  justifiable 
pride  in  his  career,  and  to  appreciate  more  strongly  the  ties  that  unite  them  to  the 
national  life.  Not  wishing  to  make  comparisons  as  to  the  value  of  the  services  of  the 
able  men  who  have  represented  the  State  of  Oregon  at  Washington,  and  even  while 
remembering  the  eloquent  Baker  and  the  noble  and  sagacious  Nesmith,  still  it  must  in 
justice  be  admitted  that  Judge  Williams  in  no  place  to  which  he  was  called,  however 
exalted,  ever  fell  short  of  its  high  requirements,  and  in  the  discussion  and  solution  of 
some  of  the  gravest  questions  which  ever  confronted  the  national  government  he 
has  borne  himself  with  distinguished  honor.  He  was  a  great  and  positive  force  in  the 
senate  during  his  term;  uniting  dispersed  and  wavering  purposes;  giving  proper  form 
to  uncertain  tendencies,  and  was,  moreover,  able  to  defend  his  policy  before  audiences 
no  less  great  than  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  only  briefly  that  we  can  give  the  salient  features  in  the  life  and  work  of  this 
pioneer  and  illustrious  son  of  Oregon.  Little  more  will  be  attempted  than  to  allude 
to  the  more  prominent  events  in  which  he  has  been  an  actor,  for  these  alone  will 
illustrate  a  character  solid,  firm,  wise  and  energetic. 

He  was  born  in  New  Lebanon,  Columbia  County,  New  York,  March  26, 1823,  and 
removed  at  an  early  day  to  Onondago  County,  receiving  his  education  at  the  Pompey 
Academy.  He  studied  law  with  Hon.  Daniel  Scott,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  New  York.  In  the  same  year,  1 844,  he  removed  to  Iowa 
Territory,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Fort  Madison.  In  1847 
he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  First  Judicial  District  of  that  State,  at  the  first  election 


308  History  of  Portland. 


after  the  formation  of  the  State  go\-ernment,  serving  five  years.     In  1852  he  was  one 
of   the    Presidential    Electors    at    larj^    and    canvassed     the   State   for   Franklin 
Pierce.     In    1853.    he  was  appointed    Chief  Justice   of  Oregon    Territorv  and   was 
re-appointed  by  Buchanan  in  1S57.     He  terminated  his  ser\-ices  in   this   position  bv 
resignation,  and  resumcfl  the  practice  of  law  at  Portland.      He  became  a  member, 
however,  of  the  convention  to  form  the  Constitution  for  Oregon  and  was  chairman  of 
the  judiciary-  committee.     While  in  this  responsible  position  he  was  active  in  opposing 
the  introrluction  of  slaver>-  into  Oregon,  and  as  the  Constitution  required  the  popular 
vote  upon  that   quc-stion.  he  was  active  in  presenting  the  question  before  the  people 
and  in  urging  rejection  of  slavery*.     HLs  anti-slavery  principles  and   devotion   to  the 
Union  led  him  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  the  Union  party  in    1861.     He  was  ver\- 
eamest  in  supporting  Lincoln's  administrati'.'U  and  strongly  upheld  the  efforts  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  suppressing  the  rebellion.     In  1864  he  was  elected  senator  in 
Congress  and  was  a  memlnrr  of  the   committee  on  Finance   and   Public  Lands,  and 
also  of  the  Reconstruction  committee. 

Among  the  measures  which  he  introducetl  into  the  Senate  and  which  became  lan-s 
are  the  follo^^-ing:  .\n  act  creating  a  new  land  district  in  Oregon  with  a  land  office  at 
La  Grande;  an   amemlment  to  the  act  granting  lands   to  the  State    of  Oregon  to 
engage   in   the  construclion   of  a   military   road   from    Eugene   City   to  the  eastern 
boundar\-  of  the  State,  granting  odd  sections  to  supply  any  deficiency  in  the  original 
grant;  various  acls  establishing  post  roads;  a  general   law  to  secure  the  election  of 
Unite<l  States  senators;  the  "the  tenure-of  office  acl,*'  which  kept  republicans  all  over 
the  country-  from  being  turned  out  of  office  by  Andrew  Johnson  and  which  became  a  law 
by  Ixriiig  passed  over  the   President's  veto;  a  resolution   against  the   importation  of 
coolies;  an  act  to  provide  a  more  efficient  government  of  the  insurrectionarv  States 
called    the     "Reconstniclion    .\ct,'*    under    which   all   the   Southern    States    were 
reconstruc1e<l.     The  last  named  act  was  vetoed  by  President  Johnson,  but  was  passe<l 
over  his  veto,     .\mong  other  measures  were  numerous  appropriations  for  Oregon;  an 
amendment  to   the   acl   of  1S61.    relative   to   property   lost   in   suppressing    Indian 
hostilities  in  r)regon;  an  amen<lment  to  the  Judiciary-  acl  of  1789;  an  amendment   to 
the  act  granting  lan<ls  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  the  Central  Pacific 
in  California  to  Portlanil.  Oregon;  an    acl    fixing   eleclions  in  Idaho  and  Washington 
territories  on  the  same  day  as  the  election  in  Oregon;  an  acl  to  pay  two  companies  of 
Oregon  volunteers  commanded  by  Captains  Walker  and  Olney;  an  acl  to  strengthen 
the  public  crerlit;  an  amendment  to  the  acl  granting  lands  to  aid  in   the  construclion 
of  a  railroad  from  the  Central  Pacific  to  Portlan<l,  by  which  the  grant  was   prevented 
from  reverting  to  the  (Voveniment;  an  acl  granting  lands  to  aid  in  the  construc"lion  of 
a  railroad  and  telegraph  line  from   Portland  to  Astoria  and  McMinnville;  a  resolution 
to  facilitate  the  building  of  a  light  house  at  Vaquina  Bay,  and  other  light  houses  on  the 
coast  of  Oregon;  an  acl  granting  certain  lands  to  Blessington  Rutledge,  a  citizen  of  Lane 
county;  a  res<^>lution  to  increase  the  pay  of  marshals  in  taking  the  census  of  1870;  an 
act  extending   the   l)enefits  of  the    Donation  Law  of  1850  to  certain  persons;  an  acl 
creating  a   new   land  districl   in  Washington   Territory,  with  a  land  office  at  Walla 
Walla. 

Judge  Williams  entere<l  the  senate  at  the  most  exciting  and  important  period  in 
the  history  of  the  government.  A  great  war  had  just  closed.  One-third  of  the  States 
of  the  Union  were  disorganized,  to  restore  them  was  a  great  work,  hardly  less  difficult 


Biographical.  509 


than  had  been  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion.  From  the  first  Judge  Williams  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  debates  of  the  senate  and  wielded  a  power  second  to  none  in 
that  body  and  far  greater  than  any  new  member.  He  soon  became  a  recognized 
leader  among  tlie  first  men  of  the  nation,  many  of  whom  possessed  great  talent, 
unbounded  ambition,  long  experience  in  tlie  senate,  world  wide  fame,  with  prestige 
of  old,  populous  and  powerful  States  to  sustain  them  in  their  efforts  to  lead  and 
control  their  associates  and  to  shape  legislation.  He  originated  the  most  important 
measures  of  a  political  and  national  character  which  |>assed  Congress  during  his  term 
of  service — the  reconstruction  law  and  the  teuure-of-office  act*  While  ten  States 
were  in  a  condition  of  anarchy,  and  the  wisest  and  most  experienced  statesman  were 
quarreling  among  themselves  and  waging  a  fierce  contest  with  President  Johnson  as 
to  how  the  subjugated  States  should  be  restored  to  their  proper  places  in  the  Union, 
Senator  Williams  brought  forward  his  military  reconstruction  bill,  and  after  long  and 
earnest  debate,  it  passed  both  houses  and  became  a  law  notwithstanding  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  President  and  of  the  Democratic  party.  Under  this  law  and  its 
amendments,  chaos  was  converted  into  order,  peace  was  established  and  the  Union 
was  pennanently  restored  on  a  free  and  prosperous  basis. 

While  President  Johnson  was  dispossessing  of  office  the  loyal  men  who  had 
elected  him  and  filling  their  places  with  those  unfriendly  to  the  reconstruction 
measures.  Senator  Williams  prepared  a  bill  to  regulate  the  tenure-of-office.  This 
was  passed  over  the  President's  veto  and  was  invaluable  in  maintaining  the  power  of 
the  Republican  party.  The  senator  did  much  also  during  these  days  to  give  Oregon 
a  reputation  abroad  and  to  build  up  the  State  at  home.  His  bills  for  the  welfare  of 
the  State  were  carefully  matured,  well  adapted  to  the  conditions  then  existing,  and  in 
their  working  have  been  the  means  of  developing  domestic  and  interstate  commerce 
and  opening  for  the  people  of  the  Pacific  slope  the  markets  of  the  world. 

In  1871,  Judge  Williams  was  appointed  one  of  the  joint  commissioners  to  frame 
a  treaty  for  the  settlement  of  the  Alabama  claims  and  the  northwestern  boundar>', 
and  other  questions  in  dispute  with  Great  Britain.  In  this  capacity  he  bore  himself 
with  his  usual  dignity  and  his  counsels  proved  of  material  value.  Indeed,  his  part  in 
predetermining  the  decision  of  the  northwestern  boundary  in  favor  of  the  United 
States,  is  something  that  has  never  been  generally  known;  his  sagacity  and  foresight 
probably  giving  to  the  country  the  territory  in  dispute.  Being  appointed  on  the 
commission  as  a  citizen  of  the  Pacific  coast,  he  was  expected  to  keep  especial  watch 
of  the  disposition  of  the  nortliwest  boundary.  The  dispute  is  familiar  and  need  not 
be  recounted  here.  Great  Britain  was  fully  determined,  and  by  diplomatic  corres- 
pondence committed  to  maintain  that  the  boundary  ran  through  Rosario  Straits; 
while  the  United  States  contended  that  the  center  of  the  canal  DeHaro,  was  the  true 
line.  It  was  a  point  of  especial  difficulty,  both  from  the  inflexible  position  of 
each  nation,  and  from  the  obscurity  of  the  words  of  the  treaty,  by  reason  of 
their  reference  to  a  "channel"  which  was  imperfectly  known,  at  the  time  they  were 
written.  As  the  only  probable  solution  of  the  vexed  question,  it  was  proposed  in  the 
commission  to  refer  the  whole  matter  to  the  decision  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 
Seeing  at  once  that  this  was  a  loose  and  dangerous  expedient,  without  some  deter- 
mining canon  to  serve  as  a  guide,  and  that  in  the  interest  of  harmony,  the  Emperor 
might  easily  yield  to  a  disposition  of  the  question  upon  other  than  its  legal  merits. 
Judge  Williams  refused  to  agree  to  the  Emperor's  arbitration,   except  with  the 


510  History  of  Portland. 


proviso  that  his  decision  should  be  merely  an  interpretation  of  the  treaty  of  1846; 
that  he  should  not  decide  de  novo,  but  simply  settle  the  meaning  or  intention  of  the 
agreement  already  made.  So  cogently  did  he  present  these  views  that  the  commis- 
sion finally  acceded,  being  compelled  to  recognize  that  in  no  other  form  could  it  be 
worthily  submitted.  This  virtually  decided  the  question  in  the  favor  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  Emperor  could  allow  that  the  treaty  intended  nothing  else  but  Uie 
main  or  most  used  channel,  which  proved  to  be  the  canal  DeHaro.  By  this  Uie 
United  States  secured  the  San  Juan  and  other  islands. 

In  December,  1871,  Judge  Williams  was  appointed  Attorney  General  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  three  years  fully  sustained  the  rights  and  dignity  of  the  govern- 
ment. Here  again  it  is  not  generally  known  to  how  large  an  extent  the  force  and 
pith  of  the  president's  policy  with  reference  to  the  Southern  States,  was  in  the  hands 
of  Judge  Williams.  To  govern  these  States  was  the  difficult  point  in  the  whole 
question  of  his  administration.  It  was  during  the  time  of  the  Ku  Kluz  outrages  and 
the  laws  defied  by  the  clans  were  to  be  maintained  by  the  Attorney  General.  Presi- 
dent Grant  devolved  upon  him  the  entire  charge  of  the  disturbances  and  political 
affairs  of  the  Southern  States,  so  far  as  concerned  the  national  government;  and  the 
Secretarj'  of  War  was  directed  to  wait  upon  him  as  to  the  movement  of  troops  into 
the  disquieted  regions.  At  the  time  when  rival  governments  from  a  number  of  the 
Southern  States  sought  the  recognition  of  the  President,  Attorney  General  William's 
advice  as  to  the  course  to  pursue,  was  closely  followed,  in  accordance  with  which,  the 
Democratic  government  of  Arkansas  and  the  Republican  government  of  Louisana 
were  recognized.  The  contending  parties  of  Alabama  agreed  to  submit  their  claims 
to  him,  and  his  plan  of  settlement  was  accepted,  restoring  peace  to  a  distracted 
people. 

In  1872  he  made  a  tour  of  the  South,  delivering  addresses  in  Richmond,  Savannah, 
Charleston  and  othern  Southern  cities;  declaring  the  purpose  of  the  President  to 
maintain  fair  elections,  and  that  every  voter  should  be  allowed  to  cast  his  ballot 
according  to  his  preferences.  The  full  vote  in  the  election  following  and  the  return 
of  Republicans  from  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Arkansas  and  some  other  Southern 
States,  proved  the  impression  made  by  his  words.  Since  that  time  and  the  change 
of  administrative  policy  the  Republican  party  has  made  but  little  showing  in  these 
States. 

In  1874-,  Judge  Williams'  name  was  presented  to  the  Senate  for  the  place  of  Chief 
Justice,  lefl  vacant  by  the  death  of  Salmon  P.  Chase.  It  was  hard  for  the  old 
East  to  admit  that  the  remote  West  was  entitled  to  such  an  honor  as  would  be 
bestowed  by  the  elevation  of  the  Oregon  statesman,  and  after  a  contention  which 
promised  a  great  controversy  and  well  nigh  threatened  to  disrupt  the  Republican 
party,  the  Judge  withdrew  his  name — much  to  the  regret  of  President  Grant  who  was 
willing  to  stake  upon  his  confirmation  the  success  of  his  administration. 

The  result  of  the  presidential  election  of  1876,  when  both  parties  claimed  the 
election,  and  the  public  sentiment  of  the  country  was  about  equally  divided  as  to  the 
result,  is  still  fresh  in  the  public  mind.  The  excitement  was  most  intense  and  the 
situation  was  positively  perilous,  foreboding  discension  and  distraction,  and  possibly 
civil  war.  In  this  period  of  perplexity  as  to  the  course  to  pursue  to  bring  about  a 
lawful  and  peaceful  solution  of  the  difficulty,  Judge  Williams  contributed  an  article 
to  the    Washington  Stsw,  which  clearly  outlined  the  policy  afterwards  puisaed,  and 


Biographical.  511 


embDdied  all  the  essential  features  of  the  famous  electoral  commission  bill  finally 
adopted  by  Congress,  under  the  working*  of  which  lawfully  and  peacefully  was 
settled  the  great  political  contest  of  1876.  Some  time  after  the  bill  became  a  law, 
several  persons  claimed  the  honor  of  having  first  suggested  the  ideas  it  contained. 
The  matter  was  agitated  to  some  extent  in  the  public  press,  and  finally  the  Washing- 
ton Star  in  a  somewhat  lengthy  editorial,  presented  the  facts  in  the  case  and  clearly 
showed  the  credit  belonged  to  Juige  Williams. 

Since  Judge  Williams'  return  to  unofficial  life  he  has  made  his  home  in  Portland, 
practicing  *  law  and  giving  essential  aid  to  all  great  public  causes.  He  has  been 
constantly  sought  for  political  campaign  work,  and  to  grace  the  festivals  of  the 
metropolis  of  Oregon  with  his  felicitous  addresses.  Much  interest  has  centered  in  his 
receit  utterances  respecting  Historical  Christianity,  and  a  lecture  prepared  and 
delivered  by  him  upon  the  Divinity  of  Christ  is  regarded  as  a  valuable  contribution  to 
this  discussion. 

Judge  Widiams  has  none  of  the  small  arts  of  the  popular  leader.  He  is  a  man  of 
great  and  simple  nature,  of  very  high  intellectual  powers,  of  sob^r  and  solid  judgment, 
a  man  who  never  loses  his  equipoise,  but  at  all  times  has  his  great  mental  resources 
at  command.  In  clearness  of  statement  and  power  of  argument,  he  is  unsurpassed. 
His  intellectual  sincerity  is  apparent  to  all  who  have  heard  him  speak,  and  his 
moral  life  has  always  been  irreproachable. 


HIRSCH,  Solomon.  There  is  something  inspiring  in  the  record  of  a  busy  and 
useful  life;  something  stimulating  in  the  details  of  a  career  that  is  marked  by  a 
generous  and  beneficent  purpose;  something  worthy  of  emulation  in  the 
success  that  has  been  wrought  by  unselfish  means.  Such  has  been  the  record 
of  the  gentleman  whose  name  is  the  title  of  this  biography,  and  so  thoroughly 
have  the  varied  lines  of  his  efforts  been  blended  with  the  agencies  which 
have  b^en  conducive  to  the  material  progress  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  during  many 
years  that  no  history  of  this  portion  of  the  Union,  and  especially  of  the  State  of 
Oregon,  would  be  complete  which  failed  to  give  him  honorable  mention. 

He  was  bom  in  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  March  25,  1839.  His  youth  was  spent  in 
the  old  country  in  attendance  at  the  common  schools  of  that  day.  At  the  age  of 
fourteen  years  he  came  to  America,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  in  New  York, 
secured  a  clerkship  in  a  store  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut.  Here  he  remained 
but  a  few  months,  when  he  returned  to  New  York,  and  a  short  time  thereafter 
accepted  a  position  in  an  office  in  Rochester,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1858.  He  then  came  to  Oregon  by  the  way  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  reaching  Portland  about  the  middle  of  April  in  1858.  A  few  weeks  later 
he  started  in  business  at  Dallas,  in  Polk  County,  in  partnership  with  his  brother, 
Edward  Hirsch,  who  had  accompanied  him  to  Oregon,  and  who  has  since  held  many 
high  and  responsible  positions  in  the  State,  including  two  terms  as  State  Treasurer. 
They  remained  for  two  years  in  Dallas  and  then  removed  to  Silverton,  Marion  County. 
Here  they  continued  together  in  business  until  1864,  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
disposed  of  his  interest,  and  went  to  Salem  to  assist  his  elder  brothers,  one  of  whom, 
Mayer  Hirsch,  was  well  known  by  early  Oregonians. 


512  HiSToaT  OF  Pc-arTiAxr-. 


v^i.  I_  JjKi*.iii*r  i=ii  .%.  siiiijiMi&I  rsSsr  lit  •»»^Z  rsmfaifnsrcc  Lull  -^-p-'-**-  of 
I.  F^s-rrTitr  ic  C :  V.ci-5=:  :«n  tb*  -vb-.usiale  rtsssnZ  jnerrhm^Se  ^cnae  of 
Hj;2£i  Lr-,rJitrv.  Tb*7  iidn-a*-!  tie  iciid.isft  -vzli. rr-ar  -su:c5?»  mil  l-^C*.  miea die 
ix^Mt  ^trtzrtr*  i-jr^iti.  i  — t^  piirtzitr^-T  "WTii  "10.21^  Xj-jtst  Taifi£r  "Lie   int  •r.gr?>»  of 

Vs*c::s».  T-tcr  \ii*-:=.»'-*»  ri-tiilj  zri-v  z=.  =j.rr::rD5e  xai  5:r  TKtrrj  ttce:*  tier  ^v\t 
hii  -Jbt  lir"i'*?«:  ■eK.t-.'.i*2i=i*:trt  :-:'  -*  imi  :«i  -Lbt  Puirfu  Cussc  -osss&iic  <€  Su 
rnrii-i**: -.  All  .c  ti*  :c-jit=jl  piir::^*r^»  ir*  icZ  :T:c^Liir:i«i  'irni  tit  fcn.  ■w-i.>^g  it 
•yet  'O'f  ti.*  '.ji  i^as:  ir  tit  ::t J  >Cr  Hiratii  ii^  rrctritctirf  22*.  rtH  i^arjt  tarrvasd 
■mciTX    •:•:  'idji:::!^^    -'    t2u*   lirz*  'di=*c=s»  -k' tis*  ir=.  isf  tit   jcriczfricj 

j^-x — »rz:-. 

V-tist  t  trr:srrr.*^t  jart  ir  *iit-i=z  tit  icCrtiral  uEijr*  rtf  tit  5ccfc.  Eat  £r5C  Acare 
Tr-jrk  =  tJst  pcCiticil  irtzA,  tti*  n  lr»>*.  -wiit:  r-t  «T=rti  tit  «eutctajc  o«  ias-  *rsxicT. 
M-txtr  Hirs.:i  i.»  i  itirritt  t:  tit  Rtpetlic^r:  ScSrtAl  C?CTsa:ti?e^  wiici  axsin- 
«t£?i  f-cr  I  §e:r:ct  ttrtr  tit  Iirae^tfl  Li^ozlr.  1=  1^72  it  wfts-  taerts^i  a  aiember  €>f 
tit  lyj^^iz  li'jzjs^t  'A  tit  I^^-xlit=rt  fpcd  Mzltrrciii  C:c=ty..  xsi  *s>xx  &cks7vl- 
ffit=:t=t  -:^''  i»  -w*!!  irLTrz  frirciil  I'ttlrtj  wi*  ir9»rc:ta»i  a  ^ttsaVer  of  the 
I'^cirirtt**  '/z,  *iVi.y*  in  i  MtA=.*.  Lz  tit  I:ti^  uii  txcitf."gg  STrf-jjjtl  o:3ct^  of  »^*» 
:•  tir  it  tv^k  I  Itaiiinz  jirt.  ii*^  Dy=r?e  tirxLicioc:t  tii*  ^tttsr'y  ^a^i  agit  ^xsig  in 
vj-.'-r-i  -mtti  tATtj  -isa^***.  i=i  *-:i  i*  =^  w::i  tie  ajoc'J^jI  of  a  lir^  buiiSj  of  his 
-r.c.*fJrtirKI^♦.  Kt  ii:tr>i:i:e-i  isi  5ec=r;*i  tit  7iks<s.u:e  o-f  x  btll  pp:>T»i=i^  foe  the 
*^4y^V'*.'-'->^*  of  t  p«iM:.:  4.:i»I  :>  be  ti:;zit  m  tit  Ga"=:i-  \v*^v-^  Va'itr  this 
V,ri  *:j'-i  V  v.ivvl  ■■«  o^ietifi  1-  ?>rtlarri  iz-i  ii*  si^r*  ro«i  Eaiiatarae-l.  In  1ST4 
it  TBa.*  r.--tr:r..i^^i  '.v  tit  ?.tt-t'.:ci:=3 'j-f  M::ltr:=iii  C>::=ty  for  tic  Scite  Sesaie. 
ir-t  "Ki:*  ti'i  '-?i!;.  \x''jji.vj:  t'.t-rifi  iz  oppzij^it::::  tj  tit  I=»itp«sit=t  racket  then  is 
•it  £t'-.i.  r.',CK--i*r.i.-i::-z  tit  iizi  stariir^  at:  t»tJ:ilLr:ty  of  hi*  oppoceat.  Jad^ 
V.M'.Li—  Sv  .r-i-  S;  *i".i*£i:t.jT7  t>  tie  peDp'e  "wi*  iis  iisriir^  of  tit  dstics  of  this 
'/5_-fr  i-r.r-i-  ii^s  t-irr^.  tiit  :~  l^TS  it  Ti*  izii::  ri^diiLite-i  for  tit  Si£=::t  poshkni. 
i.'i  t'-  :r-f:  '-.;.  i  '..ir^tlv  :r.iTe:L*<e*i  rn^-i^ttv  over  the  vvXe  it  r^tctived  in  l5>74.  Hi* 
".f^/TJi  i'^.r.i  ii*  *!^.i-.\  'jtnn  TTir;  lir^tly  in  beii!f  of  a  bill,  which  in  Oregoo 
*',r;l:  --ikt  *.it  V^i't  vf  tit  Nation  il   Rinkrtipt   Act.  tht  latter  haiing  expired  br 

S^::At',r  H:rv.i  *  ',:;'.  z/rrr.ifi  i fz  \  pr»>rita  •!: vision  of  the  property  erf"  insolreot 
-i^rV^'-r^  im'^'S.z  iTr::V/r*  Ti;  ■*:11  wis  str^^ri^Iy  «>ppc»el.  bttt  was  dnally  passed, 
'.'r-ltr  ti-t  •»%"'*:  :r./-;  '/.  ti->  '.nr  tie  results  iave  been  s^ich  as  to  meet  with  the 
ht-.in:t*t  i^t>rvvi!  -.y  tit  .-.^imtrcLil  co=iiaun:ty.  So  thorocghly  was  Senator  Htrsch 
yi*^t:^t^: -A'.ti  tii»  :=:::.».rLir.t  rr.iriv-re  tiit  it  is  often  referred  to  as  the  Hirsch 
Ar«t:;fr.:r.*r.t  I^i'*.  'f^'.r.x  to  a  tz-^p-ilir  ieziaa.l  fx"  a  cian^e  in  the  statutes  of  limita- 
tior.j*  i^  t',  rtr-l '.-^t-it-t  ^ri-iitr/T  H:r*.:i  :r.troiluc€»l  a  bill  during  the  session  of  1S78, 
wii'.i  vtvimt  i  ;.i»  '..zW'A\T.z  'iit  '^rn  isstea  I  of  twenty  years  of  peaceable  posses- 
ii-on  %io-! :  '.on-tLt-Jt-t  a-  iniorttestaMe  title  to  property. 

::;  1^.V>  .Str..aVyr  Hirv.h  -*i^  ionored  by  receiving  the  unanimoos  vote  of  his 
party  aMOtiat-t^,  bc/^.h  in  the  canciLS  and  open  session,  for  President  of  the  >^**tiat^ 


Biographical.  513 


He  made  an  excellent  presiding  officer,  and  by  his  firmness  and  impartiality  won  the 
esteem  of  both  political  sides  of  the  Chamber.  While  occupying  the  position  he 
delivered  the  address  of  welcome  to  President  R.  B.  Hayes,  anl  other  distingaisbei 
guests  who  were  tendered  a  reception  in  the  Senate  Chamber  during  their  memorable 
visit  to  tlie  Northwest. 

Much  against  his  will  and  protest  Mr.  Hirsch  was  nominated  for  a  third  term  in 
the  Senate  in  1882,  and  although  he  devoted  little  time  to  a  personal  canvass 
he  was  elected  by  nearly  1,200  majority,  the  largest  majority  ever  given  in  the  State 
on  the  election  of  a  State  Senator.  This  was  a  magnificent  compliment,  and  showed 
the  appreciation  in  which  his  pa>t  services  were  held  by  the  people.  Daring  the 
State  political  campaign  which  followed  his  nomination,  Mr.  Hirsch's  time  and 
energies  were  almost  solely  given  up  to  the  State  campaign,  to  the  total  disregard  of 
his  personal  interest.  The  Republican  Delegation  from  Maltnomah  County  to  the 
State  Convention  which  met  in  Portland  in  April,  1882,  unanimously  recommended 
him  as  a  member  of  the  State  Central  Committee  from  this  county,  and  he  was 
afterwards  unanimously  elected  as  Chairman  of  that  organization.  From  that  time 
until  the  election  closed  he  was  indefatigable  in  his  exertions  for  the  success  of  his 
party.  His  successful  management  of  the  campaign  is  a  matter  of  history,  the  defeat 
of  the  Democratic  party  being  as  disastrous  as  was  the  success  of  the  Republican 
party  brilliant.  Never  was  a  campaign  in  this  State  better  managed,  its  organizations 
more  complete,  its  work  more  effective  and  its  result  more  succesifal,  for  waich  in  a 
large  measure  credit  was  freely  given  to  the  judicious  labors  of  Senator  Hirsch.  For 
the  first  time  since  1870,  the  fall  Republican  State  ticket  was  elected,  while  a 
Republican  majority  was  secured  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

During  the  Legislative  session  of  1885,  Mr.  Hirsch,  at  the  request  of  many  friends, 
consented  to  the  use  of  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate,  and  in 
open  session  on  several  ballots  received  within  ofie  vote  of  an  election.  The  balloting 
was  continued  for  many  days  but  no  candidate  received  the  requisite  number  of  votes, 
and  the  Legislature  was  compelled  finally  to  adjourn  without  a  choice  being  made. 
A  special  session  was  afterwards  called,  when  the  present  Senator,  John  H.  Mitchell, 
was  elected.  • 

At  the  expiration  of  his  third  term  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Hirsch  refused  to  become  a 
candidate  for  another  term,  but  he  continued  to  be  an  active  power  in  politics, 
preferring,  however,  to  work  in  the  ranks  without  expectation  of  reward  for  his 
services.  During  his  legislative  career  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  useful 
officials  in  the  service  of  the  State.  A  man  of  calm  judgment,  of  marked  intelli- 
gence, of  keen  perceptive  faculties,  abounding  in  sensible  practical  ideas  and  of 
unsullied  integrity,  his  opinions  never  failed  to  receive  the  careful  consideration  of 
his  colleagues.  The  interests  of  his  con'stituents  were  carefully  and  conscientiously 
prote<fled  and  his  entire  record  met  the  heartiest  approval  of  the  most  intelligent, 
liberal  minded  element  of  the  entire  community.  He  was  especially  adlive  in 
securing  appropriations  for  the  State  Board  of  Immigration  and  in  securing  several 
important  amendments  to  the  pilot  laws. 

In  December,  1888,  Mr.  Hirsch  made  a  journey  to  Europe.  While  located  at 
Karlsbad,  Germany,  he  was  surprised  to  receive  tlie  announcement  of  his  appoint- 
ment as  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Turkey,  by  President 
Harrison.    This  was  an  honor  which  was  most  unexpected  and  entirely  unsolicited, 


514  History  of  Portland. 


not  ha\nng  been  an  applicant  for  any  position  of  a  political  nature.  His  appoint- 
ment was  speedily  confirmed  by  the  Senate  and  most  favorably  endorsed  by  the 
leading  journals  all  over  the  country,  while  the  people  of  his  adopted  city  and  State, 
regardless  of  party  lines,  hailed  his  selection  as  an  honor  worthily  bestowed  and 
which  his  high  character  and  conceded  fitness  richly  merited.  Soon  after  his 
confirmation,  Minister  Hirsch  proceeded  to  Constantinople  where  he  was  received  by 
the  Sultan,  after  which  he  was  granted  a  leave  of  absence  to  return  home  and  make 
the  necessar>'  arrangements  for  taking  up  his  residence  with  his  family  at  the  capitol 
of  Turkey,  where  he  is  now  stationed.  Possessed  of  a  large  fortune,  a  man  of  broad, 
liberal  views,  cultured  mind,  polished  manners,  and  of  the  most  pleasing  personal 
address,  Minister  Hirsch  is  by  nature  and  cultivation  well  calculated  to  worthily 
uphold  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  United  States  in  its  relations  with  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  important  powers  of  the  Old  World.  The  people  of  his  State  who 
in  the  past  have  delighted  to  honor  him,  will  watch  his  course  with  pride,  knowing 
that  he  will  be  equal  to  all  the  requirements  of  his  new  and  exalted  station. 

The  career  of  this  gentleman  which  has  been  here  but  briefly  outlined,  presents 
many  strange  contrasts.  Thirty-five  years  ago  a  poor  boy,  seeking  a  new  home  in  a 
foreign  land,  he  arrived  in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  The 
years  roll  by  and  he  makes  a  right  use  of  his  opportunities;  gains  wealth,  is  the 
recipient  of  the  honor,  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fellow  men  in  the  home  of  his 
adoption,  and  to-day,  to  crown  a  life  in  ever\-  way  worthy  of  emulation  we  find  him 
selected  by  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  greatest  and  strongest  government  of  modem 
times,  as  the  representative  at  the  court  of  one  of  the  oldest  powers  of  Europe,  of 
the  very  country'  to  whose  shores,  a  comparatively  few  years  ago,  he  came  a  poor  and 
friendless  boy.  Such  achievements  as  have  followed  his  career  would  be  possible  in 
no  other  countr>*  but  America,  where  ever\'  avenue  is  open  to  true  merit  and  where 
the  best  types  of  manhood  are  created  and  developed.  It  is  impossible  not  to  admire 
the  courage  which  no  adversity  could  crush,  the  patient,  persistent  devotion  to  a  high 
and  worthy  purpose  from  which  no  temptation  could  allure  him,  such  as  have  been 
so  conspicuous  in  all  the  acts,  public  and  private,  of  Mr.  Hirsch.  The  elevation  of 
such  men  to  positions  of  pK)wer  and  influence  is  a  tribute  to  true  manhood,  and  ser\'es 
as  an  incentive  to  stimulate  the  ambition  of  ever>'  youth  who  is  compelled  by  his 
own  unaided  eflbrts  to  work  out  his  own  destiny. 

Mr.  Hirsch  was  married  in  1870  to  Miss  Josephine  Mayer,  daughter  of  Jacob  Mayer, 
of  Portland.  She  is  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement  and  well  adapted  to  grace  and 
adorn  the  high  social  sphere  she  has  been  called  upon  to  fill  as  the  wife  of  the  United 
States  Minister  at  Constantinople. 


SH.\TTUCK,  Kr.\sml\s  D.  Judge  E.  D.  Sliattuck  was  bom  in  Bakersfield,  Franklin 
County,  Vermont,  December  31,  1824-.  He  spent  his  boyhood  and  youth  on  a  farm 
and  was  prepared  for  a  collegiate  course  at  Bakersfield  Academy.  In  1844  he  entered 
Vermont  University,  pursued  the  full  classical  course  and  graduated  in  1848.  While 
in  college  he  was  dependent  upon  his  own  resources  for  means  to  prosecute  his 
studies,  and  during  vacations  and  some  part  of  term  time  he  taught  school  in  the 
country-  or  had  private  classes  in  the  village.  Notwithstanding  these  disadvantages 
and  interruptions  he  completed  the  college  course  in  the  prescribed  time  and  stood 
third  in  his  class  on  final  examinations, 


BiocRAPfiicAt.  516 


On  leaving  college  Mr.  Shattuck  was  employed  for  a  year  as  teacher  of  Latin  and 
mathematics  in  Bakersfield  Academy.  He  then  went  to  Georgia  and  taught  a  year  in 
Newnan  Seminary,  situated  about  twenty-five  miles  from  the  city  of  Atlanta.  While 
in  Newnan  he  employed  his  leisure  in  reading  law  in  the  office  of  Archibald  McKinley, 
at  that  time  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  that  part  of  the  State. 

In  1851  he  returned  north  and  located  in  Malone,  New  York,  where  he  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Parmelee  &  Fitch.  In  the  Spring  of 
1852  he  went  to  New  York  City  and  entered  the  office  of  Abner  Benedict,  where  he 
remained  reading  law  and  acquiring  the  details  of  practice  until  October,  1852, 
when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Soon  after  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  decided  to  come  to  Oregon,  at  that  time 
almost  an  unknown  region.  He  did  not  purpose  to  come  alone,  and  returning  to 
Vermont  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Armstrong  of  Fletcher.  January 
5,  1853,  Mr.  Shattuck  and  wife  started  for  Oregon  by  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
arriving  at  Portland  on  the  15th  day  of  February.  For  about  four  years  after  his 
arrival  in  Oregon  Mr.  Shattuck  was  engaged  chiefly  in  teaching,  having  been 
appointed  professor  of  ancient  languages  in  the  Pacific  University  at  Forest  Grove. 
In  1855  he  was  elected  county  superintendent  of  common  schools  in  Washington 
County,  and  in  1856  probate  judge  for  the  same  county.  In  1857  he  was  elected 
delegate  for  Washington  County  to  the  constitutional  convention,  and  sat  in  that 
body  and  took  part  in  framing  the  Constitution  of  the  State. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention  he  formed  a  co-partnership  in  the 
practice  of  law  with  David  Logan  and  removed  to  Portland,  where  he  has  ever  since 
continuously  resided.  In  1858  he  was  elected  to  represent  Multnomah  and  Wash- 
ington Counties  at  the  last  session  of  the  Oregon  Territorial  Legislature.  In  1861 
he  was  appointed  United  States  District  Attorney,  and  in  1862  was  elected  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  and  Circuit  Courts  for  the  Fourth  Judicial  District,  holding  the  latter  office 
until  November,  1867.  In  1874  he  was  again  elected  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
and  continued  in  office  until  the  re  organization  of  the  State  Judiciary  by  the  Legisla- 
tive act  of  1878.  In  1886  he  wa&  elected  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  for  Department 
No.  1,  in  the  Fourth  District,  a  position  he  still  worthily  fills.  Besides  the  offices 
named.  Judge  Shattuck,  at  different  periods,  has  served  as  member  of  the  Portland 
City  Council,  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Portland  school  district, 
and  was  one  of  the  founders  and  early  trustees  of  the  Portland  Library. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Judge  Shattuck  has  been  almost  constantly  in  the  public 
service  since  his  arrival  in  Oregon,  and  during  all  these  years  his  record  has  been 
such  as  to  win  the  confidence  and  respecl  of  his  fellow  men.  He  is  a  studious  reader, 
a  profound  thinker,  and  an  earnest  and  logical  talker.  He  has  been  a  hard  worker  in 
his  profession.  His  patient  industry,  his  power  of  incisive  analysis,  and  his  large 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  law  are  conspicuous  in  all  the  fields  of  learning  and 
pradlice,  but  appear  to  best  advantage  in  the  sphere  of  a  judge.  His  mind  is  judicial 
in  tone  and  temper;  in  no  one  could  there  be  better  harmony  between  mental  and 
moral  forces  than  in  Judge  Shattuck.  In  all  the  elements  which  constitute  the  worthy 
citizen,  he  excels.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  convidlions,  of  great  sincerity  and  high 
sense  of  duty.  He  follows  his  convidlions  regardless  of  personal  consequences;  is 
firm,  without  being  dogmatic,  but  maintains  his  opinions  fearlessly.  In  modes  of 
.  thought  and  life  he  is  eminently  pra<5lical,  and  abounds  in  domestic  affedlion  and  is 


516  History  of  Portland. 


earnestly  loyal  to  principles  and  friends.  Although  reared  under  the  teachings  of  the 
Christian  faith,  he  is  hardly  "orthodox"  in  matters  of  religion,  but  has  due  respe<Si 
for  the  views  of  others,  and  the  utmost  veneration  for  all  agencies  which  tend  to 
elevate  the  standard  of  morality  and  to  make  men  lead  better  and  purer  lives. 

In  politics  Judge  Shattuck  was  originally  a  whig,  but  joined  the  republican  party 
on  its  first  organization  in  this  State,  adling  with  it  until  1872,  when  he  united  with 
the  so-called  independent  movement  and  worked  earnestly  against  tendencies  which 
he  found  objectionable  in  the  policy  of  the  regular  party  leaders.  In  the  presidential 
ele<5lion  of  that  year  he  was  a  candidate  for  ele<flor  on  the  Greeley-Democratic 
ticket.  Since  that  time  he  has  adled  and  voted  chiefly  with  the  democratic  party, 
although  he  is  classed  among  the  independent  voters  and  has  never  been  considered 
much  of  a  partisan.  He  is  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  highly  esteemed  citizens 
of  Oregon;  in  the  soundness  of  his  judgment  and  in  his  personal  and  official  integrity, 
all  men  have  full  confidence,  and  no  man  has  done  more  than  he  to  establish  and 
maintain  the  high  charadler  of  our  judicial  tribunals.  His  reward  is  the  universal 
esteem  of  his  fellow  men. 


GLISAN,  Rodney,  M.  D.     Rodney  Glisan,  physician  of  Portland,  son  of  Samuel 
and  Eliza  Glisan,  was  bom  at  Linganore,  Frederick  County,  Maryland,  January 
29,  1827.     His  ancestors  were  among  the  first  English  settlers  of  Maryland. 

He  was  graduated  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Maryland,  in 
1849,  and  after  passing  a  severe  competitive  examination  before  a  medical  board,  was 
appointed  a  medical  officer  of  the  United  States  Army,  in  May,  1850.  Having  served 
in  this  capacity  for  about  eleven  years  on  the  plains,  and  in  Oregon  during  her 
Indian  wars,  he  resigned  his  commission  and  settled  in  Portland,  where  he  has  ever 
since  been  in  the  successful  practice  of  his  profession.  In  recognition  of  his  services 
during  the  Indian  hostilities  in  Oregon  from  1855  to  1860  he  was,  in  1886,  elected 
surgeon  of  the  Grand  Encampment  of  the  Indian  War  Veterans  of  the  North  Pacific 
Coast,  and  still  holds  this  honorary  position. 

While  stationed  in  Oregon  as  an  army  surgeon,  Dr.  Glisan  had  an  excellent 
opportunity  to  ascertain  the  efficiency  of  volunteer  soldiers  and  unlike  a  certain 
class  of  regular  army  officers,  he  has  ever  entertained  the  highest  opinion  of 
their  soldierly  qualities. 

Dr.  Glisan  was  a  professor  in  the  first  medical  institution  ever  formed  in  Oregon, 
the  Oregon  Medical  College,  which  subsequently  assumed  the  name  of  The  Medical 
Department  of  the  Willamette  University,  in  which  he  was  for  a  long  time  a  lecturer, 
and  is  still  an  emeritus  professor.  While  an  active  member  of  this  college,  he  felt 
the  need  of  American  text  books  in  his  department  of  obstetrics,  none  having  been 
written  for  several  years,  and  regretted  the  general  use  by  American  schools  of  the 
text  books  of  Great  Britain  and  continental  Europe.  In  his  eflfjrt  to  supply  this 
deficiency  he  published  in  1881,  and  again  in  1887,  his  Text  Book  of  Modem 
Midwifery.  This  was  well  received  both  in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 
Its  author  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  copy  of  it  in  the  library  of  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  professors  in  Paris.  He  also  saw  his  book  in  the  libraries  of  several 
German  professors  at  Vienna.  A  well  known  American  practitioner  has  said  of  it: 
*'  that  from  the  concise  yet  clear  style,  and  the  correctness  of  the  teaching,  the 


Biographical.  517 


student  of  midwifery  will  find  it  a  profitable  work  for  study,  and  the  busy  practitioner 
a  satisfactory  work  of  reference, "  while  the  London  Medical  Times  and  Gazette  said 
of  it:  *'  We  have  read  the  book  with  much  pleasure,  and  regard  it  as  a  valuable 
addition  to  obstetric  literature.  Its  great  merit  seems  to  us  to  be  this:  that  it  is  the 
work  of  a  man  who  thinks  for  himself.  Dr.  Glisan  not  only  shows  a  habit  of  inde- 
pendent judgment,  but  an  amount  of  common  sense  which  makes  his  opinions  worth 
careful  attention."    The  London  Lancet  gave  the  work  the  following  endorsement: 

"The  first  thing  that  strikes  us  in  the  book  is  independence;  hardly  an  idea  is 
adopted,  in  a  work  which  must  naturally  consist  largely  of  compilation,  without 
digestion  and  assimilation,  and  the  result  or  digested  product  bears  the  impress  of 
the  author's  mind,  the  main  characteristic  of  which  is  common  sense." 

Dr.  Glisan  is  also  author  of  a  Journal  of  Army  LOe,  and  Two  Yesws  in  Europe y 
the  latter  being  his  last  work  in  book  form.  It  is  a  book  of  travel  and  was  very 
flatteringly  received  by  the  press;  the  Literary  World,  of  Boston,  in  reviewing  it 
said: 

"  Dr.  Glisan,  who  is  an  Oregonian,  covers  a  wider  range  of  topics  than  Dr.  Holmes, 
and  detains  his  readers  for  a  much  longer  period.  He  is  sedate  and  sober,  too,  in 
comparison  with  Dr.  Holmes,  though  his  narrative  is  too  instructive  to  be  called 
commonplace,  even  when  placed  alongside  the  sparkling  '  Hundred  Days. '  Dr. 
Glisan,  who  traveled  in  a  deliberate  and  rather  generously  American  fashion  all  over 
England  and  the  Continent,  skips  about  in  his  story  in  a  way  that  would  be  rather 
destructive  to  the  order  of  time-tables  and  guide-books,  but  is  observing  and 
judicious,  manly  and  sensible.  He  is  more  plain-spoken  as  to  the  signs  of  the  '  social 
evil '  in  London  and  Paris,  than  some  less  strictly  professional  travelers  would  care 
to  be  ill  print;  in  particular,  he  is  emphatic  in  his  opinion  of  the  moral  dangers  to 
which  young  medical  students  are  exposed  in  Paris,  Berlin  and  Vienna;  he  preserves 
his  total -abstinence  habits  throughout  his  trip,  and  ridicules  the  common  caution  not 
to  drink  water;  he  showed  himself  a  bold  man  inspecting  the  crater  of  Vesuvius,  and 
a  plucky  one  in  handling  a  pickpocket  at  Amsterdam.  »  •  *  »  Dr.  Glisan 
received  many  attentions  and  saw  something  of  society  and  inner  life,  and  the 
pictures  which  embellish  this  handsome  book  are  good  engravings  of  photographs. 
The  great  centres  of  European  life  may  be  instructively  and  agreeably  visited  in  his 
company." 

Dr.  Glisan  has  taken  an  a<5live  interest  in  the  efforts  put  forward  to  elevate  his 
profession  through  medical  organizations.  He  was  president  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  the  State  of  Oregon  in  1875-6,  and  his  address  in  rhyme  delivered  before  the 
society  attracted  wide  attention.  It  has  since  appeared  in  a  volume  entitled,  ''Medical 
RbymeSy^'  edited  by  Hugo  Erichsen,  M.  D.  For  many  years  Dr.  Glisan  has  been  a 
member  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  He  took  an  adlive  part  in  the 
Seventh  International  Medical  Congress  held  in  London,  England,  1881,  and  was 
also  a  member  of  the  Ninth  International  Medical  Congress,  which  convened  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  in  1887.  His  paper,  read  by  invitation  before  the  latter  Congress, 
elicited  favorable  comments  in  all  the  principal  medical  journals  of  America  and 
Europe. 

Dr.  Gilsan  has  written  many  articles  on  professional  subje<5ls  for  the  leading 
medical  journals  of  the  United  States,  which  are  of  great  value  as  outlining  in 
certain  diseases  peculiar  and  independent  modes  of  successful  treatment.      Perhaps 


518  History  of  Portland. 

the  most  prominent  of  his  contributions  to  this  class  of  literature  appeared  in  the 
U.  S.  Army  Statistics^  (1855  and  1860),  and  in  the  American  Journal  of  the  Medical 
Sciences,  (1865,  1878  and  1880).  He  has  performed  many  important  surgical 
operations.  Among  his  notable  cases  were  the  first  amputations  of  the  shoulder  and 
thigh,  and  the  second  operation  for  strangulated  inguinal  hernia,  ever  performed  on 
the  North  Pacific  Coast.  Although  relinquishing  this  branch  of  the  profession,  he  is 
still  a  busy  general  practitioner. 

Dr.  Gilsan  has  been  one  of  the  most  industrious  of  men.  He  is  especially  noted 
for  the  unconquerable  persistence  with  which  he  pursues  whatever  he  undertakes.  He 
possesses  fine  business  qualifications  united  to  great  prudence,  and  has  accumulated 
a  large  fortune.  In  everything  pertaining  to  business  or  his  profession,  he  is  very 
methodical  and  always  appears  cool  and  colle<5led.  Owing  chiefly  to  his  temperate 
habits,  he  has  always  enjoyed  good  health,  and  has  not  for  more  than  half  a  century 
refrained  from  duty,  civil  or  military,  for  a  single  day  on  account  of  ill  health, 
although  exposed  by  day  and  by  night  in  all  climates,  to  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather.  He  is  religious,  as  the  result  of  the  clearest  and  most  deliberate  of  convic- 
tions. He  was  originally  a  Methodist  in  faith,  but  since  his  residence  in  Portland, 
has  been  a  member  of  Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  where  for  over  twenty  years  he  has 
been  warden.  His  views  of  men  and  affairs  have  been  broadened  by  observation  and  by 
mingling  with  men  of  many  countries.  Although  he  has  traveled  extensively  in 
Central  and  British  America,  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe,  he  has  seen  no 
country  that  he  prefers  as  a  home,  to  Oregon.  His  personal  character  as  a  man  of 
probity  and  high  sense  of  honor,  has  been  firmly  established.  In  addition  to  his 
attainments  as  a  physician,  he  is  a  thinker  and  >%Titer  who  has  shown  a  literary 
capacity  of  superior  order,  united  to  soundness  of  judgment  and  grace  of  expression 
which  give  to  his  writing  and  public  utterances  particular  value.  While  he  is  in 
every  sense  a  practical  man,  there  is  in  his  nature  an  element  that  is  genuinely  poetic. 
It  is  the  vein  of  gold  in  the  quartz  of  his  more  rugged  virtues.  Large  property 
interests  and  genuine* aflfedlion  for  his  adopted  city  and  State,  have  combined  to 
make  him  an  important  fa<5lor  in  their  material  advancement,  to  which  he  has  largely 
contributed. 

The  domestic  life  of  Dr.  Glisan  has  been  one  of  singular  congeniality  and  happi- 
ness. He  was  married  in  December  3,1863  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Couch.a  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  youngest  daughter  of  Captain  John  H.  Couch,  one  of  the  founders 
of  Portland.  Mrs.  Glisan  is  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement  and  devotes  much  of 
her  time  and  energies  to  philanthropic  and  charitable  work. 

Dr.  Glisan's  career  in  Portland  has  been  alike  useful  to  the  city  and  honorable  to 
himself. 


BELLINGER  Charles  B.  Judge  Bellinger  was  bom  in  Maquon,  Knox  County, 
Illinois,  November  21,  1839,  and  at  the  age  of  eight  years  came  to  Oregon  with 
his  parents  and  grand-parents.  Afler  receiving  the  advantages  of  a  .common  school 
education,  supplemented  with  some  two  years  at  the  Willamette  University,  he  began 
to  read  law  at  Salem,  in  the  office  of  B.  F.  Bonham,  at  present  United  States  Consul 
at  Calcutta,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  September  term  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  in  1863.     He  immediately  thereafter  engaged  in  the  pradlice  of  law  at  Salem» 


Biographical.  519 


in  partnership  with  J.  C.  Cartwright,  since  United  States  Distri<5l  Attorney  and 
Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  for  Oregon;  but  now  deceased.  The  firm  rapidly 
acquired  a  good  business,  but  unable  to  resist  the  allurement  of  politics,  Mr. 
Bellinger  gave  up  the  law  business  to  become  the  editor  of  a  new  Democratic  paper, 
The  Arena,  which  had  been  founded  by  Gen.  John  F.  Miller,  Hon.  Joseph  S.  Smith  and 
other  prominent  democrats.  It  was  a  time  when  what  was  known  as  the  "Oregon 
Style"  was  in  fashion.  The  paper  was  like  its  contemporaries,  bitterly  partisan  and 
personal  in  its  treatment  of  subje<5ls  and  men  under  discussion.  It  was  impetuous, 
unsparing,  and  as  is  always  the  case  when  controversy  is  carried  on  under  like 
conditions,  often  most  unjust  in  its  treatment  of  those  of  the  opposition. 

Mr.  Bellinger's  health  becoming  impaired,  he  retired  from  editorial  work  in  1866, 
and  with  another  gentleman  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Monroe,  in  Benton 
county,  until  1869,  serving  in  the  mean  time,  in  1868,  a  term  in  the  Legislature  as  a 
representative  from  Benton  county. 

In  1869,  at  the  solicitation  of  Hon.  N.  H.  Cranor,  of  Albany,  Linn  county,  he 
removed  to  the  latter  place,  under  an  arrangement  by  which  he  was  to  practice  law 
with  that  gentleman  and  at  the  same  time  take  editorial  charge  of  the  State  Rights 
Democrat  newspaper. 

In  the  spring  of  1870,  following  Mr.  Bellinger's  assumption  of  editorial  charge  of 
the  Democrat,  the  Democratic  State  Convention  which  met  at  Albany,  adopted  what 
was  known  as  the  "equitable  adjustment"  platform,  in  which  it  undertook  to 
straddle  the  then  burning  question  as  to  whether  the  public  debt,  contracted  in 
putting  down  the  rebellion,  should  in  whole  or  in  part  be  repudiated.  It  was  a 
cowardly  concession  to  what  was  then  believed  to  be  a  large  element  in  the  party  in 
favor  of  repudiation.  Mr.  Bellinger,  in  the  Democrat,  denounced  the  straddle, 
declared  that  the  only  construction  of  the  platform  which  could  be  permitted  must  favor 
the  payment  in  good  faith  of  the  debt  according  to  the  terms  in  which  it  was  contracted, 
and  served  notice  on  the  candidates  and  party  organs,  who  were  already  advocating  the 
"equitable  adjustmenf'of  the  debt,  by  which  the  debt  might  be  paid  in  some  part,  or  no 
part,  as  the  exigences  of  the  future  might  require,  that  they  must  face  about  and  repu- 
diate repudiation,  or  the  Democrat  would  repudiate  the  ticket  and  lead  a  revolt  that 
would  lose  Linn  county  to  the  party  in  the  election.  This  county  was  the  bulwark  of  the 
party  and  was  believed  to  be  the  stronghold  of  the  repudiation  element  in  the  State. 
The  attitude  of  the  Democrat  was  the  sensation  of  the  campaign.  The  result  was 
that  in  spite  of  the  gibes  and  taunts  of  the  republican  journals  that  the  democratic 
party  and  its  candidates  were  being  driven  to  surrender  their  convictions  at  the 
command  of  a  country  newspaper,  the  democratic  campaign  was  thenceforth  shaped 
upon  the  course  marked  out  by  the  Democrat,  The  democratic  party  succeeded  in 
the  election  and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  best  politicians  of  the  time,  that  the  result 
was  due  largely,  if  not  wholly,  to  the  course  of  the  Democrat,  an  opinion  which 
notliing  has  since  occurred  to  change. 

Under  Mr.  Bellinger's  management,  the  Democrat  advanced  rapidly  in  circulation 
and  influence,  but,  editing  a  newspaper  and  practicing  law  at  the  same  time,  being 
incompatible,  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  paper  to  his  partner,  the  late  M.  V. 
Brown,  and  in  the  fall  of  1870,  removed  to  Portland  where  he  has  since  continued 
to  reside  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 


520  History  of  Portland. 


In  1871,  the  then  prosecating  attorney  for  the  Fourth  Judicial  District, 
Ex-Govemor  Gibbs,  having  acccepted  the  appointment  of  United  States  Distiid 
Attorney,  Governor  Grover,  a(5ling  upon  the  assumption  that  the  two  offices  were 
incompatible  and  that  the  acceptance  of  the  second  office  created  a  vacancy  in  the 
former  one,  appointed  Mr.  Bellinger  to  such  vacancy.  Governor  Gibbs  refused  to 
surrender,  but  continued  to  hold  both  offices.  An  adUon  of  quo  -warranto  was 
brought  on  the  part  of  the  new  appointee  to  test  the  right  of  the  latter  to  the 
office.  A  final  decision  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  favor  of  the  contestant  was 
reached  after  the  expiration  of  the  term.  The  case,  though  unreported,  has 
become  a  leading  one  and  was  often  referred  to  in  the  Cronin-Watt  ele<Storal  contest 
of  1876-7,  certified  copies  of  the  record  haWng  been  forwarded  to  Mr.  Tilden*s 
lawyers  on  their  order,  for  use  in  that  contest 

In  1872,  Mr.  Bellinger  was  the  nominee  on  the  democratic  ticket  for  prosecuting 
attorney  in  the  Fourth  District,  his  opponent  being  Mr.  Geo.  H.  Durham.  The  two 
candidates  were  old  school  mates  and  chums  and  the  canvass  made  by  them  of  the 
different  counties  of  the  distri(5t  was  more  one  of  recreation  than  serious  political 
work.  The  entire  democratic  ticket  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  in  the  election 
Mr.  Bellinger  with  the  rest. 

In  1873,  Mr.  Bellinger  went  to  the  Modoc  war  with  General  John  F.  Miller, 
major  general  of  the  Oregon  militia,  in  capacity  of  aid  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  and 
remained  in  that  service  until  the  appointment  of  the  peace  commission  suspended 
militarj'  operations.  He  was  in  the  battle  of  the  Lava  Beds,  fought  on  January  17th. 
in  which  the  United  States  troops  under  General  Wheaton,  the  Oregon  volunteers 
and  a  company  of  California  volunteers,  were  defeated  by  Captain  Jack,  with  heavy 
loss.  He  was  upon  General  Wheaton 's  staff  during  the  engagement  and  received 
honorable  mention  in  that  officer's  report  of  the  battle. 

In  1874,  Mr.  Bellinger  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State,  and  ex  officio  reporter  of  its  decisions.  While  holding  this  position  he  served 
as  chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Central  Committee,  during  1876  and  1877, 
covering  the  exciting  period  of  the  Tilden  presidential  campaign.  In  the  fall  of 
1878,  he  resigned  the  clerkship  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  accept  the  Circuit  Judge- 
ship for  the  Fourth  Judicial  Distri<5t,  then  comprising  the  counties  of  Multnomah, 
Clackamas,  Washington,  Clatsop  and  Columbia.  The  docket  of  cases  for  trial  in 
Multnomah  county,  was  at  the  time  phenomenal.  There  were  seven  murder  cases 
pending  and  tried  during  the  first  term  for  the  latter  county  held  by  the  new  judge, 
and  above  sixty  indidtmsnts  for  felonies  of  different  kinds  were  disposed  of  at  the 
same  term.  The  enormous  criminal  business  of  the  distridt  is  shown  by  the  facft  that 
in  the  spring  of  1880,  more  than  one-half  of  all  the  convicts  in  the  penitentiary, 
numbering  a  total  of  above  two  hundred,  had  received  their  sentence  from  Judge 
Bellinger.  The  civil  docket  during  the  same  time  was  also  an  unusually  large 
one. 

At  the  general  election  of  1880  Judge  Bellinger  was  his  party's  candidate  for 
Circuit  Judge  but  was  defeated  by  Judge  Raleigh  Stott,  owing  to  the  overwhelmingly 
republican  majority  of  that  year  and  the  popularity  of  his  opponent  It  was, 
however,  an  honorable  defeat  since  he  ran  between  eleven  and  twelve  hundred  votes 
ahead  of  his  ticket  and  carried  by  large  majorities  some  of  the  strongest  republican 


Biographical.  521 


precincts  in  his  own  county.  Upon  retiring  from  the  bench  he  resumed  the  practice 
of  the  law  in  partnership  with  Hon.  John  M.  Gearin,  and  so  continued  until  the  fall 
of  1883,  when  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Dolph,  Bellinger,  Mallory  & 
Simon. 

He  was  married  early  in  life  to  Miss  Margery  S.  Johnson,  of  Linn  County.  Their 
children,  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  are  all  living  and  with  two  exceptions  are 
grown. 

Judge  Bellinger,  during  his  occupancy  of  the  bench  was  noted  for  his  courtesy, 
industry  and  acuteness,  as  well  as  for  his  learning  and  firmness.  Policy  had  little,  if 
anything,  to  do  with  his  decisions,  his  conclusions  being  reached  by  critical  analysis 
presented  with  legal  and  logical  force.  His  experience  as  a  judge  served  to  increase 
his  powers  of  advocacy,  and  largely  adds  to  his  equipment  as  a  lawyer.  Painstaking 
in  his  investigations,  acute  in  mind,  familiar  with  practice  and  an  adept  in  pleading, 
he  was  quickly  noted,  on  his  retirement  from  the  bench  as  a  member  of  the  bar  who 
had  no  superior  in  the  difficult  task  of  "trying  a  case  after  verdict,"  thereby  snatching 
victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat.  In  advocacy  before  the  Court  he  is  nearly  always 
severely  logical,  though  when  his  case  demands  it  no  one  is  better  able  than  himself  to 
substitute  plausibility  for  logic  and  make  the  "worse  appear  the  better  reason."  In 
his  jury  appeals  his  own  intellectuality  causes  him  to  address  the  head  rather  than 
the  heart  and  hence  his  success  in  jury  trials  is  greater  with  an  intelligent  than  an 
ignorant  panel.  His  wit  is  well  known  and  often  has  his  antagonists  at  the  bar 
winced  under  his  incisiveness.  .  In  the  social  circle,  however,  it  is  used  only  to 
please  and  not  to  wound,  making  him  a  genial  companion,  whose  absence  is  regretted 
and  presence  always  prized.  His  merits  as  a  lawyer  have  bscome  so  well  known  as  to 
secure  him  a  lucrative  practice  in  the  conduct  of  causes  for  railway,  banking  and  insur- 
ance corporations.  His  mind  is  noted  for  alettness;  in  all  his  actions  moral  sense  is  pre- 
dominant; he  is  a  reader,  student  and  thinker;  possesses  unusual  powers  as  a  writer, 
and  has  talents  in  general  that  would  make  him  conspicuous  and  bring  him  success 
in  any  station. 


U AILING,  Henry,  banker,  and  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of  the  Northwest, 
*  was  bom  in  the  city  of  New  York,  January  17,  1834.  His  father,  Josiah  Failing, 
for  many  years  an  honored  citizen  of  Portland,  was  bom  in  Montgomery  county.  New 
York.  Early  in  life  he  went  to  Albany, to  learn  the  trade  of  paper  stainer,  and  in  1824, 
accompanied  his  employer  upon  his  removal  to  New  York  City.  He  served  his 
apprenticeship  and  followed  his  trade  until  forced  to  abandon  it  on  account  of  ill 
health.  He  then  engaged  in  the  trucking  business,  following  this  line  of  work  for 
many  years.  During  this  period  he  served  for  several  years  as  superintendent  of 
public  vehicles  of  the  city.  In  1851,  he  came  to  Portland  and  established  the 
mercantile  firm  of  J.  Failing  &  Co.,  with  which  he  was  connected  until  1864,  when, 
having  acquired  a  modest  competency,  he  retired  from  a6live  business. 

Arriving  in  Portland  at  a  period  of  rapid  changes  and  growth,  he  in  many  ways 
became  thoroughly  identified  with  its  progress  and  was  soon  called  upon  to  take  a 
prominent  part  in  the  management  of  public  affairs.  In  1853,  he  was  ele<5led  mayor 
of  the  city  and  did  much  to  give  a  proper  start  to  the  destiny  of  the  place.  He  took 
a  warm  interest  in  educational  matters,  and  as  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  public  schools, 


522  History  of  Pomxand. 

devoted  much  of  his  time  to  their  establishment  and  management.  Their  success  in 
early  days  and  present  excellence  are  largely  dne  to  his  efibrts.  He  was  an 
enthusiastic  republican  in  political  faith  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Convention 
which  nominated  Lincoln  for  a  second  term,  and  of  the  convention  which  first 
nominated  Gen.  Grant.  From  the  time  he  retired  from  business  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1877,  his  time  and  energies  were  largely  devoted  to  religious  and 
philanthropic  work,  and  his  aid  and  encouragement  were  freely  given  to  all  proje^is 
which  had  for  their  aim  the  moral  and  temporal  good  of  his  fellow  men.  He  was' 
ever  the  most  modest  and  unassuming  of  men,  but  a  man  of  strong  charadler, 
abounding  in  good  counsel  and  always  ready  to  serve  his  friends  and  neighbors,  but 
rather  in  a  quiet  than  a  public  way.  He  was  in  many  respe<Sts  an  ideal  citizen,  and 
has  left  behind  him  the  record  of  a  symmetrical,  wholesome  and  worthy  life. 

Henry  Failing  was  educated  at  a  public  school  in  New  York,  but  began  his  busi. 
ness  career  at  the  early  age  of  twelve  in  a  French  importing  and  shipping  house. 
Two  years  later  he  entered  the  employ  of  Eno,  Mahoney  8l  Co.,  one  of  the  largest 
wholesale  dry  goods  houses  in  the  city.  Here  he  remained  in  the  capacity  of 
assistant  book-keeper,  also  having  charge  of  their  foreign  business,  until  1851,  when, 
with  a  younger  brother,  he  accompanied  his  father  to  Portland.  At  this  time  the 
city  was  but  a  mere  hamlet  in  size;  containing  not  more  than  four  or  five 
hundred  inhabitants.  Father  and  son  at  once  established  the  firm  of  J.  Failing  &  Co., 
and  began  a  general  merchandising  business.  They  built  a  store  on  a  portion  of 
the  ground  where  Failing  &  Co.  's  building  now  stands.  Their  business  rapidly  grew, 
and  in  a  few  years  reached  large  proportions.  Mr.  Failing,  senior,  as  previously 
stated,  retired  from  the  firm  in  1864,  and  from  that  time  tmtil  1871,  Henry  Failing 
conduifled  it  alone.  In  1868,  he  began  to  restrict  his  business  exclusivelv  to  hard- 
ware and  iron  supplies.  Henry  W.  Corbett  became  associated  with  Mr.  Failing  in 
the  hardware  business,  in  1871,  under  the  present  firm  name  of  Corbett,  Failing  & 
Co.,  which,  besides  the  principals  named,  now  consists  of  Edward  and  James  F.  Failing, 
younger  brothers  of  Henry  Failing.  This  mercantile  house  does  a  wholesale  business 
solely  and  is  the  largest  establishment  in  its  line  in  the  Northwest. 

In  1869,  Mr.  Failing  and  Mr.  Corbett  purchased  nearly  all  of  the  stock  of  the  First 
National  Bank,  the  first  bank  established  in  Oregon  under  the  national  banking  adl, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  the  only  one  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Under  their 
joint  management,  with  Mr.  Failing  as  president,  this  financial  institution  has  been 
remarkably  prosperous,  and  is  now  at  the  very  head  of  the  banking  houses  of  the 
Northwest.  Its  capital  stock  in  1869,  was  $100,000,  but  was  shortly  increased  to 
$250,000,  and  is  now  $500,000,  while  its  present  surplus  is  $650,000.  Since  his 
connecflion  with  this  bank,  Mr.  Failing's  time  and  energies  have  been  principally 
devoted  to  financial  affairs,  in  which  he  has  shown  himself  to  possess  the  highest 
order  of  ability.  He  is  largely  interested  in  other  business  enterprises  and  owns 
valuable  real  estate  in  and  near  the  city  of  Portland,  but  it  is  as  a  banker  that  he  is 
best  and  most  favorably  known. 

Although  never  an  aspirant  for  political  honors  Mr.  Failing  was  elected  Mayor  of 
the  city  in  1864  as  a  citizens'  candidate.  He  is  a  republican  in  political  faith,  and 
on  State  and  national  issues  may  be  termed  a  party  man,  but  in  the  management  of 
local  afiairs  he  believes  party  lines  should  be  ignored  and  that  all  good  citizens 
should  unite  to  secure  the  selection  of  those  best  qualified  to  administer  the  duties  of 


Biographical-  523 

public  office  without  regard  to  their  party  affiliation.  It  was  this  well  known 
position  of  Mr.  Failing  which  induced  the  citizens  of  Portland  to  urge  him  to 
become  a  candidate  for  Mayor  in  1864,  when  they  desired  to  emancipate  the  city 
from  the  rule  of  politicians.  At  the  urgent  solicitation  of  many  friends  he  consented 
to  become  a  candidate,  and  was  elected.  His  administration  was  conducted  on  a 
purely  business  basis  such  as  a  good  business  man  would  employ  in  the  transaction  of 
his  own  business  affairs.  During  his  term  a  new  city  charter  was  obtained  from  the 
Legislature,  and  a  system  of  street  improvement  and  sewerage  was  inaugurated.  So 
satisfactory  to  the  people  was  his  conduct  of  affairs  that,  in  1865,  he  was  almost 
unanimously  re-elected  for  a  term  of  two  years.  He  was  again  elected  Mayor  in 
1875  and  for  another  term  most  acceptably  served  the  people.  He  has  since  taken 
no  active  part  in  local  political  affairs  beyond  that  required  of  a  private  citizen  who  is 
deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  city.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
wat^r  committee  of  the  city  of  Portland  under  the  Legislative  act  of  1886,  and  has 
since  served  as  chairman  of  the  commitlfee.  This  committee  purchased  and  enlarged 
the  old  water  works,  but  is  empowered  to  build  and  now  has  plans  under  way  for  the 
construction  of  a  new  system  of  water  supply. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Failing  was  a  regent  of  the  State  University;  first  having 
been  appointed  by  Gov.  Thayer  and  re-appointed  by  Gov.  Moody.  He  is  also  a 
trustee  of  the  Deaf  Mute  School  at  Salem;  trustee  and  treasurer  of  the 
Children's  Home,  and  of  the  Portland  Library  Association. 

During  nearly  forty  years  Mr.  Failing  has  been  in  active  business  life  in  Portland 
and  has  built  up  a- large  and  rapidly  growing  fortune.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he 
has  been  a  tireless  worker.  Such  results  as  have  crowned  his  life  come  to  no 
dreamer  of  dreams  and  to  no  mere  luxurious  dilettante.  He  scarcely  had  a  boyhood. 
At  twelve  he  was  at  work  and  at  seventeen  carried  upon  his  shoulders  responsibilities 
fit  to  test  the  power  of  a  mature  man.  His  time  from  this  period  to  the  present 
has  been  almost  completely  engrossed  in  business,  and  although  he  has  always  lav- 
ished  his  energy  upon  his  work  he  presents  the  appearance  of  one  much  younger 
than  his  years.  This  comes  from  an  inherited  robust  constitution,  an  evenly  balanced 
mental  organization  and  a  life  free  from  excesses  of  any  kind.  He  is  keen  and 
sagacious  in  business  and  possesses  the  highest  order  of  financial  ability,  united  to 
the  power  of  apparently  unlimited  application  of  mibd  and  body  upon  any  project 
he  undertakes.  He  has  achieved  a  position  in  the  financial  affairs  of  the  Northwest 
second  to  none  in  power  and  influence,  but  his  naturally  restless  activity,  buoyant 
spirit  and  physical  vigor  still  urge  him  onward  with  all  the  force  and  energy  associ- 
ated with  men  many  years  his  juniors. 

Mr.  Failing  was  married  on  October  21,  1858  to  Miss  Emily  Phelps  Corbett, 
sister  of  Hon.  H.  W.  Corbett,  who  died  in  July,  1870.  They  had  three  daughters  all 
of  whom  are  living  at  home  with  their  father. 

Henry  Failing  is  one  of  the  strong  and  able  men  whose  lives  have  been  wrought 
into  the  history  of  Portland  from  the  beginning  of  the  city  to  the  present  day.  He 
is  a  prominent  man  among  those  whose  careers  furnish  the  explanation  of  the 
growth,  success  and  commanding  position  that  Portland  has  achieved  and  so  strongly 
maintains. 


524  History  of  Portland. 


DOLPH,  Cyrus  A,  of  Portland,  one  of  the  most  successful  lawyers  of  Oregon, 
was  born  in  Chemung,  (now  Schuyler)  County,  New  York,  on  September 
27,  1840.  Leaving  school  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen  he  took  up  the  occu- 
pation of  teacher,  and  taught  in  the  schools  of  his  native  county  during  the 
years  1859,  1860  and  1861.  In  the  spring  of  1862  he  enlisted  in  the  Government 
service  from  which  he  was  discharged  at  Fort  Walla  Walla,  Washington,  in  0<5lober, 
1862,  and  came  to  Portland,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided. 

While  engaged  in  ttaching,  Mr.  Dolph  began  the  study  of  law  as  an 
accomplishment  rather  than  with  a  view  of  adopting  it  as  a  profession,  but  he  soon 
became  so  much  interested  in  it  that  what  had  been  taken  up  as  a  pastime  he 
resolved  to  make  his  life  work.  With  this  end  in  view  he  began  a  systematic  course 
of  study  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1866,  immediately  thereafter  beginning  the 
active  practice  of  his  profession. 

In  June,  1869,  without  solicitation  on  his  part,  he  was  nominated  on  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  for  the  office  of  City  Attorney  for  the  City  of  Portland,  and  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority  over  Judge  W.  F.  Trimble,  now  deceased.  He  served  for  the  full 
term  of  two  years,  and  his  administration  of  the  duties  of  the  office  was  eminently 
satisfactory  to  the  people.  In  1874,  during  his  temporary  absence  from  the  city,  he 
was  nominated  by  the  Republican  Convention  for  the  Lower  House  of  the  Legis- 
lature, but  he  declined  to  become  a  candidate.  Two  years  later  he  was  tendered  the 
nomination  for  State  Senator,  which  he  also  declined. 

Since  his  residence  in  Portland  Mr.  Dolph  has  been  identified  with  most  of  the 
principal  corporations  which  have  been  organized  for  the  development  of  the  city  and 
State,  and  is  now  vice-president  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Terminal  Company  of 
Oregon,  and  the  Oregon  Improvement  Company.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Portland  Savings  Bank  and  the  Commercial  National  Bank  of  Portland,  for  several 
years  being  a  director  in,  and  the  attorney  for  both  of  these  banks.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  was  a  director  in  the  Oregon  and  California  Railroad  Company  and  during 
the  years  1883  and  1884,  was  the  general  attorney  of  that  company.  He  was  also 
director  in  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company  from  1883  to  1889. 

In  1883,  Mr.  Dolph  was  selected  by  Mr.  Henry  Villard,  then  president  of  the 
Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company,  and  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany, as  the  general  attorney  of  the  first  named  corporation,  and  the  consulting  attor- 
ney in  Oregon  (dt  the  latter  compan}'.  Notwithstanding  the  various  changes  in  the 
management  of  these  companies,  which  have  occurred  since  that  time,  he  has  contin- 
uously held  the  positions  named,  meeting  the  many  intricate  and  complicated  legal 
questions  which  have  arisen  in  relation  to  these  two  great  companies  with  promptness 
and  decision,  and  disposing  of  them  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  both  management 
and  stockholders. 

Mr.  Dolph's  attainments  as  a  lawyer  early  gave  him  prominence  in  his  profession, 
and  not  only  has  he  enjoyed  a  lucrative  practice  for  many  years,  but  has  already 
realized  a  handsome  competency  from  his  professional  labors.  Since  1883  he  has  been 
the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Dolph,  Bellinger,  Mallory  &  Simon, — ^an  association 
of  legal  talent  of  exceptional  strength,  character  and  ability. 

Mr.  Dolph  has  always  been  a  zealous  Republican  in  politics.  He  has,  however,  no 
political  aspirations,  and,  with  the  exception  mentioned,  has  consistently  refused  to 
become  a  candidate  for  office.     The  large  interests  with  which   he  is  identified,  and 


Biographical-  525 

his  business  habits  leave  him  with  neither  time  nor  inclination  for  the  pursuit  of  office. 
Every  part  of  the  large  and  complicated  business  oF  his  firm  has  his  personal  atten- 
tion and  supervision.  He  is  a  hard  and  conscientious  worker.  The  law  is  said  to  be 
a  jealous  mistress,  yet,  Mr.  Dolph's  devotion  to  his  profession  entitles  him  to  the 
place  which  he  has  in  it.  He  is  cautious  without  being  timid,  and  is  exceptional  for 
the  soundness  of  his  judgment.  Having  a  retentive  and  discriminating  mind,  he 
never  forgets  nor  misapplies  a  case.  He  has  in  an  unusual  degree  those  qualities 
which  distinguish  the  safe  lawyer  from  a  showy  one.  Steadfast  in  his  friendship;  con" 
servative  in  his  judgment,  when  the  conduct  of  others  exposes  them  to  censure; 
considerate  of  the  feelings  of  his  fellows;  scrupulously  careful  of  the  rights  of  those 
with  whom  he  is  brought  into  business  relations,  and  conscientious  in  all  he  does,  he 
is  deservedly  held  in  high  esteem  by  all  who  know  him. 


T  OWNSDALE,  J.  P.  O.  There  are  few  business  men  more  favorably  known  in  the 
^  metropolis  of  the  Northwest  than  the  gentleman  of  whom  we  write.  His 
operations  in  real  estate  have  been  of  the  most  reliable  chara<5ler,  and  the  services 
that  he  has  rendered  the  city  in  calling  attention  to  her  advantages  have  been  very 
great.  In  his  personal  chara<5ler  he  has  maintained  an  integrity  worthy,  not  only  of 
the  highest  commendation,  but  of  the  imitation  of  young  men. 

He  was  born  in  Princeton,  Gibson  county,  Indiana,  January  1st,  1830,  the  son  of 
Daniel  H.  Lownsdale,  the  early  owner  of  the  central  part  of  Portland.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  entered  the  dry  goods  store  of  an  uncle,  of  his  native  place,  in  whose 
employ  he  remained  until  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  (1851)  he  came,  at  the  request  of 
his  father,  via  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  to  Portland.  He  was  here  engaged  in 
merchandising,  until  in  1853  he  embraced  the  opportunity  to  return  East,  via  the 
plains  route,  on  horseback,  with  Captain  Hiram  Smith.  He  entered  into  partnership 
with  his  uncle  in  Indiana — the  business  proving  very  successful  to  all  parties 
concerned.  He  was  married  in  1854  to  Miss  Sarah  R.  Milbum,  a  daughter  of 
Robert  Milburn,  Esq.,  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Princeton.  During  his  residence 
at  his  old  home,  he  was  honored  with  various  public  trusts  and  offices  in  the  town  and 
county.  In  the  spring  of  1862,  however,  learning  of  the  failure  of  his  father's 
health  and  desiring  to  see  him,  he  undertook  once  more  the  journey  to  our  State,  by 
the  Isthmus  route,  but  reaching  San  Francisco  the  news  was  received  of  the  father's 
death,  which  occurred  at  about  the  time  the  journey  began.  The  duties  of 
administrator  now  devolved  upon  him,  and  made  necessary  a  protra<5led  stay  at 
Portland. 

But  in  due  course  of  administration,  notwithstanding  many  complications,  settle- 
ment of  the  estate  was  made  to  the  full  satisfa(5lion  of  all  interested. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Lownsdale  had  become  a  citizen  of  Portland,  and,  in  1863, 
was  elecfled  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  city  council,  «nd  was  afterwards  ele<5ted  for  a 
three-years  term.  At  the  close  of  this  he  was  narrowly  defeated,  by  Thos.  J.  Holmes, 
for  mayor.  The  city  was  then  democratic,  while  Mr.  Lownsdale  ran  on  the  repub- 
lican ticket.  This  ele<5lion  will  be  memorable  for  the  sudden  death  of  Mr.  Holmes, 
who  died  on  the  day  succeeding  the  ele<5lion — a  demise  due  to  the  excitement  of  the 
campaign.  Mr.  Lownsdale  was  appointed  upon  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners 
to  fill  the  position  left  vacant  by  the  ele(5tion  to  the  United  States  Senate  of  the 


526  History  of  Portland. 

tncnmbcnt,  Hon.   H.  W.  Corbctt,  and  he  held  the  office  a  second  tenn  bj  election, 
declining  fhrther  prefennent.     He  continoes  his  boszncas  with  nnabated  interest  and 


His  family  consists  of  wife  and  four  grown  chUdien.  The  eldest,  a  daughter,  is 
the  wife  of  3Ir.  E.  31.  Hall,  who  is  operating  quite  extensively  upon  claims  in  the 
Coeur  d'.\lene  mines.     The  two  older  sdos  are  in  successful  business  of  their  own. 

In  Mr.  Lown&iale  we  find  exemplified  that  sturdy  devotion  to  business  and 
progress,  which  have  not  only  realized  all  that  the  State  is  at  present,  but  which  am- 
tains  the  promise  of  a  flourishing  future. 


REED,  S.  G..  of  Portland,  one  of  the  city's  most  useful  and  progressive  citizens,  was 
bom  at  East  Abington.  Massachusetts,  .\pril  23d,  1830.  His  early  education 
was  received  in  the  public  school  of  his  native  town,  but  he  afterwards  attended  a 
private  school  and  academy.  He  came  to  San  Francisco,  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  in  the  spring  of  1852.  and  in  the  following  autumn  came  to  Oregon,  where 
he  has  ever  since  resided.  He  was  a  clerk  in  the  mercantile  house  of  W.  S.  Ladd  & 
Co.,  from  the  fall  of  1855  until  the  2d  day  of  April,  1859,  when  he  became  a 
partner  in  the  business,  under  the  firm  name  of  Ladd.  Reed  &  Co. 

In  1858,  he  purchased  \V.  B.  Wells*  interest  in  the  steamers  Senorita,  Belle  and 
Multnomab  and  for  many  years  from  this  time  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the 
development  of  the  steamboat  interest  on  the  North  Pacific  coast  The  steamers 
named  wcrre  subsequently  merged  in  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company's  line. 
This  company  was  first  organized  under  the  laws  of  Washington  Territory,  December 
21,  1860,  at  which  time  its  entire  assets  amounted  to  only  f  1 72,500.  It  was 
TC-OTi^aniztd  with  a  capital  stock  of  $2,000,000,  under  the  laws  of  Oregon,  on 
Octolxrr  18,  1862,  ^-ith  J.  C.  Ainsworth.  D.  F.  Bradford,  R.  R.  Thompson,  and  S.  G. 
Retrd  as  incorporators.  Mr.  Reed  was  a  director  in  the  company  from  the  date  of  its 
organization,  and  on  July  27,  1864,  was  elected  vice-president,  remaining  in  that 
position  until  the  final  transfer  of  the  property  to  the  Villard  Syndicate  for 
$5,(>00,(>()(),  in  July,  1879,  at  which  time  it  was  merged  in  the  Oregon  Railway 
anrl  Navigation  Company.  During  the  period  of  its  existence  the  Oregon  Steam 
Navigation  Co.  had  a  most  im|>ortant  bearing  on  the  commercial  development  of 
Oregon.  In  1867,  it  had  grown  to  be  such  a  powerful  and  wealthy  corporation  that 
it  |)aid  taxes  on  a  valuation  of  $357,100,  while  the  total  assessed  valuation  of 
Multnomah  county  was  only  $5,4-00,800. 

From  year  to  year,  the  company  not  only  added  to  and  i>erfe<5ted  its  line  of  elegant 
steamers,  but,  in  18G2,  built  the  portage  railroads  at  the  Cascades  and  Dalles;  in 
1868,  built  a  telegraph  line  from  Portland  to  The  Dalles,  and  in  1878,  purchased 
the  Walla  Walla  and  Columbia  River  railroad,  running  from  Wallula  to  Walla  Walla. 
So  successful  was  the  management  of  the  company  that  these  improvements  and 
additions  to  its  property  were  made  out  of  the  eaniing.s  of  the  company  without  a 
single  assessment  upon  the  stockholders,  and  from  1867  to  1879,  inclusive,  the 
company  paid  dividends  to  the  amount  of  $2,702,500,  while  the  amount  paid  out  for 
purchase  and  construc^lion  during  this  period  was  nearly  $2,000,000.  These  figures 
give  an  idea  of  the  immense  business  done  by  the  company  and  is  a  record  seldom,  if 


Biographical.  527 

ever,  surpassed  by  any  similar  corporation.  In  achieving  this  remarkable  success. 
Mr.  Reed  bore  a  conspicuous  part,  and  it  furnishes  the  best  evidence  of  his  business 
sagacity. 

While  his  time  was  largely  devoted  to  the  dire(5lion  and  control  of  this  company, 
he,  in  1871,  in  connecflion  with  W.  S.  Ladd,  made  large  investments  in  farming  lands 
in  the  Willamette  Valley,  which  have  since  been  brought  to  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
He  also  imported  fine  grades  of  horses,  cattle  and  sheep  and  has  done  much  to 
improve  the  breeding  of  stock  in  Oregon. 

In  1879,  Mr.  Reed  was  interested  with  Mr.  A.  Onderdonk  and  D.  O.  Mills  in  the 
contra<5l  for  building  the  first  sedlion  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  railway,  from  Port 
Moody  to  Kamloops,  British  Columbia. 

He  has  been  president  of  the  Oregon  Iron  and  Steel  company  since  its  organization, 
April  22,  1882,  at  which  time  it  was  incorporated  with  a  capital  stock  of  |1, 500, 000, 
and  at  the  same  time  bought  out  the  Oswego  Iron  Company.  The  present  company 
ere<5led  a  modem  blast  furnace  and  pipe  plant  and  improved  its  water  power,  and  is 
now  turning  out  pig  iron  and  cast  iron  pipe,  being  the  only  concern  manufa(5luring 
iron  pipe  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  tlie  nearest  plant  being  at  Pueblo,  Colorado. 

Mr.  Reed  is  largely  interested  in  mining  and  is  president  of  the  well  known 
"Connor  Creek  Mining  and  Milling  Company,"  which  is  operating  a  valuable  gold 
mine  in  Baker  county,  Oregon.  This  property  is  rich  in  ore  and  has  been  worked 
continuously  for  the  past  sixteen  years.  A  new  vein  is  now  being  tapped  at  a  depth 
of  four  hundred  feet.  The  ore  is  free  milling  and  the  present  capacity  of  the  mine 
is  thirty-five  stamps,  which  are  run  by  water  power.  Mr.  Reed  is  also  owner  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  Mines  in  the  Coeur  d'  Alene  district,  Idaho,  which  he 
purchased  in  1887.     These  mines  are  large  producers  of  silver  and  lead  ore. 

In  all  of  his  bu.siness  operations,  Mr.  Reed  has  been  bold  and  enterprising.  He 
possesses  that  rare  courage  which,  when  added  to  good  judgment,  is  so  necessary  to 
success  in  new'  and  novel  enterprises  of  great  magnitude.  His  plans  are  carefully 
laid  and  he  is  not  easily  turned  aside  from  any  proje(5l  he  undertakes,  however  serious 
the  obstacles  may  appear  that  oppose  his  way.  Temporary  disarrangements  of  his 
plans  by  unforseen  mishaps,  disturb  him  but  little;  he  simply  commences  anew,  tries 
other  expedients  and  is  very  apt  to  succeed  where  a  majority  of  men  would  have 
succumbed  at  the  first  failure.  He  is  naturally  hopeful,  is  full  of  resources  and 
is  strongly  self-reliant;  and  when  his  judgment  approves  a  course,  is  not  afraid  to 
stand  alone.  More  than  once  in  his  career  have  these  elements  in  his  chara(5ler  been 
conspicuously  shown  and  almost  uniformly  have  results  vindicated  the  corredlne.ss  of 
his  judgment. 

The  city  of  Portland  has  been  benefited  in  many  ways  by  his  efforts.  No  one 
has  more  confidence  in  the  city's  destiny  as  a  great  center  of  trade,  commerce  and 
mechanical  industries,  nor  more  freely  contributes  to  all  objects  w-hich 
seem  likely  lo  advatice  the  city's  prosperit}-.  He  has  erected  several  buildings 
w-hich  have  added  to  the  city's  archite(5lural  appearance,  notably  the  Abington 
building,  the  largest  and  finest  office  building  in  the  cit}'.  He  is  a  republican  in 
politics,  and  although  he  has  positive  views  as  to  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  and  is 
a  strong  believer  in  the  principles  of  his  party,  he   has   no  taste   nor  inclination  for 


/■ 


528  History  of  Portland. 


political  life.  The  management  of  extensiTe  bosincas  interests,  for  wliicli  he  is 
mentally  and  ph\*sically  so  ably  adapted,  offiers  to  one  of  his  temperament  by  iar  a 
more  congenial  anfl  useful  field. 

Mr.  Reed  was  married  in  October.  1850  to  Amanda  Wood,  of  Qnincy,  Massa- 
chu.setts.  Their  home  on  First  street  is  one  of  the  finest  residences  in  the  city. 
where  he  delights  to  entertain  his  friends  and  where  his  chief  comforts  and  happi- 
ness are  to  be  found. 


.  TyHLLV.  J.\MKS  K.  For  many  \-ears  James  K.  Kelly  has  been  a  prominent 
I\  man  in  the  legal  and  political  history*  of  Oregon,  and  has  left  npon  the  annals  of 
this  section  of  the  Union  the  impress  of  his  personality.  In  positions  of  honor  and  tmst 
he  has  maintained  an  exalted  standard  of  excellence  and  according  to  the  dictates  ofhis 
conscience  and  judgment  his  influence  has  been  cast  for  the  agencies  he  believed  to 
be  conducive  to  the  true  interests  of  the  people.  A  fitting  record  of  the  part  he  has 
borne  in  many  important  events  during  his  long  residence  in  Oregon,  very  properly 
belongs  to  any  histor\*  pertaining  to  this  portion  of  the  State. 

He  was  born  in  Center  County.  Pennsylvania,  in  1819.  Until  he  attained  the  age 
of  sixteen  years  his  life  was  spent  upon  a  farm.  He  was  prepared  for  a  collegiate 
course  at  Milton  and  Lewisburg  Academies,  and  became  so  far  advanced  in  classical 
and  mathematical  learning  that  in  1837  he  entered  the  junior  class  at  Princeton 
College,  New  Jersey,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  in  1839.  In  the  fall  of 
1839  he  went  to  Carlisle.  Pennsylvania,  and  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  law 
department  of  Dickinson  College,  then  under  the  professorship  of  John  Reed,  L.  L. 
D.  He  graduated  in  the  fall  of  184-1  and  shortly  thereafter  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Lewistown.  Pennsylvania.  He  had  been  in  practice  but  a  short  time 
when  he  was  appointed  Deput>-  .Attorney  General  for  Juniata  County,  by  Ovid  F. 
Johnson,  -\ttomey  General  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  re-appointed  by  Mr.  Johnson's 
successor.  John  K.  Kane,  -\ttomey  General  under  Hon.  Francis  R.  Shunk,  Demo- 
cratic Governor  of  the  State.  He  held  the  position  until  the  death  of  Gov.  Shunk. 
when  he  was  removed  by  the  succeeding  Whig  governor. 

He  continued  the  practice  of  law  at  Lewistown,  until  March.  18+9,  when,  in 
company  with  thirteen  others  he  started  for  California,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  in 
July,  1849.  The  gold  excitement  was  then  at  its  height  and  Mr.  Kelly  tried  his 
fortune  at  mining,  working  in  the  Southern  mine  in  Calavaras  County,  and  at 
Jamestown  and  Murphy's  diggings.  He  was  thus  engaged  until  the  early  part  of  the 
winter  of  184-9.  having  been  moderately  successful,  realizing  some  $2,000.  He  then 
went  to  San  Francisco  and  resumed  the  practice  ofhis  profession.  Here  he  remained 
until  May.  1851.  when  he  came  to  Ch^gon  and  linked  his  destiny  with  the  then  new 
territory. 

His  first  summer  in  Oregon  was  passed  at  a  place  then  known  as  Pacific  City,  near 
where  Ilwaco  now  is.  In  the  fall  of  1851  he  settled  in  Oregon  City,  where  he 
opene^l  a  law  office  in  partnership  with  the  late  .\.  L-  Lovejoy.  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  at 
that  time  a  member  of  the  Oregon  Legislature  and  during  the  session  of  1852-3  he 
was  instrumental  in  having  Mr.  Kelly  appointed  one  of  the  Code  Commissioners  to 
prepare  a  code  of  laws  for  Oregon  TerritorA-.  Mr.  Lo\-ejoy  at  the  same  time  was 
appointed  Postal   .-Vgent,  which  caused  their  partnership  relation  to  be  discontinued. 


^  #-%*^* 


Biographical.  529 


In  the  summer  of  1853  the  Code  Commissioners,  consisting  of  Mr.  Kelly,  as  chair- 
man, and  Judge  R.  P.  Boise  and  D.  R.  Bigelow,  prepared  the  first  code  of  laws  for  the 
territory. 

In  1853  Mr.  Kelly  was  elected  a  member  of  the  territorial  council  from  Clackamas 
County  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Lovejoy,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  year  was  elected  for  a  full  term  of  three  years,  during  this  period  serving  for 
two  years  as  president  of  the  council. 

When  Governor  Curry  called  for  volunteers  to  defend  the  settlers  in  the  Indian 
war  of  1855,  Mr.  Kelly  volunteered;  raised  a  company  at  Oregon  City  and  was 
elected  its  captain.  With  his  command  he  crossed  the  Cascade  Mountains  over 
the  Barlow  road  and  joined  other  companies  which  had  arrived  at  The  Dalles.  Here, 
in  accordance  with  instructions  from  Governor  Curry,  an  election  for  line  officers  was 
held,  resulting  in  the  choice  of  J.  W.  Nesmith  as  Colonel  and  Mr.  Kelly  as  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel.  Soon  after  the  selection  of  regimental  officers,  Colonel  Nesmith  took 
five  companies  of  the  regiment  and  went  into  the  Yakima  country  to  pursue  the  hos- 
tile Indians,  l<eaving  Lieutenant  Colonel  Kelly  with  the  lefb  wing  of  the  regiment  at 
The  Dalles.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Kelly  was  subsequently  ordered  to  proceed  with  his 
command  to  Fort  Henrietta  on  the  Umatilla  River;  where  he  arrived  on  the  29th  of 
November,  1855.  Learning  soon  after  that  the  Indians  were  in  force  in  the  vicinity 
of  Fort  Walla  Walla  he  determined  to  march  upon  them  without  delay.  His  com- 
mand moved  at  night  on  the  2d  of  December,  across  the  hills  from  the  Umatilla  River 
and  on  the  30th  arrived  at  old  Fort  Walla  Walla,  now  Wallula.  On  the  7th,  while 
the  troops  were  leaving  the  mouth  of  the  Touchet,  an  engagement  with  the  hostile 
Walla  Wallas.  Cayuses,  Umatillas,  Palouses  and  some  of  the  Snake  tribes,  took  place. 
The  Indians  were  pursued  a  distance  of  seven  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Touchet 
up  the  Walla  Walla  River  in  a  running  fight,  until  they  made  a  temporary  stand  on 
Dry  Creek,  from  which  point  they  again  fled  a  short  distance  beyond  Dry  Creek 
where  they  made  a  determined  stand.  Here  a  desperate  battle  occurred  which  lasted 
four  days,  resulting  in  the  Indians  being  driven  with  great  loss  north  of  the  Snake 
River,  leaving  the  volunteers  in  full  possession  of  the  Columbia  Valley  north  of  Snake 
River.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Kelly  was  highly  complimented  for  the  admirable  way 
he  handled  his  men.  "The  bravery  of  the  volunteer  and  their  gallant  conduct  in 
charging  and  dispersing  the  enemy  time  after  time,"  says  one  historian,  *'  is  worthy 
of  the  highest  praise.     Veteran  troops  could  not  have  done  better  service." 

A  few  days  after  this  encounter  Lieut.  Col.  Kelly  left  his  command  and  went  to 
Salem  in  order  to  attend  a  session  of  the  legislature  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
Before  going,  however,  he  had  ordered  an  election  to  be  held  to  fill  the  vacancy 
caused  by  the  resignation  of  Col.  Nesmith,  which  resulted  in  the  selection  of  T.  R. 
Cornelius,  as  Colonel.  In  March,  1856,  following  the  close  of  the  legislative  session 
of  that  year,  Lieut.  Col.  Kelly  returned  to  Camp  Curry  where  the  troops  were 
stationed  and  rejoined  the  regiment  then  under  command  of  Col.  Cornelius.  He 
proceeded  with  the  regiment  a  few  days  later  into  the  Palouse  country  in  pursuit  of 
hostile  Indians,  enduring  all  the  hardships  and  privations  of  this  memorable 
campaign.  After  the  return  of  the  regiment.  Col.  Kelly  was  left  in  charge  of  the 
few  troops  in  Walla  Walla  Valley,  Col.  Cornelius  having  gone  into  the  Yakima 
country.     Here  he  remained  until  May,  1856,  when  the  regiment  was  mustered  out 


530  History  ok  Portland. 


of  ser\'ice.  Thus  ended  the  canipaif^,  and  the  volunteers  who  had  so  valiantly 
fought  in  the  field  and  endured  uncomplainingly  so  many  hardships,  returned  to 
their  homes. 

Colonel  Kelly  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  Oregon  City  after  his  return  from 
military  duty,  and  in  1857  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, and  three  years  later  was  elected  State  Senator  to  represent  the  counties  of  ' 
Clackamas  and  Wasco,  for  a  tenn  of  four  years.  Soon  after  his  election  he  was 
tendered  the  appointtnent  of  United  States  District  Attorney  by  President  Buchanan, 
but  he  declined  the  ])rofiered  honor,  prefering  to  hold  the  office  of  Senator. 

Colonel  Kelly's  proficiency  as  a  lawyer  was  soon  recognizetl,  and  early  in  his 
residence  at  Oregon  City,  he  acquire<l  a  lucrative  practice.  The  money  he  thus 
gaine<l  from  his  professional  work  he  invested  in  extensive  warehouses  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Willamette  Falls,  but  they  were  swept  away  by  the  great  freshet  of  1861. 
and  he  was  left  as  poor  as  when  he  came  to  Oregon.  He  was  undismayed  by  this 
misfortune  and  it  simply  had  the  effect  to  spur  him  on  to  greater  exertion  in  his 
profes.sion.  In  December,  1862.  he  removed  to  The  Dalles,  where  he  continued  the 
practice  of  law  until  1869.  He  was  the  democratic  candidate  for  Congress  in  1864-. 
but  the  State  was  strongly  republican  and  he  was  defeated. 

In  1866.  Col.  Kelly  was  nominated  for  (Vovernor  by  the  democratic  convention, 
his  republican  com|)etitor  l^eiug  (leorge  L.  Woods.  It  was  a  hotly  contested  election 
and  the  returns  showed  a  majority  of  only  a  few  votes  over  300  for  the  republican 
candidate.  This  majority. a  large  body  of  the  citizens  of  the  State  l>elieved  and  iusistefl 
was  caused  by  the  fraudulent  rejection  of  many  democratic  votes  in  Grant  county. 
(iround  fortius  Inflief  was  furnished  !)y  the  fact  that  all  the  republican  candidates 
in  that  county  who  assumed  office  upon  the  return  of  the  votes  primarily  made  at 
this  election,  were,  after  a  full  investigation  of  the  frauds  charge<l,  declared  not 
elected,  and  compelled  to  vacate  their  offices.  The  gul)ematorial  election  w-as  not 
contested  in  the  State  legislature,  but  upon  a  count  of  the  votes  returned.  Governor 
Woo<ls  was  declared  to  be  elected  by  the  theti  legi.slature.  Two  years  later  when  the 
democrats  had  a  majority  in  the  legislature,  many  of  the  democratic  members  were 
disposed  to  recount  the  vote  cast  two  years  before,  even  against  Col.  Kelly's  objection 
to  such  action.  To  avert  this,  most  of  the  republican  members  resigne<l,  leaving  no 
(luonim  to  transact  V)usiness.  taking  this  action  before  any  appropriations  had 
been  made  for  State  or  other  i)urpose.  and  in  consequence  none  were  made  until 
1870. 

In  1870.  the  democrats  having  control  of  the  legi.slature,  Col.  Kelly  was  electetl 
I'nited  States  Senator.  In  this  position  he  .served  the  State  with  his  accustomed 
efficiency.  He  was  one  of  the  attorneys  who  argued  the  Oregon  election  case  before 
the  electoral  commission  of  1876,  and  in  a  long  speech  ably  defended  the  position  and 
actions  of  his  j)arty.  After  the  expiration  of  his  senatorial  term  he  returned  to 
Portland  wliere  he  had  located  in  1869,  and  where  he  has  since  continued  to 
reside. 

V\)ou  the  re  organization  of  the  judiciary  of  the  State  in  1878,  and  the  formation  of 
a  separate  Supreme  Court,  he  was  ai>pointed  Chief  Justice,  whidi  position  he  held 
until  July  1.  1880,  since  which  he  has  pursued  the  practice  of  his  profession,  taking 
that  place  among  his  professional  brethren  which  his  long  experience  and  high  abilities 
as  a  lawyer  and  sterling  qualities  as  a  man,  have  justly  won. 


BlOGRAPHICAt.  531 

Possessed  of  a  strong  taste  for  politics,  Col.  Kelly,  soon  after  his  settlement  in 
Oregon,  was  led  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  stirring  political  events  which  preceded 
the  transition  from  territorial  to  State  government.  From  that  p>eriod,  until  his 
retirement  from  political  life  some  years  ago,  he  wielded  a  power  and  influence  which 
had  an  important  bearing  on  many  important  measures.  He  has  always  been  a 
democrat  and  his  unflinching  adherence  to  and  able  defense  of  party  principles 
endeared  him  to  party  associates,  while  his  keen  practical  sense,  honesty  and  integrit}- 
and  strong  personality,  naturally  made  him  a  leader.  As  a  lawyer  Col.  Kelly  is 
earnest  and  honest  in  the  assertion  of  the  rights  of  his  clients,  careful  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  cases,  well  versed  in  the  principles  of  his  profession,  discriminating  in  the 
application  of  precedents  and  in  the  citation  of  authorities  and  skillful  in  the  conduct 
of  his  causes.  To  these  elements  are  combined  those  mental  and  moral  qualifications 
requisite  for  an  accomplished  and  successful  advocate  and  counsellor.  As  Chief 
Justice  of  the  highest  court  in  the  State,  his  opinions  bore  indubitable  evidence  of 
careful  and  extended  research  and  showed  the  possession  of  an  honest,  clear,  logical 
mind;  the  grasp  of  legal  principles,  the  unfailing  purpose  and  independent  courage 
which  surely  led  him  to  right  conclusions.  Indeed,  jt  is  but  simple  justice  to  say  that 
during  the  two  years  he  occupied  tliis  high  judicial  position  he  fully  justified  the 
confidence  of  his  friends  and  firmly  established  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  jurist. 

Col.  Kelly  was  married  in  1863  to  Miss  Mary  Millar,  daughter  of  Rev.  James  P. 
Millar,  deceased.     They  have  had  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 


MACLEAY,  Donald,  was  boni  at  Leckmelm,  Ross  Sliire.  Scotland,  in  August,  1834, 
and  conies  from  an  honorable  ancestry.  He  was  educated  under  a  private  tutor 
and  at  the  academy  in  his  native  town.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Canada,  settling  on  a  farm  near  the  village  of  Melbourne  in  the  province  of 
Quebec. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  Mr.  Macleay  began  his  business  career  in  partnership  with 
(Veorge  K.  Poster,  a  merchant  at  Richmond.  Mr.  Foster  was  a  man  of  large  means 
and  of  excellent  business  capacity  and  had  much  to  do  in  moulding  the  character  and 
forming  the  business  methods  of  his  young  partner. 

In  1866  Mr.  Macleay  l>ecame  a  partner  with  William  Corbitt  in  the  wholesale 
grocery,  shipping  and  commission  business  in  Portland,  establishing  the  now  widely 
known  firm  of  Corbitt  &  Macleav.  Their  efforts  were  rewarded  bv  almost  immediate 
success  and  so  rapid  was  the  growth  of  their  business  that  by  the  year  1870  they  had 
acquired  a  high  place  among  the  leading  merchants  of  the  Northwest.  With  one 
exception  they  were  the  first  to  send  wheat  from  Oregon  to  England,  sending  the 
vessel  Adeline  Elwood  in  1870.  In  the  following  year  several  vessels  were  consigned 
to  them  from  PyUrope  loaded  with  railroad  iron  and  returned  with  cargoes  of  wheat. 
They  were  also  among  the  first  to  perceive  the  future  of  the  salmon  trade  and  early 
engaged  in  canning  salmon  on  the  Columbia,  exporting  the  first  goods  of  this  kind 
from  Oregon. 

In  1869  Mr.  Macleay  brought  a  younger  brother,  Ketinelh  Macleay,  from 
Canada,  and  in  1870  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm. 

The  firm  l)egan  trade  with  China,  Au.stralia  and  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  1872- 4-, 
purchasing  several  vessels  for  their  use  in  carrying  on  their  business.     W'ell  deser\'ed 


532  History  of  Portland. 


success  awarded  their  efforts  in  this  direction  as  had  been  their  fortune  in  other 
business  enterprises.  A  certain  amount  of  their  profits  the  partners  agreed 
to  invest  in  real  estate.  Mr.  Macleay  accordingly  purchased  real  estate  in  Portland 
which  during  recent  years  has  increased  enormously  in  value,  which  with  his  pros- 
perous business  ventures  in  other  directions  has  made  him  one  of  the  wealthiest  men 
of  the  city. 

Mr.  Macleay  has  always  been  a  progressive,  public  spirited  citizen  and  if 
great  success  has  come  to  him  he  has  also  been  generous  with  his  time  and  means  in 
aiding  all  enterprises  which  promised  to  add  to  the  prosperity  of  his  adopted  city  and 
State.  Through  his  exertions  a  large  amount  of  foreign  capital  has  been  invested  in 
Oregon.  For  many  years  he  was  local  president  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington 
Mortgage  Savings  Bank,  of  Dundee,  Scotland.  During  late  years  he  has  been  a 
director  and  chairman  of  the  local  board  of  the  Dundee  Mortgage  and  Trust  Invest- 
ment Company,  of  Scotland,  through  which  corporation  loans  amounting  to  millions 
of  dollars  have  been  poured  into  the  Northwest. 

The  work  incident  to  the  developement  and  continuance  of  the  business  which  the 
firm  of  Corbitt  &  Macleay  represent  comprises  but  a  part  of  the  interests  which  Mr. 
Macleay's  activity  and  business  management  have  largely  created  and  placed  upx>n  a 
permanent  and  prosperous  basis.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Oregon  and  California  Railway 
Company;  in  the  Portland  and  Coast  Steamship  Company;  in  the  Portland  Telephone 
and  Electric  Light  Company;  in  the  Anglo-American  Packing  Company;  in  the  Portland 
Cordage  Company;  in  the  North  Pacific  Industrial  Association;  the  Portland  Mar- 
iner's Home,  and  the  Salem  Flouring  Mills  Company.  He  has  also  been  a  director 
in  the  Portland  Flouring  Mills  Company,  the  Oregon  City  Flouring  Mills  Company, 
the  Ocean  Ship  Company,  the  Oregon  Southern  Improvement  Company  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Oregon  and  California  Railroad  Company.  In  all  of  these  corpor- 
ations Mr.  Macleay  has  been  a  stockholder  and  all  of  them  have  received  the  benefit 
of  his  business  acumen,  and  practical  experience. 

The  City  of  Portland  has  been  enriched  in  many  ways  by  his  exertions  in  its 
behalf.  WTiatever  has  tended  to  the  unbuilding  of  its  commercial  affairs  has  always 
found  in  him  ready  support  and  encouragement.  The  business  community  readily 
concedes  the  great  value  of  his  services  and  as  a  mark  of  approval  he  was  elected,  in 
1881,  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  a  position  which  he  has  ever  since  held,  having 
thus  been  the  recognized  head  of  the  mercantile  community  during  the  most  prosperous 
years  in  the  city's  histor>'.  In  all  the  measures  the  board  has  advocated,  which  have 
been  acknowledged  to  have  been  wise  and  beneficial  to  the  city,  he  has  been  fore- 
most, never  begrudging  his  time  or  means,  if  they  promoted  the  general  good. 

The  career  of  this  practical,  progressive  business  man  has  in  every  way  been  most 
commendable.  He  is  naturally  a  man  of  positive,  well  grounded  convictions,  and  is 
open  and  candid  in  his  avowal  of  them.  His  position  on  any  questions  of  public 
policy  is  never  one  of  doubt  or  hesitancy.  His  business  career,  his  private  and  public 
life,  are  above  reproach,  and  his  honesty  is  of  the  character  that  needs  no  profession 
but  makes  itself  felt  upon  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.  While  absorbed  in 
business,  he  has  a  social  side,  which  leads  him  to  seek  and  take  delight  in 
human  association.  For  several  years  he  was  president  of  the  British  Benevolent  and 
St.  Andrew's  Societies  of  Portland,  and  is  still  a  liberal  member  of  both  organizations. 
He  was  one  of  the  charter  members,  and  at  one  time  president  of  the  Arlington  Club, 


Biographical.  533 


the  leading  social  organization  of  Portland.  He  has  traveled  extensively  in  Europe 
and  America,  and  in  1878-9,  made  a  tour  of  the  world,  the  trip  being  of  thirteen 
months  duration;  but  in  most  of  his  travels  business  is  combined  with  pleasure,  for 
his  extensive  business  interests  in  several  European  cities  often  require  his  presence. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Macleay  is  spare  in  figure  and  of  medium  stature, 
while  in  features  he  unmistakably  shows  the  true  Scottish  characteristics.  He  is  a 
quiet,  thoughtful,  determined  man,  whom  no  success  would  unduly  elate  or  no 
difficulties  discourage.  All  his  life  he  has  made  haste  slowly,  but  his  mental  processes 
are  quick  and  he  readily  grasps  and  comprehends  everything  to  which  his  attention  is 
directed.  He  is  thorough  master  of  himself  and  always  plans  wisely  and  executes 
promptly.  He  is  still  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  and  his  elastic  constitution  gives 
promise  of  many  years  of  active  usefulness. 

Mr.  Macleay  was  married  in  March,  1869,  to  Miss  Martha  Macculloch,  daughter 
of  Mr.  John  Macculloch,  of  Compton,  Canada.  Although  a  native  of  the  Dominion 
she  was  of  Scotch  descent.  She  died  on  the  22d  day  of  November,  1876.  She  was 
a  devout  Christian,  a  woman  of  cultivated  mind,  and  her  kindness  of  heart  and  many 
acts  of  charity  and  benevolence  endeared  her  to  all  who  knew  her. 

Of  their  four  children,  the  two  eldest  daughters,  Barbara  Martha  and  Edith 
Macculloch  are  completing  their  education  in  England  and  the  remaining  daughter, 
Mabel  Isabel,  and  the  only  son,  Roderick  Lachlan,  are  attending  school  in  Portland. 


I\eLASHMUTT,  Van  B.,  the  present  Mayor  of  Portland,  was  bom  in  Burlington, 
^  Iowa,  July  27,  184-2.  Ten  years  later  the  family  came  to  the  infant  territor>'  of 
Oregon,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Polk  county,  in  the  Willamette  Valley. 

The  monotonous  life  of  a  farmer's  boy  illy  suited  the  naturally  adventuresome 
disposition  of  young  DeLashmutt,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  went  to  Salem,  where 
he  secured  employment  in  the  office  of  the  Salem  Statesman,  as  an  apprentice  to 
learn  the  printers*  trade.  With  chcu^cteristic  earnestness  and  energy  the  apprentice 
served  three  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  came  out  a  finished  printer.  Work  in 
other  offices  occupied  his  time  for  the  next  year  or  more. 

When  the  news  that  Fort  Sumpter  had  been  fired  upon,  in  April  1861,  and  that 
President  Lincoln  had  called  for  100,000  troops,  reached  Oregon,  young  DeLashmutt 
determined  to  join  the  forces  of  the  loyal  North  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  At  that 
time  the  means  of  quick  communication  between  the  east  and  the  Pacific  coast  were 
not  very  good,  and  in  order  more  promptly  to  enlist  in  the  cause,  he  went  to  San 
Francisco.  Here,  on  the  28th  of  September,  1861,  he  became  a  member  of  Company 
G,  Third  Infantr>'  California  volunteers,  commanded  by  Col.  D.  Edward  Conner, 
afterwards  promoted  to  General  for  gallant  service  at  the  battle  of  Bear  River.  The 
regiment  was  organized  for  service  in  the  south,  but  to  the  great  disappointment  of 
the  enthusiastic  and  patriotic  volunteers,  they  were  sent  to  Utah  to  guard  the  over- 
land route  from  the  Nevada  line  to  Julesburg.  During  its  term  of  service,  the  regi- 
ment had  many  conflidls  with  tlie  Indians  and  endured  as  much  hardship  and 
privation  as  most  regiments  at  the  front. 

While  stationed  at  Salt  Lake  City  during  the  latter  part  of  his  enlistment,  Mr. 
DeLashmutt  and  others  of  the  command,  began  the  publication  of  the  Union 
Vidette,  the  first  daily  issued  in  the  Mormon  capital.  It  was  issued  for  some  years, 
and  did  good  work  in  throwing  hot  shot  into  the  camp  of  mormonism. 


534  History  of  Portland. 


Some  months  after  his  discharge,  Mr.  DeLashmutt  weut  to  Nevada,  lured  there 
by  the  tales  of  sudden  fortunes  made  in  the  recently  discovered  silver  mines.  He 
settled  down  in  Washoe  City  and  for  a  time  was  engaged  in  publishing  the  Washoe 
Times.  In  the  winter  of  1865-6  he  returned  to  Oregon,  and  for  two  years  held  a 
printers'  case  on  the  Oregonian.  With  the  money  he  saved  during  this  period,  lie 
embarked  in  the  grocery  business  at  the  corner  of  First  and  Taylor  streets.  In  1869 
he  received  H.  B.  Oatman  as  partner.  The  relationship  continued  for  one  year, 
when  the  business  was  sold,  and  Mr.  DeLashmutt,  for  one  year  thereafter,  engaged 
in  the  real  estate  business  with  G.  C.  Rider.  In  1871,  he  opened  a  brokerage  office 
with  H.  B.  Oatman,  his  former  partner.  At  this  time,  Mr.  DeLashmutt,  by  prudent 
management,  had  gained  a  good  foothold  on  the  ladder  of  business  success  and  was 
well  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  general  prosperity  the  inauguration  of  the 
railroad  system  in  Oregon  created,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  he  has  been  a 
positive  force  in  the  business  community  of  Portland. 

In  September,  1882,  with  H.  W.  vScott,  Judge  W.  W.  Thayer  and  others,  he  incor- 
porated the  Metropolitan  Savings  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  Jl 50,000.  The  inception 
of  this  institution  was  beset  with  many  difficulties,  but  Mr.  DeLashmutt  soon 
showed  that  he  had  a  positive  genius  for  financiering  and  he  so  managed  the 
affairs  of  the  bank  that  it  became  a  prosperous  institution.  His  success  was  indeed 
phenomenal,  and  established  on  a  high  plane  his  reputation  as  an  able  and  shrewd 
financier. 

Ou  the  foundation  laid  by  the  success  of  the  Metropolitan  Savings  Bank,  was 
organized,  on  June  7,  1886.  the  Oregon  National  Bank  of  Portland,  with  a  capital 
of  |100,000,  which  was  later  on  increased  to  |200,000.  Mr.  DeLashmutt  has  been 
its  president  ever  since  its  incorporation  under  whom  its  affairs  h^ve  been  so  ablv 
conducted,  that  an  enormous  business  is  being  transacted,  and  a  high  standing  in 
financial  circles  has  l^een  secured. 

Perhaps  Mr.  DeLashmutt  is  best  known  outside  of  the  city  for  his  extensive 
mining  enterprises.  lie  was  among  the  first  to  recognize  the  richness  and  value  of  the 
mines  of  the  Cceur  d'Alene  region.  Here  he  early  made  large  investments  and  he 
now  owns  a  controlling  interest  in  five  of  the  largest  mines  in  that  wonderfully  rich 
quartz  district,  the  Sierra  Nevada,  Stemwinder,  Granite,  California  and  the  Inez.  At 
their  present  value  these  mines  are  worth  |2,0()0,000,  and  two  of  them  have  declared 
dividends  amounting  to  |1 00,000.  These  mines  will  be  a  source  of  wealth  for  manv 
years  to  come,  and  their  productive  capacity  will  be  largely  increased  by  their  further 
development. 

It  was  in  connection  with  his  mining  enterprises  that  Mr.  DeLashmutt  rendered 
almost  invaluable  service  to  the  city  of  Portland  and  the  people  of  Oregon  and 
Washington.  With  his  usual  sagacious  foresight  he  saw  that  the  joint  lease  of  the 
Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company  to  the  Union  Pacific  and  Northern  Pacific 
was  especially  inimical  to  the  best  interest  of  Portland  as  well  aspf  the  whole  Northwest, 
and  that  the  interest  of  this  entire  region  was  threatened  with  the  stoppage  of  competitive 
.  transportation  and  the  cessation  of  construction  of  much  needed  lines  of  railwav. 
The  danger  was  seen  by  many  others  but  no  one  had  the  courage  to  try  concliisions 
with  three  of  the  most  powerful  corporations  in  the  I'uited  States.  It  was  found  that 
an  injunction  suit  was  the  only  means  of  preventing  the  proposed  consummation 
While  others  indulged  in  protestation   and   argument   Mr.  DeLashmutt  was  the  only 


Biographical.  535 

man  of  means  who  had  the  courage  to  enter  the  lists  against  the  corporations.  He 
bravely  brought  the  injunction  suit.  This  alarmed  the  railroad  magnates  and  they 
sent  for  some  of  Portland's  leading  business  men  to  come  to  New  York  to  join  them  in  a 
conference.  Fair  promises  were  made  by  the  promoters  of  the  joint  lease  scheme  and 
every  honorable  means  was  employed  to  induce  Mr.  DeLashmutt  to  change  his 
position  and  pennit  the  consummation  of  the  lease,  but  he  stood  firm  and  gave  his 
final  answer  while  en-route  home  when  he  wired  from  Chicago  to  Mr.  Villard  in 
New  York  City:  ''Whatever  others  may  do  I  will  not  voluntarily  dismiss  the  injunc- 
tion suit."  This  courageous  stand  had  the  effect  of  defeating  the  proposed  action  and 
for  it  Mr.  DeLashmutt  is  entitled  to  the  thanks  of  the  people  of  Portland  and  the 
State  of  Oregon.  With  the  O.  R.  &  N.  Co.,  unincumbered  Portland  can  hold  her 
own  against  all  competitors.  Already  the  good  effects  of  Mr.  DeLashmutt's  stand 
are  apparent  in  tlie  renewed  activity  of  the  O.  R.  &  N.  Co.  to  secure  new  territor}- 
and  push  its  lines  to  Spokane  Falls  and  the  Coeur  d'Alene  mines. 

In  May,  1888,  Mr.  De  Lashmutt  was  elected  Mayor  of  Portland  by  the  City 
Council  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Mayor  Gates,  deceased,  and  two  months  later 
was  re-elecled  by  the  people  by  the  largest  majority  ever  received  by  any  Mayor.  In 
this  position  he  has  now  served  for  two  years,  and  he  has  given  the  city  an 
able  administration  of  its  affairs  which  has  met  the  hearty  approval  of  the  people. 
He  has  the  administrative  and  executive  ability  which  admirably  fits  him  for  public 
life.  He  has  vigilantly  .guarded  the  interests  of  Portland,  and  within  the  sphere  of 
his  official  authority  has  exercised  the  same  care  and  good  judgment  which  he  has 
ever  exhibited  in  his  private  business  affairs. 

Progressive  and  public  spirited,  Mr.  De  Lashmutt  has  borne  a  leading  part  in  all 
the  enterprises  which  for  many  years  past  have  aided  the  general  prosperity  of  Port- 
land. He  is  a  large  property  holder  here  and  all  his  interests  are  linked  with  the 
city's  welfare.  .\s  a  business  man  he  is  especially  noted  for  tlie  quickness  with  which 
he  grasps  the  most  complicated  details  and  the  steadfastness  which  plans  once 
determined  upon  are  pursued.  He  possesses  a  certain  boldness  in  his  business 
methods  which  comes  only  to  those  who  are  complete  masters  of  the  work  they 
intend  to  do  and  who  have  confidence  in  their  own  judgment.  No  one  is  more  careful 
and  conservative  than  he,  but  when  he  fully  determines  on  a  course  of  a<5lion  he  is  as 
firm  as  a  rock  and  has  no  lack  of  courage  to  face  every  consequence  which  may  arise. 
He  is  now  in  the  very  prime  and  vigor  of  manhood,  full  of  life,  energy  and  enter- 
prise, and,  with  abundant  means  to  carry  on  his  rapidly  increasing  enterprises  and 
support  his  financial  responsibilities,  it  is  safe  to  presage  that  still  greater  emoluments 
and  honors  await  him  in  the  years  to  come. 

He  was  married  in  Portland  in  1869,  to  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Albert  Kelly,  who 
came  to  Oregon  in  1850.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  De  Lashmutt  are  two 
sons  and  a  daughter.  The  family  home,  situated  at  the  corner  of  Twelfth  and  Col- 
umbia streets,  is  a  beautiful  one,  and  Mrs.  De  Lashmutt  is  well  known  among  the 
deserving  poor  for  charity  and  kindness. 


GREEN,  Henry  D.,  for  many  years  a  prominent  figure  in  the  commercial  affairs  of 
Portland,  was  boni  in  Tompkins  county.  New  York,  0<5lober  16,  1825.  Shortly 
after  attaining  his  majority,  in  1853,  he  came  to  Oregon  and  established  himself  at 
Astoria,  in  partnership  with  W.  Irving  Leonard.     This  firm  purchasetl  the  mercantile 


536  History  of  Portland. 

business  house  of  Leonard  &  Green,  which  was  established  at  that  point  in  1850.  by 
John  Green  and  H.  C.  Leonard,  at  that  date  the  only  mercantile  house,  except  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company's  trading  post,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river. 

He  remained  at  Astoria  until  1856.  when  he  closed  out  his  business  and  removed 
to  Portland.  The  city  was  then  just  beginning  to  be  a  place  of  commercial  import- 
ance and  his  natural  business  abilities  found  a  congenial  field.  In  1858.  he  procured 
from  the  legislature  of  the  State  and  the  city  council  of  Portland  the  franchise  for 
the  present  gas  works  of  the  city,  and  in  connection  with  his  brother,  John  Green,  H. 
C.  Leonard  and  Captain  Wm.  L-  Dall.  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  com- 
pleted, in  1859,  the  erection  of  the  first  gas  works  in  Oregon,  and  third  upon  the 
Pacific  Coast,  those  of  San  Francisco  and  Sacramento  Cit>'  being  the  only  ones  at 
that  date  in  operation.  He  was  the  superintendent  and  general  manager  of  the 
Portland  works  firom  their  inauguration  until  his  death  and  the  prosperous  financial 
historA'  of  this  corporation  was  largely  due  to  his  sagacious  generalship. 

In  1861,  Mr.  Green,  in  connection  with  his  brother  and  H.  C.  Leonard,  purchased 
the  Portland  water  works  from  the  original  grantee,  Robert  Pentland.  At  that  time 
the  whole  plant  consisted  of  less  than  one  mile  of  small  wooden  pipe,  and  the  source 
of  water  supply  was  the  small  stream  in  Caruther*s  canyon,  where  a  pump  was  located 
in  the  saw  mill  at  the  foot  of  Mill  street.  Mr.  Green  at  once  commenced  the  founda- 
tions of  the  present  water  system  of  the  city.  He  was  president  of  the  company  and 
at  the  date  of  his  death,  the  corporation  had  grown  to  be  one  of  the  strongest  in  the 
city.  The  plant  had  been  yearly  increased  to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  city 
until  over  thirty  miles  of  iron  miins,  from  three  to  thirty  inches,  had  been  laid  within 
and  ^-ithout  the  city.  The  three  reser\*oirs  now  in  use  and  the  substantial  pumping 
works,  with  a  daily  capacity  of  12,000,000  gallons  were  constructed  under  his  per- 
sonal supervision.  Besides  these  two  corporations,  he  was  one  of  the  principal  promoters 
of  and  a  director  in  the  original  Oregon  Iron  Works  Company,  at  Oswego,  which 
company  erected  the  first  works  for  smelting  iron  ores  and  the  manufacture  of  pig 
iron  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  which  is  now  merged  into  the  extensive  Oregon  Iron 
and  Steel  Company. 

In  all  of  the  various  public  enterprises  to  which  Mr.  Green  devoted  the  prime  of 
his  life,  he  exerted  a  powerful  influence,  and  was  one  of  the  most  public  spirited  citizens 
of  Portland.     He  was  a  man  of  excellent  business  judgment  and  far-seeing  sagacity, 
and  one  to  whom  the  management  of  large  enterprises  furnished  a  fitting  scope  for 
his  wonderful  physical  and  mental  energies. 

The  death  of  this  successful  and  popular  citizen  was  most  sudden  and  unexpected. 
In  the  mouth  of  February,  1885.  while  apparently  in  his  usual  robust  health,  he 
made  a  trip  to  the  Atlantic  States.  In  March,  while  in  New  York,  attending  to  some 
business  engagement  and  ex|>ecting  soon  to  start  for  his  home,  he  was  stricken  down 
and  died  before  any  of  his  family  knew  he  was  ill.  The  news  of  his  death  was  a 
shock  to  the  entire  community  where  for  nearly  thirty  years  he  had  been  such  a  well 
known  and  prominent  character.  Thus  suddenly  ended  the  career  of  this  genial 
hearted  pioneer  of  Portland.  Nature  had  dealt  kindly  with  him,  indeed.  He  was  a 
man  of  commanding  figure  and  unusually  graceful  i>erson.  He  was  a  self  poised 
character,  a  man  who  rose  to  wealth  without  resorting  to  oppression  and  one  whose 
courage  was  only  equalled  by  his  modesty.  Faults  he  had,  as  men  have  had  before 
him,  but  they  were  those  common  only  to  men  of  generous  natures.     Kindly  will  he 


Biographical.  537 

be  remembered  by  all  who  ever  knew  the  sterling  worth  of  his  character ;  by  all  who 
came  within  the  influence  of  a  nature  as  frank  as  a  boy's  and  of  a  heart  as  warm  and 
tender  as  a  woman's. 

For  years  Mr.  Green  resided  with  his  family  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  but,  in 
1873,  he  purchased  at  the  head  of  B  street  one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the  many 
sunny  slopes  which  girt  the  western  limits  of  the  city,  known  as  ''Cedar  Hill."  Here 
with  spacious  grounds  beautifully  laid  out,  he  erected  a  house,  which  for  the  majestic 
panorama  of  river,  mountain  and  forest  it  commands  is  not  excelled  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.  The  adornment  of  this  delightful  site  was  an  unfailing  source  of  pleasure  to 
him  and  the  superb  taste  he  displayed  is  evinced  on  every  hand.  It  was,  indeed,  the 
fitting  abode  of  a  man  whose  chief  delight  was  in  his  home  and  w^hose  friends  were  a 
loyal  legion. 

Mr.  Green  was  united  in  marriage  in  Portland,  in  1863,  to  Miss  Charlotte  Jones, 
who,  with  four  children — two  sons  and  two  daughters — survive  him,  and  reside  in  the 
lovely  home  his  artistic  eye  had  designed,  and  which  is  hallowed  by  so  many 
pleasant  memories. 


MITCHELL,  John  H.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has 
been  one  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  the  political  history  of  Oregon. 
Becoming  a  citizen  of  the  State  soon  after  it  was  invested  with  the  sovereign  dignity  of 
statehood,  he  at  once  became  an  active  man  in  the  political  arena,  and  so  rapid  was 
the  growth  of  his  influence  that  within  six  years  he  had  served  a  term  with  distin- 
guished credit  in  the  State  Senate,  and  was  the  choice  of  a  large  body  of  his  party 
associates  for  the  highest  office  the  State  had  to  bestow.  This  distin<5lion,  that  his 
friends  thus  early  in  his  career  desired  to  confer  upon  him,  was  deferred  but  a  few 
years  later,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  position  of  United  States  Senator,  and  is  now 
serving  a  second  term.  His  career  in  the  highest  Legistative  Ixxly  in  the  United 
States  has  been  an  a<5live  one  and  covers  a  period  the  most  prolific  in  grand  results  in 
the  history  of  the  Pacific  Northwest. 

He  was  bom  in  Washington  County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  22d  day  of  June,  1835. 
During  his  infancy  his  parents  moved  to  Butler  County,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was 
reared  on  a  farm  and  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education  at  the  distri<5l 
school.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  began  teaching  in  a  country  school  and 
after  spending  several  winters  in  this  way  he  realized  sufficient  money  to  pay  his 
tuition  at  Butler  Academy,  in  Butler  County,  and  subsequently  at  Witherspoon  Insti- 
tute. After  completing  the  full  course  at  both  of  these  institutions  he  commenced 
the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Samuel  A.  Purviance,  forinerly  member  of 
Congress  from  that  district,  and  later  Attorney-General  of  the  State  under  Governor 
Curtain.  After  two  years  stud)'  he  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  Butler  County,  by 
Hon.  Daniel  Agnew — lately  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  then  presiding  Judge  of  that  distridl— in  the  spring  of  1857.  He  then 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Butler,  in  partnership  with  Hon.  John  M. 
Thompson — since  a  member  of  the  National  House  of  Representative  from  that 
distridl — and  was  thus  engaged  until  April,  1860,  when  he  came  to  California.  For  a 
short  time  thereafter  he  practiced  law  at  San  Luis  Obispo,  and  later  for  a  brief  time 
in  San  Francisco.     The  fame  of  Oregon,  as  a  young  and  growing  commonwealth,  had, 


538  History  of  Portland. 

in  the  meantime  attracted  his  attention,  and  he  determined  to  link  his  fortunes  with 
the  new  State.  With  tliis  end  in  view  he  arrived  in  Portland,  July  4,  1860,  where  he 
has  ever  since  resided. 

With  that  same  energy*  which  has  been  so  conspicuous  in  his  career,  he  not  only 
at  once  turned  his  attention  to  building  up  a  legal  practice,  but  took  an  active  part  in 
local  politics.  So  quickly  did  he  make  his  influence  felt  that  in  1861,  he  was  elecle^l 
corporation  counsel  of  Portland.  The  succeetling  year  he  was  nominated  and  electe<l 
by  the  Republican  partj*  to  the  Oregon  State  Senate,  in  which  body  he  served  four 
years.  During  the  first  two  j-ears  of  his  term  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  and  the  last  two  years  he  held  the  position  of  President  of  the  Senate. 
M  the  close  of  his  Senatorial  term  he  received  ever)-  mark  of  approval  from  his 
immediate  constituents,  and  in  1866,  strenuous  efforts  were  made  by  his  political 
friends  to  secure  him  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate.  Thev  onlv  failed  to 
elevate  him  to  this  exalted  position  through  the  lack  of  one  vote  in  the  caucus, 
his  competitor  for  the  nomination  being  Governor  Gibbs,  who  received  twenty -one 
votes  and  Mr.  Mitchell  t\%'enty.  In  1865,  he  was  commissioned  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel of  the  State  militia  by  Governor  Gibbs,  and  two  years  later  was  chosen 
Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  in  Willamette  University  at  Salem,  Oregon,  and 
served  in  that  position  for  nearly  four  years.  During  all  of  this  time  he  was 
engaged  in  the  active  pra<5lice  of  his  profession  in  Portland.  In  October.  1862, 
he  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Hon.  J.  X.  Dolph.  now  his  colleague  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  which  continued  until  Januar>',  1873.  when  he  resigned  all 
other  engagements  to  enter  upon  his  duties  as  I'nited  States  Senator.  During  this 
period  he  had  acquired  a  reputation  as  a  lawyer  second  to  none  in  Oregon,  and 
was  constantly  employed  in  important  litigation.  For  several  years  he  was  the 
attorney  of  the  Oregon  and  California  Railroad  Company  and  the  North  Pacific 
Steamship  Transportation  Company,  while  his  practice  extended  to  all  the  Courts. 
Federal,  State  and  Territorial  of  Oregon.  Washington  and  Idaho. 

In  September.  1872,  Mr.  Mitchell  was  nominated,  in  caucus,  by  the  Republican 
members  of  the  State  Legislature  for  United  States  Senator,  receiving  the  votes  of 
over  two-thirds  of  all  the  republicans  in  the  Legislature  on  the  first  ballot  On 
September  28,  1872.  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  in  joint  session  as  United  States 
Senator  for  the  terra  of  six  years  conmienciug  March  4.  1873.  In  this  body  he  soon 
took  a  prominent  position.  He  was  assigned  to  duty  on  the  following  committees: 
Privileges  and  Election,  Coniniercc,  Claims.  Transportation  Routes  to  the  Seaboard, 
and  Railroads.  \t  the  end  of  two  years  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Railroads  and  served  as  such  until  the  end  of  his  term.  When  the  Electoral  Com- 
mission was  organized.  Senator  (Oliver  P.  M'jrton  was  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Privileges  and  Election,  but  having  been  chosen  a  member  of  the  Electoral 
Commission,  Senator  Mitchell  was  made  acting  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Privileges  and  Election,  which  committee,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  charge  of  the 
great  controversy  involved  in  the  presidential  contest  of  1876.  in  the  States  of  Oregon. 
Louisiana.  South  Carolina  and  Florida,  was  then  increased  from  nine,  the  ordinar}- 
number,  to  fifteen  Senators.  As  acting  chairman.  Senator  Mitchell  presided  over  the 
committee  during  all  the  investigations  which  followed  and  which  at  the  time 
attracted  so  much  interest  all  over  the  countr}-.  He  was  also  selected  by  the  unani- 
mous   vote   of  the  republicans   in  the   senate  as   the    senator  to   appear  before  the 


Biographical.  539 

Electoral  Commission  and  argue  the  Oregon  case.  This  duty  he  performed  and  in  a 
long  speech  ably  presented  the  legal  questions  involved,  and  to  the  perfect  satisfac- 
tion of  his  party  friends  defended  the  position  taken  by  the  republicans  of  Oregon. 
During  his  first  term  he  was  on  several  occasions  selected  by  the  republican  majority 
as  chairman  of  sub  committees  to  visit  South  Carolina,  Lousiana  and  Florida  for  the 
purposes  of  investigating  contested  elections. 

In  April,  1873.  Senator  Mitchell,  and  Senator  Casserly,  of  Caliifomia, 
were  appointed  a  sub-committee  of  the  committee  on  Transportation  Routes 
to  the  Sea-boards,  to  visit  the  Pacific  coast  and  investigate  and  report  upon  the  best 
means  of  opening  the  Columbia  River  to  free  navigation.  It  was  in  this  position 
that  he  had  opportunity  to  do  a  great  service  for  Oregon.  Soon  after  his  appoint- 
ment on  the  conmiittee,  Senator  Casserly  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  and  Senator 
Mitchell  was  authorized  to  proceed  alone.  He  thereupon,  during  the  summer  of 
1873,  made  a  most  careful  investigation  as  to  improvements  necessary  to  increase 
the  navigation  facilities  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  at  the  next  session  of  Congress 
submitted  an  elaborate  report  to  the  committee  on  Transportation  Routes— Senator 
Windom,  of  Minnesota  being  chairman — in  which  he  recommended,  among  other 
things,  large  appropriations  for  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  and  also  an  appropria- 
tion for  a  sur\-ey  at  the  Cascades,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the  cost  and  advisability 
of  constructing  canal  and  locks.  This  report,  as  written  by  Senator  Mitchell,  was 
incorporated  into  the  report  of  the  committee  without  alteration,  and  submitted  to  the 
Senate,  and  based  on  this  report.  Congress  at  its  next  session,  made  an  appropriation 
for  a  sur\-ey  for  canal  and  locks  at  the  Cascades,  which  paved  tlie  way  for  their 
subsequent  construction. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  senatorial  term,  March  4.  1879,  the  legislature  of  Oregon 
was  democratic,  and  Hon.  James  H.  Slater,  a  democrat,  was  elected  as  his  successor, 
whereupon  Mr.  Mitchell  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Portland.  In  the  fall 
of  1882,  he  was  urged  by  party  friends  to  again  submit  his  name  as  a  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator,  the  legislature  at  that  time  being  republican .  After  much  hesita- 
tion he  consented  to  do  so,  and  in  the  legislative  caucus  received  on  the  first  ballot  the 
votes  of  two-thirds  of  all  the  republicans  in  the  legislature,  and  thus  became  the 
nominee  of  the  party  again  for  I'nited  States  Senator.  A  bolt,  however,  was  organ- 
ized and  he  was  not  elected.  The  contest,  however,  was  continued  from  day  to  day, 
until  the  last  day  and  the  last  hour  of  the  forty  days'  session.  During  the  most  of 
this  time  he  was  within  a  few  votes  of  an  election.  It  required  forty-six  votes  to 
ele<5l,  and  during  the  session  he  received  the  votes  of  forty-five  different  members. 
Finding  an  ele<5lion  impossil)le,  although  urged  by  his  .supporters  to  continue  in  the 
fight  to  the  end,  and,  if  not  ele<5led  himself,  thus  prevent  the  ele<5lion  of  any  one  else, 
he  withdrew  from  the  contest  during  the  last  hours  of  the  .session,  and  all  of  his 
supporters,  except  one,  who  had  so  earnestly  stood  by  him  during  forty  days,  gave 
their  votes  for  Hon.  J.  N.  Dolph,  who  was  ele<5led.  Throughout  this  long  contest, 
without  parallel  in  the  political  histor}'  of  the  State,  for  the  bitter  personal  chara<5ler 
of  the  fight.  Senator  Mitchell  apparently  lost  none  of  his  personal  popularity,  and 
after  the*  adjournment  of  the  legislature  upon  his  return  from  Salem  to  Portland,  was 
tendered  a  reception  which  in  warmth  and  cordiality  partook  more  of  an  ovation  to 
a  successful  than  to  a  defeated  candidate. 


540  History  ok  Portland. 


After  his  defeat  Mr.  Mitchell  resumed  the  pradlice  of  his  profession,  and 
although  earnestly  urged  by  party  friends  again  to  permit  the  use  of  his  name  as 
a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate,  at  the  regular  session  of  the  I^egislature, 
in  Januar}-,  1885,  he  peremptorily  declined  to  do  so.  The  Legislature,  however, 
after  balloting  through  the  whole  session  adjourned  without  making  an  eleclion. 
The  (rovernor  of  the  State  thereupon  called  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  to 
meet  in  November,  1885.  Senator  Mitchell  at  that  time  was  in  Portland,  and 
although  not  personally  desirous  to  be  a  candidate,  and  steadily  refusing  to  permit 
the  use  of  his  name  until  within  three  or  four  days  before  the  ele<5tion,  he  w*as 
on  the  19th  of  November  again  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  receiving 
on  the  second  ballot  in  joint  convention  the  votes  of  three-fourths  of  all  the 
Republicans  and  one  half  of  all  the  Democrats  of  the  Legislature,  having  on  this 
ballot  a  majority  of  twenty-one  votes.  He  was  at  this  time  elected  to  succeed 
Hon.  James  H.  Slater,  and  took  his  seat  December  17,  1885,  when  he  was 
assigned  to  duty  on  the  following  committees:  Railroads,  Transportation  Routes  to 
the  Sea-boards,  Claims,  Mines  and  Mining,  Post-offices  and  Post-roads,  and  special 
committee  to  superintend  the  construction  of  a  national  library*.  After  a  year's 
service  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Transportation  Routes  to  the  Sea- 
boards, and  in  March,  1889,  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  on  Railroads.  He 
is  still  representing  Oregon  at  the  National  Capital,  his  term  of  ser>'ice  in  the  Senate 
not  expiring  until  March  3,  1891. 

Mr.  Mitchell  is  a  man  of  remarkable  euer.(y  and  untiring  industry,  and  throughout 
his  public  career  has  been  distinguished  for  keen  discrimination  and  quick  grasp  of 
great  and  intricate  questions.  Without  intending  to  make  comparison  witli  tlie  able 
senators  who  have  represented  Oregon,  at  Washington,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
none  have  more  fully  met  all  the  demands  made  upon  their  time  and  energies  than 
Senator  Mitchell.  The  request  of  the  humblest  of  his  constituents  has  alwa\-s 
receyved  at  his  hands  his  careful,  considerate  personal  attention,  while  no  labor  or 
sacrifice  however  great,  has  for  a  moment  deterred  him  from  undertaking  whate\-er 
was  in  his  power  to  do  for  the  best  interests  of  the  State.  He  is  well  equipped  by 
nature,  training  and  experience  for  high  public  station.  He  is  a  successful  lawyer  of 
acknowledged  ability  in  ever}-  branch  of  a  most  difficult  profession;  is  a  forcible 
speaker,  and  possesses  the  tact,  sound  judgment  and  eminently  practical  views, 
without  which  the  most  brilliantly  endowed  men  often  prove  such  lamentable  failures. 
Whole-souled,  generous  and  sympathetic  in  nature  and  true  as  steel  in  his  friendship 
he  has  surrounded  himself  with  a  host  of  friends  whose  loyalty  he  as  warmly  recipro- 
cates. Indeed  it  can  l)e  said  that  no  man  in  public  or  private  life  in  Oregon  ever  had 
a  more  (levote<l  personal  following  than  Senator  Mitchell.  His  unswerving  adherence 
to  the  principles  of  the  republican  party  and  his  fidelity  to  his  friends  are  distinguish- 
ing traits  in  his  character. 

Personally  Senator  Mitchell  is  a  man  of  striking  presence  and  one  who  would 
arrest  attention  in  any  gathering  of  men.  He  is  an  interesting  conversationalist;  has 
a  direct,  forceful  way  of  talking,  while  his  ready  grasp  of  any  subject  discussed  would 
mark  him  as  a  man  of  no  common  mold  of  mind.  He  is  a  man  of  polished  address 
and  of  naturally  courteous  manner — one  who  would  win  res|>ectful  recognition  any- 
where and  easily  gain  the  good  will  and  confidence  of  his  fellows.  O.  F.  V..  .: 


BlCXJRAPHICAL.  541 


THAYER,  WiLiyiAM  Wallace.  The  typical  Western  man  is  popularly  conceived 
as  a  man  of  liberal  ideas,  of  generous  and  hospitable  instin<5ls,  imbued  with  a 
spirit  of  adventurous  enterprise,  and  withal  hardy  and  courageous.  He  is  not 
pun<5lilious  in  minor  questions  of  etiquette  or  inclined  to  make  much  of  mere  forms 
and  ceremonies.  He  is  a  friend  to  his  friends,  a  man  of  sterling  integrity  and  of 
firmness  of  chara<5ler  developed  by  habits  of  self-reliance.  Such  men  are  the  State 
builders  whose  names  and  deeds  are  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  newer  States  of  the 
American  Commonwealth.  Every  western  community  contains  indiNnduals  approach- 
ing more  or  less  near  this  ideal  type. 

Throughout  Oregon,  genial  and  democratic  "Governor"  Thayer,  as  he  is  familiarly 
called,  is  recognized  as  an  example  of  the  typical  western  man.  Personally  known 
as  he  is  in  every  se<5liou  of  the  State,  his  friends  are  almost  as  numerous  as  his 
acquaintances.  Although  it  has  frequently  become  his  duty  during  the  course  of 
his  public  career  to  oppose  men  and  measures  which  seemed  to  him  not  in  accord 
with  the  best  interests  of  the  State,  and  when  such  occasions  have  transpired  his 
firm  and  decisive  course  show  him  a  man  earnest  of  purpose  and  unwavering  in 
matters  of  judgment,  he  has  nevertheless  maintained  the  respe<5l,  nay,  the  affe(5lions 
of  the  citizens,  so  that  even  those  who  have  experienced  his  opposition  have  recognized 
his  purity  and  unselfishness  of  motive. 

William  Wallace  Thayer  is  a  native  of  the  Empire  State,  having  Ijeen  l)om  at 
Lima,  Livingston  county.  New  York,  on  the  15th  day  of  July,  1827.  His  father  was 
a  man  of  influence  in  Western  New  York,  and  is  well  remembered  in  the  vicinitv  of 
his  home,  for  his  vigor  and  uprightness  of  chara<5ler  and  as  having  taken  an  a<5live  part 
in  local  political  affairs.  Besides  the  subje<5l  of  this  sketch,  he  had  several  other  sons, 
the  eldest  of  whom,  Judge  A .  J.  Thayer,  came  to  Oregon  at  an  early  day  and  died  in 
July,  1873,  while  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State.  The  children  received 
the  usual  education  of  the  times  and  circumstances  of  Western  New  York  at  that 
period,  consisting  chiefly  of  spelling  book  and  "Rule  of  Three"  exercises  in  the 
winter  at  the  neighborhood  school.  As  the  community  increased  in  population,  and 
farm  produ<5ls  could  be  converted  into  money  with  greater  facility,  the  family  became 
prosperous  and  acquired  some  little  property,  and  were  enabled  to  live  in  comfort. 
The  eldest  son,  Andrew  J.  Thayer,  above  mentioned,  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to 
practice,  and  his  example  was  emulated  by  his  young  brother,  William  or  "Wall,"  as 
he  was  usually  called.  The  latter  evinced  at  an  early  age  an  aptitude  for  his  books 
and  indulged  in  an  extensive  course  of  reading,  particularly  in  works  of  history, 
biography  and  travel. 

Devoting  himself  to  his  preparation  for  his  adopted  profession,  he  shaped  his 
reading  accordingly,  and  especially  in  constitutional  history-  and  the  elementary 
principles  of  the  common  law,  his  study  laid  the  foundation  for  the  broad  knowledge 
of  the  law  that  distinguished  him  in  later  years.  He  attended  a  few  lectures  at 
Rochester,  New  York,  in  the  winter  of  1851,  although  most  of  his  legal  study  was 
done  in  the  office  of  a  local  pra<5litioner  at  Tonawanda,  New  York.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  March,  1851,  at  Rochester,  and  at  once  began 
to  pradlice  at  Tonawanda.  He  was  married  there  November  11,  1852,  to  Miss 
Samantha  C.  Vincent,  having  already  gained  a  foothold  in  his  profession,  and  to  the 
congenial  union  thus  formed  no  doubt  his  success  in  after  vears  has  been  largely  due. 
One  son  has  been  bom  to  them,  Charles  Thayer,  at  present  a  lawyer  and  banker  at 
Tillamook,  Oregon. 


542  History  ok  Portland. 


Desirinj^  a  wider  field  for  his  enerj^ies,  young  Thayer  determined  to  remove  from 
Tonawanda,  and  at  first  went  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  where  he  pra<5liced  his  profession  for 
a  short  time.but  probably  owing  to  the  example  and  invitation  of  his  elder  brother,  he 
sold  out  his  possessions  in  the  spring  of  1862,  and  as  many  a  man  of  enterprise  had 
done  before,  pushed  out  overland  to  Oregon.  He  joined  his  brother  at  Corvallis, 
Oregon,  and  for  a  time  they  were  in  partnership,  but  later  he  removed  to  Lewiston, 
Idaho.  Here  he  was  ele<5led  a  member  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  and  served  one 
term.  Again  in  1866,  he  was  elecled  District  Attorney  of  the  Third  Judicial  District 
of  the  Territor>'.  He  did  not  complete  his  term  in  the  latter  oflice.  for  in  1867,  he 
resigned  and  removed  to  Portland,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 

On  returning  to  Oregon  he  was  in  the  prime  of  life  and  the  full  maturity  of  his 
powers.  He  was  just  forty  years  of  age,  and  his  varied  experience,  together  with 
his  habit  of  constant  and  unremitting  study  of  his  cases,  thoroughly  prepared  him 
to  compete  with  the  l^est  legal  talent  of  the  State.  His  abilities  were  at  once  recog- 
nized and  his  practice  speedily  assumed  large  proportions.  He  was  always  a  staunch 
supporter  of  the  Democratic  party,  though  tolerant  and  little  inclined  to  carr}* 
partisanship  to  excess  in  local  affairs. 

In  1878,  he  was  nominate*!  by  his  party  for  the  office  of  Ciovemor  of  the  State, 
and  such  was  his  popularity  that  he  was  elected  over  his  opponent,  although  the 
remainder  of  his  ticket  was  defeate<l.  He  was  inaugurated  September  11,  1878,  and 
served  the  full  term  of  four  years.  ♦ 

During  this  period  the  abilities  of  (Voveruor  Thayer  had  ample  scope  for  their 
exercise,  and  he  did  not  rest  until  the  public  service  had  been  tlioroughly  reorganized, 
abuses  corrected,  reforms  instituted  and  improvements  effected  in  all  of  the  State 
institutions.  The  penitentiary  system  was  changed,  so  tliat  instead  of  a  source  of 
hea\y  expense  to  the  State,  and  an  aid  to  the  utter  demoralization  of  the  convicts 
therein,  it  was  made  self-supporting,  and  a  credit  to  the  State  in  a  humanitarian  as 
well  as  in  a  financial  sense.  Through  his  influence  the  asylum  for  the  insane,  the 
asylum  for  the  blind  and  the  school  funds  were  put  on  a  more  satisfactory  basis.  It 
was  during  his  term  that  the  judiciary  system  was  altered  and  a  statute  enacte<i, 
providing  for  the  electing  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  and  Circuit  Courts  in 
separate  classes,  instead  of  the  original  arrangement  by  which  the  Circuit  Judges  sat 
as  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  in  appointing  the  new  Judges  to  sers-e  until 
their  successors  were  elected  and  qualified.  In  making  appointments  to  office  his 
fairness  and  lil)erality  were  illustrated  by  his  appointment  of  men  irrespective  of 
their  j)olitical  affiliations  and  wholly  upon  their  merits  and  with  a  view  to  the  public 
weal.  Important  legislation  regarding  the  State  swamp  lands  and  tide  lands  was  had 
<luring  his  administration,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  for  the 
sale  of  school  lands.  (lovenior  Thayer  had  occasion  to  construe  and  applv  tliese 
statutes.  In  this  as  well  as  in  all  other  matters  his  aim  was  to  deal  justly  by  lx>th 
State  an<l  people  and  while  he  endeavored  to  act  in  all  cases  for  the  l)est  interests  of 
the  State  he  allowed  no  shallow  desire  for  popularity  to  influence  him  in  his  decisions. 
The  peculiar  characteristics  of  his  administration  was  its  economy.  He  applied  to 
the  public  serrice  true  business  principles  and  he  made  use  of  the  same  unostentatious 
and  upright  methods  that  mark  his  private  life. 

He  resumed  his  practice  at  Portland  at  the  close  of  his  term,  but  he  was  the 
unanimous  choice  of  the  delegates  to  the   State   convention  of  his  party  in  ISS^  for 


Biographical.  543 


the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  was  again  triumphantly  elected  when 
few  of  the  candidates  of  that  party  succeeded.  He  assumed  the  duties  of  that  office 
July  1,  1884,  and  his  term  expires  July  1,  1890.  Since  1888,  by  virtue  of  the 
Constitution,  he  has  been  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court. 

A  history  of  his  life  would  be  incomplete  without  a  survey  of  the  more  important 
cases  which  have  come  before  him  for  decision  and  a  discussion  of  his  opinions  ren- 
dered therein.  It  is  not  possible  here  to  do  more  than  to  state,  in  general,  that 
while  his  term  has  covered  the  most  important  period  of  the  legal  growth  of  the 
State,  and  as  new  questions  of  prime  importance  become  more  numerous  from  term  to 
term  as  the  volume  of  business  in  the  State  increases,  the  high  estimation  which  has 
heretofore  been  accorded  to  his  legal  abilities  has  not  been  diminished  by  his  decis- 
ions on  the  bench.  His  untiring  industry,  coupled  with  his  broad  knowledge  of 
principles  and  cases  is  manifest,  while  a  certain  equity  of  character  and  an 
innate  love  of  justice  temper  his  views  of  the  law  in  the  abstract  and  often  intervenes 
to  soften  its  asperities  in  its  application  to  cases.  He  is  little  inclined  to  deny  a 
remedy  in  a  just  cause  on  account  of  trivial  mistakes  in  procedure,  but  laying  aside 
niceties  of  practice  so  far  as  can  properly  be  done,  his  aim  is  to  seek  the  real  point  in 
controversy  and  do  justice  between  man  and  man. 

Of  his  private  character,  his  charity,  his  democratic  tastes,  his  affability  and  sense 
of  honor  little  need  be  said.  His  success  at  the  bar,  in  so  far  as  it  may  be  ascribed  to 
any  one  characteristic  more  than  to  his  general  ability  and  learning,  maj*  perhaj>s  be 
said  to  lie  in  the  singular  clearness  with  which  he  discusses  the  proper  legal  remedy 
to  the  facts  of  his  case,  and  as  a  Judge  he  is  especially  marked  for  his  full  and  fair 
statement  of  the  case  before  enunciating  the  principles  of  law  to  be  applied  thereto. 


MONTGOMERY,  J.  B.  This  well  known  citizen,  though  not  among  those  who 
came  to  Portland  at  the  earliest  day  of  the  city's  history  to  lay  here  the  founda- 
tions of  municipal  and  commercial  greatness,  is  a  prominent  and  representative  man 
of  the  reinforcement  that  came  when  Portland  was  just  beginning  her  larger  growth; 
and  to  this  reinforcement  much  of  the  credit  of  the  city's  remarkable  progress  is 
due. 

James  Boyce  Montgomery  was  born  at  Montgomery's  Ferrj',  on  the  Susquehanna 
river,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Harrisburg,  on  the  6th 
of  December,  1832.  He  went  to  school  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he 
was  sent  to  Philadelphia  to  learn  the  typographical  art.  During  several  years  he 
worked  in  the  office  of  the  well  known  Evening  Bulletin,  of  that  city,  and  became  an 
expert  printer.  By  the  year  1853,  he  had  shown  that  there  was  good  stuff  in  him, 
when  he  was  tendered  an  associate  editorial  position  on  the  Sandusky  (Ohio)  Daily 
Register,  by  Gov.  Henry  D.  Cooke.  In  this  position  he  displayed  so  much  vigor  and 
ability  that  he  was  soon  asked  to  take  editorial  charge  of  the  Pittsburg  Morning  Post. 
This  offer  he  accepted,  and  soon  became  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  paper.  The 
paper  was  successful  under  his  charge,  but  Mr.  Montgomery  saw  wider  opportunities 
for  activity  in  the  railroad  development  of  Pennsylvania,  just  then  beginning;  so  he 
sold  out  his  interest  in   the  paper  to  Col.  James  P.   Barr,  his  co-proprietor,  who 

continued  its  publication  with  great  success  till  his  death  many  years  later. 
[35J 


544  History  of  Portland. 

With  two  associates,  Mr.  Montgomery,  in  1858,  took  a  contrail  to  build  a 
bridge  across  the  Susquehanna  at  Linden,  Pa.,  for  the  Philadelphia  &  Erie  railroad. 
The  contradl  was  completed  successfully,  some  money  was  made  by  it,  and  this  work 
opened  the  way  to  other  undertakings.  In  1859,  Mr.  Montgomery  took  a  contract 
to  build  the  Bedford  &  Hopewell  railroad  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1861,  in  association 
with  Capt.  William  Lowthes,  he  undertook  to  build  the  Nesquehoning  Valley  railroad 
in  the  same  State;  but  the  breaking  out  of  the  great  rebellion  and  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  labor  caused  suspension  of  the  work.  Mr.  Montgomery  completed  the 
road,  however,  in  1868-69.  Meantime  he  had  continued  work  at  intervals  as 
contradlor  for  the  Philadelphia  &  Erie  railroad,  and,  in  1866,  became  one  of  its 
diredlors;  in  which  position  he  remained  till  1869.  Among  other  works  executed  by 
him  was  the  construdtion  in  1866  of  a  wire  bridge  across  the  Susquehanna  river  at 
Williamsport,  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Montgomery  was  also  one  of  the  owners  of  the  charter  of  the  Baltimore  & 
Potomac  railroad,  and  in  connedtion  with  Thomas  A.  Scott,  George  W.  Cass,  Joseph 
D.  Potts  and  J.  Donald  Cameron,  bore  an  adtive  part  in  securing  construdlion  and 
completion  of  this  most  important  highway  between  the  city  of  Baltimore  and  the 
National  Capital.  He  was  also  interested  in  the  completion  of  400  miles  of  the 
Kansas  Pacific,  extending  into  Denver.  His  career  as  a  contradlor  and  builder  was 
very  adlive  throughout  this  whole  period,  and  very  successful.  His  natural  energy 
brushed  aside  all  obstacles  and  led  him  diredlly  to  the  fulfillment  of  his  obje<5ls. 

In  1870  he  came  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  in  1871  to  Oregon.  Upon  his  arrival 
he  offered  to  build  the  .first  portion  of  the  Pacific  Division  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  the  contract  was  awarded  him  against  fifteen  other  bidders.  He  built 
over  100  miles  of  this  road,  and  also  erected  the  drawbridge  over  the  Willamette 
River,  at  Harrisburg,  in  this  State,  for  the  Oregon  &  California  Railroad. 

In  1879,  Mr.  Montgomery  went  to  Scotland  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  corpora- 
tion which  subsequently  built  or  acquired  163  miles  of  railroad  in  the  Willamette 
Valley.  Of  this  road  Mr.  Montgomery  himself  built  78  miles.  Arriving  in  Scotland, 
he  brought  about  the  organization  of  the  company,  then  contracted  for  rails 
at  Stockton-on-the-Tees,  and  proceeded  to  London,  where  he  chartered  the  ships  St. 
Louis  and  Cbilders  to  bring  them  out  On  his  way  across  the  Atlantic  he  had  made 
the  acquaintance  on  the  steamer  of  a  Captain  Gilmore,  who  informed  him  that  he  was 
on  his  way  to  Cardiff  to  bring  out  the  ship  Edwin  Reed,  with  a  cargo  of  rails  for  a 
line  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  to  be  constructed  by  a  company  organizing  in  Great 
Britain  for  the  purpose;  but  Mr.  Montgomery,  by  the  celerity  of  his  movements,  not 
only  was  first  in  getting  a  company  organized,  but  had  his  rails  at  Portland  six 
weeks  before  Captain  Gilmore  arrived  with  the  Edwin  Reed. 

Since  coming  to  Oregon  Mr.  Montgomery  has  been  full  of  work  of  many  kinds. 
He  has  executed  for  the  government  of  the  United  States  large  contracts  on  the 
channels  of  the  Columbia  and  Snake  Rivers,  requiring  the  removal  of  vast  masses  of 
rock,  particularly  at  John  Day  Rapids.  He  has  built  and  operated  large  steam  saw 
mills  at  Skamokawa,  on  the  Columbia  River,  in  the  State  of  Washington,  known  as 
the  Columbia  River  Lumber  and  Manufacturing  Company's  Mills,  and  has  con- 
•  structed  for  himself,  on  the  river  front  at  Albina,  just  below  Portland,  large  docks 
and  warehouses. 


Biographical.  545 

Though  always  an  active  man  of  business,  Mr.  Montgomery  has  taken  a  constant 
interest  in  politics.  In  his  earlier  years  he  adled  with  the  Democratic  party,  but 
differing  with  it  on  the  question  of  slavery,  he  joined  the  Republican  party  in  1860, 
and  voted  for  Abraham  Lincoln.  Since  then  he  has  adted  steadily  with  the  Repub- 
lican party.  He  was  a  delegate  from  his  county,  (Lycoming),  in  Pennsylvania,  to  the 
Republican  Conventions  in  that  State,  in  1866,  1867  and  1868,  and  in  the  conven- 
tion of  1866  was  on  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  with  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Wayne 
McVeagh  and  others,  which  committee  reported  a  resolution  recommending  the 
nomination  of  General  Grant  for  the  Presidency.  This  was  the  first  State  Conven- 
tion to  present  the  name  of  Grant  to  the  country  as  a  Presidential  candidate.  The 
same  committee  also  formulated  resolutions  urging,  substantially,  the  policy  of 
reconstruction  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion,  that  was  subsequently  adopted.  It 
was  the  policy  of  that  courageous  statesman,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  and  was  maintained 
persistently  against  the  views  of  Andrew  Johnson,  who  argued  that  the  old  slave 
States  should  be  re-admitted  with  their  ante-bellimi  constitutions  unchanged,  except 
to  have  recognition  of  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

Though  Mr.  Montgomery  has  always  felt  a  deep  interest  in  politics,  he  had  never 
till  the  present  year  (1890),  been  a  candidate  for  any  oflfice.  By  the  Republican 
County  Convention  of  Multnomah  County,  he  was  this  year  named  as  a  candidate 
for  the  Legislature.     As  these  sheets  go  to  press  the  ele<5lion  is  a  month  distant. 

In  the  year  1861,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Rachel  Anthony,  daughter  of  Hon. 
Joseph  B.  Anthony,  of  Lycoming  County,  Pennsylvania.  This  lady  died  in  1863, 
leaving  one  son;  he  was  again  married  in  1866  to  Miss  Mary  Phelps,  only  daughter  of 
Gov.  John  S.  Phelps,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  Montgomery  is  known  as  a  man  of  great  adlivity  and  energy;  his  mind  is 
fertile  in  resources;  he  is  a  man  of  business  and  affairs,  possesses  great  force  of 
chara<5ter,  allows  no  obstacles  to  intimidate  him,  and  has  been  uniformly  successful 
in  his  undertakings.  Few  men  throughout  the  Northwest  are  so  well  known  for 
the  intelligent  energy  that  accomplishes  whatever  it  proposes. 


DEKUM,  Frank.  For  many  years  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  occupied  a 
commanding  position  in  the  commercial  and  financial  history  of  Portland.  His 
career  and  achievements  forcibly  illustrate  what  may  be  accomplished  by  one  who 
pursues  earnest  purposes  and  makes  right  use  of  his  opportunities.  Coming  to 
Portland  before  it  had  outgrown  the  limits  of  an  insignifican  t  hamlet,  he  has  g^own 
with  its  growth  until  to-day  he  is  one  of  the  leading  men  of  finance  in  the  metrop- 
olis of  Oregon. 

He  was  bom  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  November  5,  1829.  At  the  age  of  eight  years 
he  accompanied  his  parents  to  America,  the  family  consisting  of  seven  children. 
They  settled  on  a  farm  in  St.  Clair  county,  Illinois.  Here  the  boyhood  of  young 
Dekum  was  passed,  and  during  this  period,  owing  to  the  humble  circumstances  of  his 
.  parents,  he  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  received  any  educational  advantages,  as  but 
one  winter  in  a  log  school  house  completed  his  opportunities  in  this  dire<5lion.  What 
he  has  since  acquired  in  the  way  of  an  education  has  been  gained  by  self  application 
and  in  the  great  school  of  experience.  He  remained  with  his  father  assisting  him 
in  the  management  of  the  farm  until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  desiring 


546  History  of  Portland. 


.to  engage  in  some  work  which  offered  greater  opportunities  for  advancement,  he  left 
home  and  went  to  St.  Louis.  Here  he  secured  a  position  in  a  confe<5lionery  store  as  an 
apprentice  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  confedlioner.  Having  acquired  a  trade  he  deter- 
mined to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  West.  He  had  at  this  time  read  of  the  far  awaj- 
Territory  of  Oregon  and  was  so  much  impressed  by  the  story  that  he  determined  to 
xnsit  the  region.  With  only  enough  money  to  pay  his  passage  by  water,  he  left  St. 
Ivouis  on  February  2,  1852,  on  a  steamer  via  X^w  Orleans,  bound  for  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama.  After  a  voyage  of  some  four  months  he  arrived  in  San  Francisco,  and  being 
without  funds  he  immediately  went  to  work  in  the  California  mines  where  he 
continued  until  the  spring  of  1853  when  h^  came  to  Portland.  For  a  short  time 
after  his  arival  he  worked  in  a  baker}-,  bat  in  July,  1853,  with  Frederick  Bickel, 
established  the  first  fruit  and  confectionery  store  in  Portland,  nnder  the  well  remem- 
bered firm  of  Dekum  &  Bickel.  They  had  limited  mc^ans  at  the  start  but  both  had 
pradlical  experience  in  the  business,  and  their  trade  soon  grew  to  large  proportions. 
Money  gained  in  this  enterprise  the  partners  judiciously  invested  in  real  estate,  and 
from  this  small  beginning  has  grown  the  large  fortune  each  possesses  to-day.  The 
firm  was  dissolved  in  1878  after  a  continuance  of  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

In  1880  Mr.  Dekum  became  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Portland  Savings 
Bank,  an  institution  which  has  had  a  most  successful  career.  He  also  took  a  leading 
part  in  securing  the  establishment  of  the  Commercial  National  Bank  of  Portland, 
which  was  incorporated  Januar>'  4-,  1886.  He  was  elected  president  of  the  Portland 
Savings  Bank  in  1886,  and  at  the  sams  time  vice-president  of  the  Commercial 
National  Bank,  both  of  which  positions  he  still  holds.  Though  his  connections  with 
these  two  financial  establishments  consume  the  greater  portion  of  his  time,  he  is  also 
interested  in  several  other  enterprises  of  important  character. 

In  all  of  his  business  enterprises,  Mr. Dekum  has  exhibited  rare  judgment,  and  has 
accumulated  a  large  fortune.  Progressive  and  public  spirited  he  has  borne  a  leading 
part  in  nearly  every  enterprise  which  has  ai.led  the  upbuilding  of  Portland.  In 
business  and  financial  management,  he  has  proved  himself  to  be  a  force  in  this 
community,  while  the  integrity  of  his  course  both  public  and  private,  command 
respe<5l  and  esteem.  He  is  charitable,  and  generously  contributes  to  aid  worthy 
obje<5ls.  He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Gcrmm  Aid  Society,  which  was  established 
twenty  years  ago  to  render  financial  assistance  to  all  of  German  birth  who  might  be 
in  need.  He  has  alwavs  taken  a  warm  interest  in  the  establishment  and  maintenance 
of  educational  institutions,  and  was  especially  adlive  in  securing  the  organization  of 
the  present  free  school  system. 

Among  the  first  of  the  citizens  of  Portland  to  foresee  the  destiny  of  the  city,  Mr. 
Dekum,  at  an  early  day,  began  the  erecflion  of  large  and  solid  buildings,  putting  in 
money  in  advance  of  the  general  growth  of  the  city  and  leading  the  way  to  the 
development  that  has  since  followed. 

Mr.  Dekum  l)ore  a  leading  part  in  carrying  out  the  novel  idea  of  introducing  into 
Oregon  the  song  birds  of  Germany.  In  fact  the  idea  originated  with  him,  and  in  June. 
18SS,  he  secured  the  organization  of  a  society  for  the  introdudlion  of  these  birds  into 
Oregon.  Mainly  through  his  efforts  a  fund  of  J  1,700  was  raised  by  contribution  of 
Ckjrman,  American  and  English  citizens,  and  a  cr>ntra<5t  was  made  with  a  resident  of 
the  famous  Herz  Mountains  to  capture  and  deliver  to  the  society  all  of  the  song-birds 
specified  that  were  natives  of  that  distridl. 


Biographical.  547 


He  was  also  the  prime  mover  in  the  organization  of  the  old  Portland  Mechanic's 
Fair  Association,  and  the  magnificent  buildings  and  grounds  of  the  North  Pacific 
Industrial  Association  are  entirely  due  to  his  public  spirit  and  untiring  energy.  Both 
of  these  industrial  expositions  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  city  and  State, 
and  important  fa<5lors  in  promoting  the  mechanical  arts,  mining  and  other  great 
industries  of  the  Pacific  Northwest. 

Mr.  Dekum  was  married  in  1859  to  Miss  Fanny  Reinig,  of  St.  Louis,  who  died  in 
1877.  They  had  eight  children,  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  are 
living  in  Portland. 

Physically  Mr.  Dekum  is  of  a  fine  type.  He  is  large  of  frame  and  has  a  well 
formed  head,  set  off  with  snow  white  hair  and  beard.  His  ruddy  face  indicates  sound 
health,  while  his  keen,  sparkling  eyes  display  the  cheerful  and  social  nature  of  one 
determined  to  extra<5l  all  the  good  things  from  life  consistent  with  right  living.  All 
his  life  he  has  been  temperate  in  habits,  and  to-day  he  has  the  elasticity  of  step  and 
rapidity  of  movement  associated  with  men  many  years  his  junior.  His  honesty  and 
integrity  are  of  the  highest,  and  no  man  in  Portland  possesses  more  firmly  the 
confidence  of  its  business  community.  His  success  in  life  has  been  gained  by  his 
own  exertions  in  legitimate  business  channels,  and  through  the  attainment  of  his 
present  position  of  power  and  influence,  the  city  and  State  of  his  adoption  have  been 
enriched  in  many  ways. 


DRONAUGH,  Earl  C,  one  of  the  most  prominent  attorneys  of  the  State,  was  born 
^  in  Abingdon,  Virginia,  March  4,  1831.  He  secured  his  educational  advantages  in 
his  native  town  prior  to  reaching  the  age  of  twelve  years,  when  with  his  parents  he 
moved  to  Shelby  County,  Tennessee.  They  founded  a  new  home  in  the  woods  and 
endured  all  the  privations  of  pioneer  life  at  that  early  day.  Here  Mr.  Bronaugh 
spent  six  years  of  his  life,  assisting  his  father  in  the  support  of  the  family,  after 
which  becoming  imbued  with  the  desire  to  read  law  he  entered  the  office  of  Hon.  J. 
W.  Clapp,  an  uncle,  at  Holley  Springs,  Mississippi,  and  two  years  thereafter,  in  1851, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Being  without  msans  to  begin  the  practice  of  his  profession 
he  spent  the  following  two  years  in  teaching  in  Tennessee  and  Arkansas.  He  then 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Jacksonport,  Arkansas.  A  few  months  later 
he  removed  to  Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  where  he  ser>'ed  for  a  short  time  as  Clerk  of 
the  Chancery  Court.  From  Little  Rock  he  moved  to  Brownville,  Arkansas,  where  he 
remained  for  two  years,  when  he  located  in  Helena  in  the  same  State.  He  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court,  comprising  the  Helena  circuit,  in  1860,  which 
office  he  held  until  the  great  war  began. 

By  education  and  association  Mr.  Bronangh  was  imbued  with  the  principles  of  the 
South.  Although  never  in  sympathy  with  slavery,  he  was  none  the  less  a  firm 
believer  in  the  rights  of  State  Sovereignty,  and  when  the  State  of  his  adoption 
seceded  from  the  Union  he  joined  his  fortunes  with  the  hopes  and  destinies  of  the 
new  confederacy  of  States.  He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  and  for  one  year 
continued  in  the  service,  when  his  health  becoming  impaired  he  was  discharged  and 
returned  home,  where  he  remained  during  the  further  progress  of  the  war. 
When  the  war  closed,  like  the  most  of  his  fellow  citizens,  he  found  himself 
impoverished    and    without    immediate   hopes  of  retrieving    his    fallen    fortunes. 


548  History  of  Portland. 

For  a  short  time  he  bravely  struggled  against  the  adverse  and  disheartening  condi- 
tions by  which  he  was  surrounded,  but  his  eflforts  to  improve  his  fortunes  were 
xmavailing,  and  he  determined  to  seek  a  new  home  where  hard  and  honorable  work 
might  offer  fairer  chances  of  reward.  With  this  end  in  view  he  came  to  Portland  in 
1868,  arriving  in  the  city  an  entire  stranger  and  without  a  dollar  in  the  world.  He 
opened  a  law  office  and  from  the  start  his  success  was  most  gratifying,  and  year  by 
year  his  practice  and  reputation  have  increased  until  at  the  present  time  the  remu- 
neration he  receives  from  his  professional  labors  is  excelled  by  few,  if  any,  in  the 
State,  while  his  legal  attainments  give  him  a  place  in  the  very  front  rank  of  the 
Oregon  bar. 

For  some  three  years  Mr.  Bronaugh  was  associated  as  partner  with  Hon.  John  Catlin 
and  for  ten  years  with  the  firm  of  Dolph,  Bronaugh,  Dolph  &  Simon.  In  1882,  on 
account  of  his  own  health  and  that  of  his  family  and  that  his  children  might  enjoy 
better  educational  advantages  than  Portland  then  afforded,  Mr.  Bronaugh  moved  to 
St.  Clair  County,  California,  where  with  his  family,  he  remained  two  years.  He  then 
returned  to  Portland  and  became  a  partner  in  the  law  firm  of  Whalley,  Bronaugh  & 
Northup.  Mr.  Whalley  retired  in  1889,  since  which  the  firm  has  been  known  as 
Bronaugh  &  Northup. 

Mr.  Bronaugh  is  a  man  of  strong  religious  convidlions,  the  result  of  long  and 
close  study  and  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  Bible  and  its  teachings,  and  the 
writings  and  investigations  of  the  most  advanced  scientists  of  this  and  preceding 
generations.  He  was  reared  in  the  Presbyterian  faith,  but  during  the  last  ten  years 
has  been  a  firm  believer  in  the  views  held  by  the  Christian  Adventists.  But  while  he 
is  unbending  in  his  religious  faith  and  exhibits  in  his  life  and  every  a<5tion  an 
endeavor  to  live  up  to  the  standard  of  an  ideal  Christian  character,  he  is  nothing  of 
the  Pharisee  and  none  of  the  Puritan. 

His  success  as  a  lawyer  has  been  conspicuous  in  all  the  branches  of  legal  litiga- 
tion, but  it  is  in  the  trial  of  cases  that  he  particularly  excels.  His  forensic  abilities 
are  of  high  order,  and  in  numerous  trials  have  won  for  him  a  reputation  as  a 
pleader  and  advocate  second  to  none  in  the  State.  He  is  always  clear  and  forcible  in 
speech,  but  when  occasion  demands  it  he  uses  language  ornate  and  persuasive,  while 
his  delivery  and  manner  are  peculiarly  fitting  and  appropriate.  His  pra<5lice  extends 
largely  to  criminal  cases  and  the  success  which  he  has  achieved  in  this  branch  of 
practice  where  in  many  instances  it  has  seemed  to  rely  almost  solely  on  his  handling 
and  presentation  of  the  fa<5ls,  has  been  so  marked  as  to  cause  his  services  to  be  in 
almost  constant  demand. 

Mr.  Bronaugh  was  married  is  1854  to  Miss  Araminta  Payne,  of  Jacksonport, 
Arkansas.  They  have  had  nine  children  of  whom  but  two  sons  are  living.  The 
elder  at  the  present  time  is  reading  law  under  his  father's  dire(5lion,  while  the  other 
is  acquiring  a  pra<5lical  business  education. 

In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Bronaugh  is  of  tall  and  well  proportioned  stature;  has 
strongly  marked  features,  a  fine  forehead,  well-shaped  head  and  dark  auburn  hair 
and  beard,  both  of  which  are  well  sprinkled  with  gray.  He  is  an  engaging  conver- 
sationalist and  has  that  courtesy  of  manner  characteristic  of  the  Southern  reared 
gentleman,  while  his  consistent  life  and  character,  his  integrity  and  faithfulness  to 
every  trust  have  given  him  a  high  place  in  the  esteem  and  good  opinion  of  his  fellow 
citizens. 


Biographical.  549 


SMITH,  Joseph  Schoewai^ter,  was  bom  in  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  June 
20,  1824.  His  ancestors  at.an  early  day  emigrated  from  England  and  Wales  and 
settled  in  New  Jersey  and  their  descendants  are  now  scattered  all  over  the  United 
States.  At  the  age  of  eight  years  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  Clermount  County, 
Ohio,  and  three  years  la  ter  to  Vermilion  County,  Indiana.  He  received  such  educa- 
tion as  a  farmer's  boy  of  ambition  could  receive  at  that  day  in  a  pioneer  neighborhood. 
During  the  summer  he  worked  on  the  farm  and  in  the  winter  attended  such  schools 
as  the  county  afforded.  He  early  evinced  great  fondness  for  books  which  stimulated 
his  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left  his  home  determined  by  his 
own  exertions  to  obtain  a  better  education  than  the  limited  means  of  his  father 
would  permit.  From  that  time  until  he  was  nearly  twenty  he  spent  at  school  all  the 
time  which  the  hardest  physical  labor  necessary  to  support  himself  would  allow.  In 
the  fall  of  1844  he  started  for  Oregon.  Several  months  were  consumed  in  making 
the  overland  journey,  the  winter  of  1844>-5  being  passed  among  the  Indians  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  while  every  mile  of  the  long  journey  to  the  settlement  in  the 
Willamette  Valley  was  beset  by  perils  and  privations  such  as  fell  to  the  lot  of  the 
pioneer  land  emigrants  to  this  portion  of  the  northwest  coast.  In  the  spring  of  1845 
he  reached  Oregon  City  with  only  two  companions,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  began 
the  study  of  the  law,  supporting  himself  until  his  admission  to  the  bar  by  manual 
labor  and  teaching  school. 

After  being  admitted  to  the  bar  he  opened  an  office  in  Oregon  City  and  had 
acquired  a  fair  practice  when,  in  1853,  he  moved  to  Puget  Sound,  Washington 
Territory.  Here  he  served  for  a  time  as  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  Third  Judicial 
District,  and  in  1855  was  elected  to  the  Territorial  Legislature,  being  unanimously 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  by  President 
Buchanan  United  States  District  Attorney  for  the  territory. 

In  1858  Mr.  Smith  returned  to  Oregon  and  settled  in  Salem  where  he  remained 
in  law  practice  until  his  removal  to  Portland  in  1870.  In  1862  he  was  unanimously 
nominated  by  the  Democratic  Convention  for  the  position  of  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Oregon,  but  he  declined  to  be  a  candidate.  He  was  among  the 
first  to  advocate  the  establishment  of  manufadluring  enterprises  in  Oregon,  and  in 
1860  became  the  principal  proprietor  and  financial  manager  of  the  Willamette 
Woolen  Mills  at  Salem,  the  oldest  industry  of  its  kind  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  In  1866 
he  received  the  vote  of  his  party  for  United  States  Senator  and  came  within  three 
votes  of  an  eledlion.  The  year  following  he  went  with  his  family  to  Europe,  his 
health  necessitating  a  change  of  climate.  Upon  his  return  to  Oregon,  in  1868,  he 
was  nominated  by  the  State  Democratic  Convention  for  Congress,  and  was  eledled, 
defeating  his  opponent  by  over  1200  majority.  No  democrat  had  been  elected  to 
Congress  from  Oregon  during  the  period  of  eight  years.  His  congressional  career 
was  in  every  way  highly  creditable  to  himself  and  satisfactory  to  his  constituents. 
He  made  several  speeches  on  the  floor  in  support  of  measures  in  the  interest  of  the 
people,  and  his  sound  logical  reasoning,  added  to  many  graces  as  a  speaker,  com- 
manded the  attention  and  respedl  of  his  colleagues.  All  of  the  interests  of  Oregon  were 
carefully  watched  and  prote<5led,  but  perhaps  the  most  signal  service  he  rendered  to 
the  State,  and  more  particularly  to  Portland,  was  in  conne<5lion  with  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  bill.    With  his  own  hand  he  penned  the  amendment  to  this  bill 


550  History  of  Portland. 


by  which  the  company  was  required  to  build  its  main  line  down  the  Columbia 
River  to  Portland  and  secured  its  favorable  consideration  in  the  House,  notwith- 
standing the  hostility  of  the  4-lst  Congress  to  railroad  legislation. 

After  his  term  in  office  in  Congress  expired  Mr.  Smith  removed  to  Portland 
where  he  lived  until  his  death.  For  a  nunitjer  of  \ears  he  was  a  member  of  the 
law  firm  of  Orover,  Smith  &  Page,  and  ha.l  a  most  extensive  and  lucrative  practice, 
although  his  feeble  health  did  not  permit  him  to  apply  himself  to  the  full  capability 
of  his  splendid  intellecl.  He  spent  considerable  time  in  traveling,  principally  in 
the  Southern  States,  whose  mild  climate  suited  his  weak  constitution.  Judicious 
investments  in  real  estate  in  Portland,  in  early  days,  secured  for  him  a  large  fortune 
which  enabled  him  to  lead  a  life  of  pradlical  retirement  from  active  labor  during 
the  latter  end  of  his  life,  and  this  no  doubt  added  to  the  length  of  his  days.  In 
18H2  he  was  nominated  for  Governor  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  an  honor  he  accepted 
knowing  at  the  time  there  was  little  hope  of  success.  He  was  defeated  by  the 
Republican  candidate,  Hon.  Z.  F.  Moody,  but  notwithstanding  the  large  Republican 
majorities  given  that  year  he  received  a  most  flattering  vote. 

While  for  many  years  Mr.  Smith  did  not  enjoy  \ngorous  health,  his  strong  will 
power  enabled  him  to  accomplish  a  vast  amount  of  work.  But  for  some  time  pre- 
ceding his  death,  which  occurred  in  1884,  he  had  became  much  enfeebled.  He 
was  conscious,  however,  to  the  verj*  last,  and  the  end  was  very  peaceful.  The 
announcement  of  his  death,  though  not  unexpedled,  occasioned  deep  regret,  and  the 
public  press  all  over  this  part  of  the  country  gave  voice  to  the  general  sorrow  of  the 
many  friends  who  know  the  solid  worth  and  chara<5ler  of  the  man.  The  Oregonian 
in  summing  up  his  characteristics  said : 

•*Hon.  Joseph  S.  Smith,  who  on  yesterday  passed  from  earth,  was  among  the 
most  distiuguislied  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Oregon.  He  was  a  man  of  large  abilitv 
and  high  character,  though  for  many  years  his  health  has  been  too  infirm  to  permit 
him  to  employ  with  active  vigor  the  high  powers  with  which  he  was  endowe<f  But 
in  every  station,  private  and  public,  he  discharged  his  duties  with  fidelity.  Had  his 
physical  strength  been  equal  to  his  mental  powers,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
called  to  higher  spheres  of  public  duty  than  any  he  was  permitted  to  fill.  His  talents 
were  e(|ual  to  the  demand  of  any  station,  but  he  .steadily  declined  public  life  and 
only  consented  to  accept  it  when  there  seemed  no  way  to  evade  the  call.  His  career 
was  honorable  to  himself  and  family  and  useful  to  the  country,  and  his  death  leaves 
a  large  gap  in  the  rapidly  shortening  roll  of  pioneers  who  laid  the  foundation  of  States 
in  the  Pacific  Northwest." 

Mr.  Smith   was  married,  in   184.9,  to  Miss  Julia  A.   Carter,  who,  with  two  sons, 

Walter  v.,  Preston   C,  and  one  daughter,  Mrs.   H.  Y.  Thompson,  survnve  him.     He 

was  a  man  of  firm  religious  principles  and  during  his  early  residence  in  Oregon  and 

while  he  lived  on  the  Sound,  took  a  deep   interest  in   the  affairs  of  the  Methodist 

ohuroh,  and,  although  he  had  never  been  regularly  ordained  as  a  minister,  often  filled 

pulj)its,  j)reacliing  with  marked  ability  and  jxjwer.     His  method  was  one  of  simplicity' 

and  candor,  and  he  impressed  every  intelligent  hearer  with  well  considered  arguments 

which  never  lacked  in   force  or  dignity.     Tall  and  of  imposing  presence,  he  at  once 

connnanded  notice  when  he  rose  to  speak,  and  having  once  attracted  an  audience,  held 

attention  by  his  force  of  intellect,  his  eame.stncss  and  e\*ident  honesty.     Almost  the  last 

time  he  ever  sjHike  in  public  was  Ix? fore  the  Democratic  State  Convention  which  met  in 

the  court  house  in  this  city  and  nominated  him  for  governor.     His  speech   accepting 

the  nomination  attracted  wide  attention. 


Biographical.  551 


Starting  a  poor  boy,  by  force  of  energy  and  intellect  and  in  spite  of  feeble  health 
and  very  limited  scholastic  advantages  in  early  life,  he  rose  to  a  high  place  in  an 
honorable  profession;  filled  with  great  credit  positions  of  power  and  honor,  and,  true 
to  every  obligation  that  ever  rested  upon  him  he  has  left  behind  him  the  memory  of  a 
strong,  able,  earnest  and  manly  man.  He  had  cool  judgment,  habits  of  close  obser- 
vation and  his  mind  was  a  rich  store  house  of  useful  and  valuable  knowledge.  He 
was  somewhat  reserved  in  manner  and  was  one  of  the  most  modest  and  unostentatious 
of  men.  Conscious  power  gave  him  confidence  in  himself,  but  though  a  man  of 
decided  views  and  opinions,  he  was  not  unnecessarily  aggressive  and  had  a  just  regard 
for  the  rights  and  opinions  of  others.  In  all  things  he  was  governed  by  a  lofty  con- 
ception of  the  duty  he  owed  to  family  and  friends,  to  the  people  who  honored  and 
trusted  him  and  to  the  country  he  was  called  upon  to  serve.  He  will  always  be 
remembered  as  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Oregon,  and  as  one  of  the  most  able  and 
useful  of  the  men  who  bore  part  in  laying  the  foundations  of  States  in  the  Pacific 
Northwest. 


CTROWBRIDGE,  Joseph  Alfred,  was  born  in  Montour  county,  Pennsylvania,  in 
'^  1835,  the  third  child  of  Phillip  Moss  and  Elizabeth  K.  (Smith)  Strowbridge.  His 
father  was  a  farmer  who  soon  after  Joseph's  birth,  moved  with  his  family  to  Marion 
county,  Ohio.  Here  the  youth  of  our  subjedl  was  passed.  His  educational  advan- 
tages were  mostly  confined  to  the  district  school,  but  with  the  assistance  of  an  aunt 
who  resided  with  the  family  he  made  rapid  and  substantial  progress  in  his  studies. 
So  well  prepared  was  he  that  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen  years,  he  taught  a  school 
near  his  home,  and  in  the  examination  to  which  he  was  subje<5led  to  secure  the 
position,  he  stood  the  highest  among  several  applicants  all  of  whom  were  much 
older  than  he.  It  was  his  intention  to  obtain  a  thorough  education  but  his  plans 
were  not  carried  out,  for  while  preparing  to  enter  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  his 
father  determined  to  move  to  Oregon.  The  family,  consisting  of  father,  mother  and 
five  children,  started  across  the  plains  with  horse  teams  in  October,  1851,  and  reached 
St.  Joseph,  Missouri  at  the  beginning  of  winter.  Here  they  remained  until  the 
following  spring  when  they  again  took  up  the  long  journey.  The  emigrants  of  1852 
experienced  perhaps  greater  hardships  than  had  ever  confronted  others  who  crossed 
the  plains.  Not  only  did  they  suffer  from  the  extreme  drouth  of  that  year,  but  that 
dread  disease  the  cholera,  made  its  appearance  and  hundreds  died  on  the  way.  The 
Strowbridge  family  was  not  exempted  from  its  share  of  the  calamities  that  fell  to  the 
lot  of  all.  A  boy  next  to  the  youngest  of  the  children,  died  of  cholera  and  was 
buried  on  the  trail  which  was  lined  with  new  made  graves.  On  the  3d  of  Octobtr, 
1852,  just  one  year  after  they  left  their  home  in  Ohio,  the  family  arrived  in  Portland. 
The  death  of  the  son  had  a  most  depressing  influence  on  the  father.  He  was  taken 
with  the  so  called  mountain  fever  at  The  Dalles,  and  died  a  few  days  after  his  arrival 
in  Portland.  Added  to  this  great  misfortune,  the  winter  of  1852  was  one  of  great 
severity  and  all  of  their  stock  perished. 

To  young  Strowbridge  was  left  the  support  of  the  family.  Most  gloomy  indeed 
did  the  outlook  appear.  Provisions  and  all  the  necessaries  of  life  were  selling  at 
fabulous  prices  and  the  matter  of  mere  existence  was  a  serious  question.  In  vain 
did  he  seek  employment  but  work  was  scarce  and  every  situation  had  many  appli- 


552  History  of  Portland. 


cants.  In  the  spring  of  1853,  he,  however,  secured  a  situation  in  a  humble  capacity 
in  a  hotel  at  Oregon  City,  where  he  remained  until  July  of  the  following  year.  In 
the  mean  time  he  was  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  an  opportunity  to  better  his 
fortune.  Boy  as  he  was,  his  natural  aptitude  for  trade  asserted  itself.  While 
employed  at  the  hotel  he  began  to  buy  of  the  farmers,  eggs  and  butter  which  he 
shipped  to  San  Francisco  and  realized  a  handsome  profit  In  the  summer  of  1853 
he  bought  up  a  quantity  of  apples  and  sent  them  to*  San  Francisco,  probably  the 
first  produce  of  this  kind  ever  sent  from  this  locality  to  that  market.  Good  returns 
from  this  venture  led  him  the  following  summer  to  devote  his  whole  time  and  attention 
to  buying  and  shipping  fruit  to  California.  Great  success  followed  his  undertaking  in 
this  dire(5lion  and  he  had  made  quite  a  start  on  the  road  to  fortune  when  the  failure  of 
Adam  &  Co*s  bank  in  1856,  in  which  all  of  his  funds  were  deposited,  reduced  him  to 
almost  a  penniless  condition.  He  had,  however,  established  an  excellent  credit,  and 
it  waa  not  long  before  he  was  again  firmly  established  in  the  fruit  business,  in  which 
he  continued  until  1860.  He  was  indeed  a  pioneer  in  this  branch  of  business  which 
has  since  grown  to  large  proportions.  Commencing  in  a  humble  way  he  helped  to 
develop  it  to  such  an  extent  that  in  1860  over  7,000  boxes  were  shipped  from  this 
se(5lion. 

In  1860  he  embarked  in  the  retail  boot  and  shoe  business  with  C.  M.  Wiberg  under 
the  firm  name  of  Wiberg  &  Strowbridge.  Four  years  later,  appreciating  the  possi- 
bilities of  this  line  of  trade,  Mr.  Strowbridge  went  to  Boston,  Mass.,  and  opened  up 
direct  business  relationship  with  the  manufacturers  of  that  city  and  henceforth 
received  his  supplies  from  Boston  instead  of  depending  on  the  San  Francisco 
market.  At  the  same  time  the  firm  began  to  do  a  wholesale  business,  the  first  venture 
of  its  kind  in  Portland,  in  which  they  continued  with  gratifying  success  until  1869, 
when  Mr.  Strowbridge  retired  and  started  the  business  in  which  he  is  now  engaged, 
that  of  leather  findings  and  boot  and  shoe  supplies.  Marked  success  has  followed 
his  exertions  in  this  line  of  trade  and  with  the  exception  of  the  destruction  of  his 
store  and  its  contents  in  the  great  conflagration  of  1873  he  has  had  an  uninterrupted 
period  of  well  deserved  prosperity. 

Mr.  Strowbridge  has  always  been  a  firm  believer  in  Portland's  ultimate  destiny  as 
a  great  commercial  center  and  the  profits  of  his  business  he  has  freely  invested  in 
leal  estate  in  and  near  the  city.  He  is  the  owner  of  fine  business  blocks  in  th^ 
central  part  of  the  city,  besides  valuable  suburban  land  and  of  several  tracts  of  rich 
wheat  land  a  few  miles  from  Spokane  Falls,  Washington.  All  of  his  investments  in 
real  estate  have  been  made  with  good  judgment  and  have  secured  for  him  a  handsome 
fortune.  The  ground  upon  which  his  present  residence  was  built,  in  1873,  was 
purchased  in  1856,  at  that  time  quite  a  distance  from  the  business  center  of  the  town 
and  covered  ^^-ith  forest,  but  has  since  grown  to  be  one  of  the  most  desirable  resident 
j>ortious  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Strowbridge  was  married  on  July  4-,  1864,  to  Miss  Mary  H.  Bodman,  daughter 
of  Dr.  H.  A.  Bodman,  of  Oxford,  Ohio.  They  have  had  five  children,  Alfred  B., 
engaged  in  farming  in  Clackamas  County;  Geo.  H.,  a  druggist  of  Portland;  Joseph  A. 
jr.,  an  assistant  in  his  father's  store;  Harry  H.  and  Mary  H.,  at  home  attending 
school. 


Biographical.  553 


Although  always  a  strong  republican  Mr.  Strowbridge  had  never  taken  an  active 
part  in  political  affairs  until  the  presidential  campaign  of  1888,  when,  believing  the 
issue  between  the  parties,  relative  to  the  tariff,  was  one  that  demanded  the  earnest 
attention  of  business  men  he  became  actively  interested  in  the  election  of  the 
Republican  candidates.  He  had  been  often  importuned  to  accept  political  nomina- 
tions but  he  had  declined  until  that  year  to  become  a  candidate.  He  then,  however, 
at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  friends  accepted  the  nomination  for  the  house  of 
representatives  for  Multnomah  County  and  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  has 
already  served  one  year  of  his  term  and  during  the  session  of  1889  took  a  prominent 
part  in  behalf  of  measures  for  the  city  and  State. 

As  a  business  man  Mr.  Strowbridge  is  regarded  as  possessing  a  shrewd,  practical, 
well  balanced  mind,  while  his  reputation  as  an  honorable  gentleman  of  the  highest 
integrity  has  been  firmly  established.  During  a  business  career  which  covers  a  period 
from  the  pioneer  days  of  Portland  to  the  present  time,  he  has  retained  the  respe<ft  and 
confidence  of  the  entire  community.  He  has  led  a  very  industrious  life  and  has  had 
his  share  of  the  rebuff  of  fortune,  but  patient  and  well  dire<5led  work  has  triumphed 
over  every  obstacle  and  to-day  he  is  in  the  possession  of  an  ample  fortune  which  has 
been  honestly  and  fairly  won  and  which  he  worthily  enjoys.  All  his  efforts  have  been 
in  dire<5lions  which  have  added  to  Portland's  prosperity  and  every  dollar  he  has 
acquired  has  enriched  the  entire  community. 

He  was  among  the  first  members  of  the  Portland  Volunteer  Fire  Department,  and 
with  feelings  of  pride  cherishes  a  certificate  stating  that  he  is  an  exempt  fireman  of 
Willamette  Company,  No.  1.  He  was  among  the  organizers  and  is  still  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  promoters  of  the 
Portland  Library  Association.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen  and  is  president  of  the  board  of  dire<5lors  elected  to 
build  a  temple  for  the  order  in  Portland.  He  has  always  been  a  man  of 
the  most  exemplary  habits  and  the  good  health  he  now  enjoys,  despite  the  a<5live  life 
he  has  led,  is  in  a4arge  measure  due  to  his  abstemious  manner  of  living.  He  is  a 
regular  attendant  at  the  First  Congregational  church  and  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees.  To  religious  and  benevolent  work  he  contributes  his  full  share  and  is  one 
of  the  board  of  dire<ftors  of  the  Boys'  and  Girls'  Aid  Society.  He  is  a  strong  sup- 
porter of  schools  and  toward  all  agencies  that  tend  to  improve  mankind,  add  to  the 
public  good  or  to  advance  the  material  growth  of  the  city  where  he  has  so  been  an 
honored  and  trusted  citizen,  he  is  always  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand.  But  little 
past  the  prime  of  life,  and  still  in  the  active  ranks  of  Portland's  progressive  business 
men,  there  would  seem  to  be  many  years  before  this  pioneer  of  Oregon  in  which  to 
enjoy  all  he  has  so  honorably  and  justly  earned  and  to  partake  of  the  prosperity 
which  his  years  of  toil  so  largely  assisted  to  create  in  the  * 'sunset  land"  of  the 
Pacific. 


"CLEISCHNER,  Lewis,  one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  Portland  was  bom  in  the 
-■•  village  of  Vogelgesang,  Bohemia,  in  1829.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  village 
and  at  Tissan  a  small  town  near  his  home.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  he  came  to 
America,  and  for  a  short  time  remained  in  New  York  City.  He  then  went  to  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  was  employed  for  five  years  by  a  dealer  in  horses  and  cattle.  At  the 


554  History  of  Portland. 


end  of  this  period,  in  1849,  he  came  to  Drakeville,  Davis  County,  Iowa,  and  for  three 
years  was  engaged  in  merchandising.  In  1852  he  started  across  the  plains  for 
Oregon,  with  an  ox  team.  The  land  immigrants  of  this  year  experienced  unusual 
hardships.  Disease  killed  all  of  their  cattle,  while  many  of  the  immigrants  perished 
from  the  cholera.  After  weary  months  of  suffering  Mr.  Fleischner  arrived  in  Albany, 
Oregon,  where  he  embarked  in  the  mercantile  business,  and  for  the  following  seven 
years  did  a  verj'  successful  business.  In  1859  he  sold  out  and  for  one  year  conducted 
a  store  at  the  Oro  Fino  mines.  In  the  fall  of  this  year  he  took  a  stock  of  goods  to 
Lewiston,  Idaho,  arri\'ing  on  the  first  steamboat  which  landed  at  that  place.  There 
he  remained  until  1863,  when  he  came  to  Portland,  and  entered  into  partnership 
with  Solomon  Hirsch  and  Alexander  Schlussel,  and  bought  out  the  wholesale  general 
merchandise  house  of  Haas  Brothers,  at  which  time  the  firm  of  h.  Fleischner  &  Co. 
was  established.  Their  business  increased  rapidly  and  at  the  end  of  a  few  years  had 
grown  to  large  proportions.  In  1869  they  sold  out  and  soon  thereafter  under  the 
same  firm  name  embarked  in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  business.  In  1875  Jacob 
Mayer  became  a  partner,  at  which  time  the  present  firm  name  of  Fleischner,  Mayer 
&  Co.  was  adopted.  All  of  the  original  partners  are  still  connected  with  the  firm, 
and  but  few  other  changes  have  occurred  in  the  firm  membership,  the  present  part- 
ners being  Louis  Fleischner,  Solomon  Hirsch,  Alexander  Schlussel,  Samuel  Simon 
and  Mark  A.  Mayer.  The  success  and  growth  of  the  business  of  this  house  has  been 
very  remarkable,  and  for  several  years  the  firm  has  ranked  among  the  first  in  the 
State  and  outside  of  San  Francisco  unexcelled  on  the  coast,  in  the  extent  of  annual 
sales.  This  gratifying  condition  of  its  affairs  has  in  no  small  measure  been  due  to 
Mr.  Fleischner's  exertions,  his  constant  watchful  care  and  the  exercise  of  a  high 
order  of  business  ability,  no  less  than  his  well  recognized  high  personal  integrity  of 
character.  The  demands  of  this  business  has  engrossed  the  greater  share  of  his  time 
and  attention,  but  he  has  also  been  an  extensive  and  successful  speculator  in  real 
estate  and  at  different  times  has  been  director  in  several  Portland  banks. 

Mr.  Fleischner  has  always  been  a  zealous  democrat,  but  has  never  desired  or 
sought  political  preferment.  On  his  return  from  the  East,  in  the  spring  of  1870,  he 
was,  however,  nominated  for  State  Treasurer.  The  honor  was  entirely  unsolicited 
and  was  conferred  upon  him  solely  because  of  his  acknowledged  fitness  for  the 
position.  His  personal  popularity  and  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  people 
regardless  of  party  lines,  resulted  in  his  election  by  a  large  majority.  For  the  four 
years  he  filled  the  office  of  State  Treasurer  it  is  only  simple  justice  to  say,  without  intend- 
ing to  cast  the  least  reflection  on  any  of  his  predecessors  or  successors,  that  the  State 
never  had  a  more  conscientious  or  useful  official.  At  the  time  he  entered  U|x>n  the 
discharge  of  his  duties  the  State  had  loaned  out  over  $500,000  of  the  funds  realized 
from  school,  State  and  mineral  lands,  on  what  was  at  the  time  considered  worthless 
security.  Indeed  the  whole  plan  of  loaning  these  funds  had  been  loosely  conducted 
and  the  State  was  placed  in  a  condition  where  the  loss  of  a  large  sum  of  money 
seemed  imminent.  With  the  eye  of  a  business  man  Mr.  Fleischner  turned  his 
attention  to  the  correction  of  these  abuses.  Under  his  administration  all  of  the 
doubtful  securities  were  collected,  rules  and  regulations  were  adopted  regulating  the 
loans  of  the  funds  named  and  the  whole  system  reorganized.  Ever  since  that  time 
the  plans  outlined  and  put  in  practice  by  Mr.  Fleischner  have  been  carried  out  by  his 
successor  and  beyond  question  the  State  has  been  a  gainer  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  by  the  wise  policy  he  inaugurated. 


Biographical.  555 


In  April,  1888,  Mr.  Fleischner  started  for  Europe  and  made  an  extended  tour  of 
the  Old  World,  returning  home  in  August,  1889.  During  his  trip  he  made  a  visit  to 
his  old  home  in  Bohemia  and  in  a  hospital,  a  few  miles  from  his  native  village,  made 
arrangements  whereby,  at  his  expense,  four  beds  should  forever  be  maintained  for  the 
people  of  Vogelgesang.  This  generous  act  was  in  accordance  with  the  natural 
kindness  of  heart  of  the  man,  whose  many  acts  of  benevolence  are  so  well  known  to 
tlie  people  of  Portland.  He  is  president  of  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Association  and 
all  works  of  charity  have  ever  found  in  him  a  generous  contributor. 

Mr.  Fleischner  has  led  a  remarkably  active  life,  has  a  natural  capacity  for  business, 
is  noted  for  the  soundness  of  his  judgments,  is  a  plain  and  unpretending  man,  possesses 
great  force  of  character,  has  innumerable  friends  and  no  enemies.  His  health,  until 
his  visit  to  his  old  home,  had  been  declining,  but  during  his  sojourn  abroad  it  was 
quite  restored,  and  he  now  has  promise  of  many  years  of  active  life. 


HAWTHORNE,  Dr.  J.  C.  For  many  years  the  subject  of  this  sketch  held  a 
prominent  place  among  the  most  distinguished  medical  men  of  the  Pacific 
Coast.  His  high  professional  attainments  were  matched  by  a  life  of  conspicuous 
rectitude  and  of  great  public  usefulness.  He  was  born  in  Mercer  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, March  12,  1819,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Mar>'  (Donald)  Hawthorne,  who 
were  of  English  and  Welsh  descent.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  but  a  man  of  literary 
attainments  and  a  graduate  of  Washington  College,  Pennsylvania. 

The  early  life  of  young  Hawthorne  was  spent  in  Mercer  County,  where  his  element- 
ary education  was  received,  and  where  he  was  prepared  for  college.  He  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  Bascom  of  his  native  place,  and  after  a  brief  course 
of  instruction  under  his  direction,  entered  the  Medical  University  at  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, from  which  institution  he  subsequently  graduated.  He  commenced  practice 
at  Louisville,  where  he  remained  until  1850,  when  he  went  to  California.  For  some 
years  thereafter  he  lived  at  Auburn,  Placer  County,  engaged  in  a  large  general 
practice  and  hospital  work,  where  he  became  widely  known  and  gained  an  enviable 
reputation  for  professional  skill.  In  1854  he  was  elected  State  Senator  from  Placer 
County  and  served  for  two  terms,  the  late  Lansing  Stout  being  at  that  time  a  member 
of  the  Lower  House  from  the  same  county. 

In  1857  he  came  to  Portland,  and  with  the  reputation  he  had  already  earned,  he 
at  once  took  a  high  place  among  the  medical  men  of  that  day  in  this  jwrtion  of 
the  Pacific  Northwest,  and  soon  acquired  a  large  private  practice.  In  1858  he  took 
charge  of  the  county  hospital  under  a  contract  from  the  county  court.  Later  on  he 
established  a  private  asylum  for  the  insane.  So  successful  was  he  in  the  management 
of  this  institution,  that  the  State,  during  Governor  Whiteaker's  term,  made  a  con- 
tract with  him  to  assume  the  care  of  the  insane  of  the  State,  at  which  time  Dr.  A.  M. 
Loryea  became  associated  with  him  as  partner.  This  contract  was  from  time  to  time 
renewed  by  the  State  Legislature,  and  until  the  time  of  his  death  Dr.  Hawthorne  had 
practically  the  sole  superintendency  of  these  unfortunate  wards  of  the  State.  He  was 
associated  with  others  in  the  work,  but  the  chief  responsibility  rested  upon  him,  and 
admirably  did  he  discharge  his  trust.  It  was  in  this  connection  that  he  performed  a 
great  public  service  and  achieved  his  highest  triumphs,  and  was  best  known  as  a 
physician.  The  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  those  whose  mental  powers  had 
become  deranged  was  a  subject  which  strongly  appealed  to  his  kindly  nature,  and 


556  History  of  Portland. 


he  earnestly  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  the  work.     All  that   experience, 
study  and  natural  love  for  his  callinj^  could  do  were  freely  given  to  his  chosen  field 
of  Uhor.     That  he  became  eminently  proficient  in  this  most  difficult   Ivanch  of 
medical  science  was  but  a  natural  sequence  of  his   faithful   devotion  to   his  work. 
r>urinjjf  the  twenty  years  and  more  he   had  charge  of  the  State   Insane    Asylum  of 
Oregon,  it  became  widely  known  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  institutions  of 
its  kind  in   the  trnited   States.     Indeed,  while   Dr.  Hawthorne  was  a  most   capable 
physician  and  highly  proficient  in  every  department  of  his  profession,  he  will  always 
be  best  remembered  by  medical  men  and  the  public  by  the  record  he  made  in  con- 
nection   with   the  State   Insane   .Asylum  of  Oregon.     His  work  in  this  direction 
place  him  among  the  few  who  have  gained  national  renown  in   the  treatment  of 
insanity. 

Dr.  Hawthorne  took  a  lively  interest  in  public  afibirs.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
business  sagacity,  whose  affairs  and  judgment  were  rarely  at  fault  as  to  private 
undertakings  or  public  enterprises.  To  great  natural  force  of  character  was  united 
an  abundant  fund  of  that  rare  practical  sense  which  made  him  a  leader  in  the  com- 
munity, looked  up  to,  followed  and  respected.  Politically  he  was  originally  a  whig, 
but  after  the  overthrow  of  that  party  he  became  a  democrat.  He  was  firm  and 
consistent  in  his  political  convictions,  but  was  far  removed  from  narrow  party 
bigotry.  Although  his  views  were  well  known  and  he  had  nothing  of  the  time- 
server  in  his  nature,  the  respect  his  honesty  of  character  commanded  made  him 
strong  with  the  best  element  in  both  parties  and  he  was  retained  in  office  during 
many  years  when  the  State  was  under  republican  rule.  Had  he  desired  political 
preferment  he  could  easily  have  obtained  his  desire,  but  with  the  exceptions  named 
he  declined  all  suggestions  of  becoming  a  candidate  for  high  public  stations.  He 
wa<»  devoted  to  his  profession  and  outside  of  the  laurels  to  be  gained  within  it,  he 
hsi(\  no  ambition. 

Dr.  Hawthorne  was  tall  in  stature,  a  man  of  imposing  presence,  and  to  a  certain 
reneryv  and  dignity  of  manner  was  united  the  social  qualities  and  generous  impulses 
which  created  the  warmest  friendships.  There  was  an  air  of  sincerity,  and  an  evident 
desire  to  do  the  right  thing  regardless  of  consequences  about  the  man  which  made 
him  universally  trusted,  and  by  no  acfl  of  his  life  did  he  ever  betray  the  confidence 
rc|K>s<*(!  in  him.  He  was  a  Christian  as  the  result  of  the  clearest  and  most  deliberate 
convicflions  and  for  many  years  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
He  died  at  the  summit  of  usefulness  and  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  on  February  15, 
1HH1 ,  universally  regretted,  and  with  those  who  knew  him  he  has  left  the  memory  of 
a  broad  niiufled  courageous  man  gifted  with  great  talent,  whose  career  was  eminently 
useful  to  his  fellows  and  in  ever>'  way  worthy  of  emulation. 

Dr.  Ilawlliorne  wa»  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  Miss  Emma  Curry,  a  niece  of 
Congressman  Kelly,  of  Pennsylvania,  died  in  Portland  in  1862,  only  a  few  weeks 
after  her  marriage.  He  was  married  to  his  second  wife,  formerly  Mrs.  E.  C.  Hite,  of 
Sacnuncnlo,  in  1HG5,  who  with  two  daughters,  Louise  H.  and  Catherine  Hawthorne, 
survive  him. 


Biographical.  557 

HOLMES,  Thomas  J.  Well  remembered  by  all  of  the  older  citizens  of  Portland 
and  prominently  identified  with  the  earlier  political  and  commercial  history  of 
the  city  was  Thomas  J.  Holmes.  He  was  bom  in  Diss,  county  of  Norfolk,  England, 
March  3,  1819,  and  was  a  son  of  William  and  Mary  A.  Holmes.  His  father  was  a 
mechanic,  who,  with  the  hope  of  improving  his  fortunes,  migrated  to  the  United 
States  with  his  family  in  1830,  and  settled  in  New  York  City.  At  this  time,  Thomas, 
a  bright,  robust  lad  of  eleven  years,  began  life*s  battle  for  himself.  He  secured  a 
position  with  a  physician  on  Staten  Island  and  for  some  time  thereafter  not  only 
supported  himself  by  his  labors,  but  also  acquired  much  valuable  knowledge  from  his 
employer,  who  took  a  kindly  interest  in  his  welfare.  Had  he  desired  it  he  might 
have  become  a  member  of  the  medical  profession,  but  the  bent  of  his  mind  was 
toward  practical  affairs  and  at  the  end  of  a  few  years'  service,  he  began  an  apprentice- 
ship at  the  shoemaker's  trade.  After  acquiring  his  trade  and  arriving  at  the  age  of 
manhood  he  engaged  in  business  in  Jersey  City,  starting  with  no  capital  other 
than  his  mechanical  knowledge,  native  shrewdness  and  good  character.  He  married 
soon  after  and  for  some  years  prospered  in  business.  Later  on,  having  lost  his  wife 
and  met  with  reverses  in  business  he  embarked  for  South  America  and  for  some  time 
thereafter  followed  the  seas.  The  discovery  of  gold  in  California  caused  him  to  turn 
his  attention  to  this  portion  of  the  country.  In  company  with  a  number  of  citizens 
from  Jersey  City,  he  started  for  the  "land  of  gold"  in  a  sailing  vessel,  arriving  in 
San  Francisco  in  December,  1849.  A  severe  illness  prevented  his  starting  for  the 
mines,  and  upon  his  recovery  some  months  later,  he  came  to  Portland,  arriving  on 
the  steamer  commanded  by  Capt.  Crosby,  in  the  spring  of  1850.  Being  without 
means  he  at  once  commenced  working  at  his  trade.  Industrious  and  thrifty  he 
prospered  and  within  a  brief  period  gained  a  large  business,  and  at  the  same  time 
acquired  a  most  enviable  reputation  among  his  fellows  for  honesty  and  integrity  of 
character.  As  his  business  grew  he  engaged  in  other  enterprises,  all  of  which  he 
conducted  with  almost  unvarying  success.  He  acquired  real  estate,  and  such  good 
judgment  and  business  sagacity  did  he  exercise  in  all  of  his  enterprises  that  at  the  end 
of  a  few  years  he  became  for  that  day  one  of  Portland's  wealthy  men. 

He  early  began  to  take  an  a<5live  interest  in  public  affairs,  being  among  the  first 
to  advocate  the  establishment  of  the  free  school  system.  He  was  also  a<5live  in 
politics,  and  was  frequently  ele<5led  by  his  fellow  townsmen  to  public  stations,  serving 
in  the  city  council  for  several  terms.  Upon  the  resignation  of  Henry  Failing  as 
mayor,  in  1866,  he  was  selected  by  the  council  to  serve  the  unexpired  term.  So 
satisfactory  to  the  people  was  his  administration  of  affairs  that  he  was  nominated  by 
his  party  as  its  candidate  for  the  following  term.  The  election  was  hotly  contested, 
but  so  great  was  Mr.  Holmes'  personal  popularity  that  he  won  the  election,  although 
his  opponent  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  earnestly  supported  by  his  party. 

The  evening  of  the  day  of  election,  June  17,  1867,  he  addressed  his  fellow 
citizens  in  a  speech  marked  by  his  accustomed  vigor.  The  day  following  he  was 
upon  the  streets  attending  to  his  business  and  receiving  the  congratulation  of  his 
large  circle  of  friends.  The  next  day,  however,  Wednesday,  June  19,  while  appar- 
ently possessing  usual  health,  he  was  stricken  with  apoplexy,  resulting  in  death 
within  a  few  hours.  This  event,  occuring  after  a  heated  political  contest  in  which 
he  had  borne  the  leading  part  and  from  which  he  had  emerged  as  a  victorious  candi- 
date,  was  particularly  sad,  and  shocked  the  entire  community.       The  spirit  of 


558  History  of  Portland. 


partisanship  was  forgotten,  and  the  personal  integrity  and  worth  of  the  man  were 
recalled-  The  public  pwess  of  the  city  gave  expression  only  to  words  of  praise  in 
reviewing  his  career,  while  the  city  council  in  resolutions  of  respect  to  his  memory, 
deplored  his  death  **as  a  public  calamity-,  invoh-ing  the  loss  of  an  able,  just  and 
efficient  magistrate,  an  enterprising  and  public  spirited  citizen,  a  generous  friend,  a 
charitable  neighbor  and  an  honest  man." 

In  politics  Mr.  Holmes  was  a  democrat,  but  while  a  firm  and  consistent  believer  in 
the  cardinal  principles  of  his  party,  he  was  without  a  |>article  of  partisan  bigotry 
or  intolerance.  He  was  a  friend  of  every  public  enterprise,  a  man  of  large  liber- 
ality, using  his  prosperity  for  the  growth  and  improvement  of  the  city.  As  a  public 
official  he  was  painstaking  and  conscientious,  discharging  everj-  duty  imposed  upon 
him  with  strict  integrity.  Dying  in  the  prime  of  life,  at  a  period  when  bj-  honest 
effijrt  he  had  acquired  wealth  and  a  high  place  in  the  esteem  of  his  fellows,  he  has 
left,  a  record  which  those  who  have  come  after  him  can  recall  with  honest  pride- 
By  his  first  marriage  he  had  six  children,  of  whom  four  are  now  living,  three 
daughters,  all  of  whom  are  married,  and  one  son,  Byron  Z.  Holmes,  who  resides  in 
Portland.  His  eldest  son,  Thomas  J.  Holmes,  jr.,  died  in  Portland  several  years  ago. 
Mr.  Holmes  remarried  a  short  time  before  coming  to  Portland.  His  widow,  however, 
survived  him  but  a  few  rears. 


EARHART,  RocKEY  P.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  bom  in  Franklin  County, 
Ohio,  on  the  23d  day  of  June,  1837,  and  came  to  Oregon  by  way  of  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama,  in  1855.  Educational  advantages  were  offered  him  in  selecl  schools  in 
his  native  State,  where  he  gaine<i  a  thoroughly  practical  business  training.  Upon 
arriving  in  Oregon,  and  incidentally  meeting  with  same  of  the  public  officials  of  the 
day,  his  superior  clerical  abilities  were  very  sDon  recognized,  and  he  received  the 
appointment  of  clerk  under  Captain  (now  General),  Robert  McFeely,  U.  S.  A.,  and 
Quartermaster  P.  H.  Sheridan,  then  a  comparatively  unknown  soldier.  Mr.  Earhart 
remained  in  the  service  of  the  military  department  until  Quartermaster  Sheridan  left 
this  coast,  in  1861,  to  take  part  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  During  this  period 
occurred  the  Yakima  Indian  war,  in  which  he  rendered  valuable  aid  to  the  officials 
under  whom  he  served. 

In  1861  he  engaged  in  general  mercantile  business  in  Yamhill  and  Polk  counties, 
in  which  he  continued  until  he  was  appointe<i  United  States  Indian  .\gent  at  the 
Warm  Springs  Agency,  to  succeed  Colonel  Ix)gan,  where  he  remained  until  the 
appointment  of  Captain  John  Smith,  1865.  For  some  time  thereafter  he  served  as 
chief  clerk  and  sp)ecial  Indian  agent  under  Superintendent  Huntington,  and  was 
Secretary-  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  General  Government  to 
treat  with  the  Klamath  and  Modoc  Indians.  In  1878  he  again  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business  in  Salem,  in  which  he  continued  until  1872.  In  conjunction 
with  other  citizens  Mr.  Ivarhart  was  aclive  in  maintaining  peace  and  quiet  at  the 
capital  during  the  troublesome  times  when  the  civil  war  was  raging,  and  when  an 
outbreak  might  have  occurrei  but  for  the  courage  and  coolness  of  a  few  citizens  who 
were  prepared  for  aclive  service  and  could  be  ready  for  any  emergency  at  a  moment's 
notice. 


Biographical.  559 


He  represented  Marion  County  in  the  Legislature  in  1870,  and  was  instrumental 
in  securing  the  first  appropriation  for  the  erection  of  public  buildings  in  the  State. 
At  the  close  of  his  term  he  removed  to  Portland  where  he  has  since  continued  to 
reside,  and  for  some  time  was  engaged  in  the  business  department  of  the  Daily 
Bulletin.  In  1874  he  was  appointed  chief  clerk  of  the  Surveyor  GeneraPs  oflfice, 
which  position  he  held  until  1878,  when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State,  to  which  he  had  been  elected.  He  entered  upon  the  duties  of  that  office  in 
September  of  that  year,  and  at  once  thoroughly  reorganized  and  systematized  the 
business  pertaining  to  the  office  and  so  acceptably  did  he  discharge  his  official  duties 
during  his  term  of  four  years,  that  he  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Republican 
State  Convention  for  re-nomination,  and  secured  a  majority  of  over  2,500  votes  at  the 
general  election  in  June,  1882.  His  second  term  like  the  first  was  eminently  satis- 
factory to  the  people,  and  upon  his  retirement  from  office — perhaps  the  most 
responsible  in  the  State  Government — his  administration  was  heartily  endorsed  both 
by  political  friends  and  those  of  opposite  political  faith.  From  1885  to  1887  he 
was  Adjutant  General  of  Oregon,  and  in  1883  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture from  Multnomah  County,  in  which  position  he  is  at  present  ably  serving  the 
public.  For  several  years  he  has  been  actively  engaged  in  business  in  Portland, 
and  is  now  manager  of  a  large  corporation  organized  by  Portland  capitalists. 

Mr.  Earhart  has  taken  active  interest  in  the  Masonic  order  for  many  years,  having 
been  a  member  of  this  order  since  1863,  and  has  held  every  office  within  the  gift  of 
the  fraternity.  He  was  elected  Grand  Secretary  of  the  Grand  Lodge  in  1872,  and 
served  until  1878,  when  in  recognition  of  his  past  services  in  that  body  he  was  elected 
to  the  high  and  honorable  position  of  Grand  Master,  and  was  re-elected  in  1879.  He 
has  also  been  Sovereign  Grand  Inspector,  and  has  attained  to  the  thirty-third  degree 
of  the  Scottish  Rite  in  the  State  of  Oregon.  He  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the 
first  Commandery  of  Knight  Templars  established  on  the  North  Pacific  Coast,  and 
served  for  four  years  as  its  Eminent  Commander,  being  presented  upon  his  retire- 
ment from  that  office  with  a  beautiful  Masonic  jewel.  Mr.  Earhart  in  now  Grand 
Commander  of  Knights  Templar  of  the  State  of  Oregon. 

For  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  Mr.  Earhart  has  been  almost  constantly  in  the 
service  of  the  public  in  some  capacity,  and  in  every  place  he  has  been  called  to  fill  he 
has  increased  his  hold  upon  the  good  opinion  of  the  people.  Indeed  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  one  better  fitted  by  nature  for  the  duties  of  public  office.  He  is  a 
careful,  thorough  business  man,  punctual  in  the  discharge  of  every  duty,  and  under 
all  circumstances  can  be  implicitly  trusted.  He  is  firm  when  he  takes  a  stand  he 
believes  to  be  right,  is  always  courteous  and  possesses  that  personal  magnetism  which 
effects  to  a  more  or  less  degree  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.  He  easily  wins 
and  holds  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  associates,  and  for  his  intimate  friends 
has  a  frank,  warm  and  loyal  attachment  —as  warmly  and  loyally  reciprocated.  He  is 
accustomed  to  look  upon  the  bright  side  of  life  and  at  all  times  is  brimming  over  with 
geniality  and  good  humor,  which  flow  from  him  as  naturally  as  light  from  the  sun. 
He  is  an  engaging  conversationalist,  his  descriptive  powers  being  vivid,  which,  added 
to  his  heartiness  of  manner,  make  him  a  most  popular  and  entertaining  companion. 
He  has  been  more  than  ordinarily  successful  in  business,  which  can  be  ascribed  to 
keeness  of  preception  in  financial  matters,  and  well  directed  and  persistent  work. 

He  has  ever  been  ready  to  co-operate  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  with  Portland's  most 

Lse] 


560  History  of  Portland. 

pablic  minted  citizens  in  any  project  for  the  benefit  of  the  city,  and  during  his  resi- 
dence here,  according  to  his  ability  to  do,  and  to  give,  the  city  has  had  no  more 
helpful  friend.  Mr.  Earhart  is  of  ordinary  height,  stout  build,  with  a  full  kindly  £ace 
and  sparkling  eyes  through  which  are  displayed  the  cheerful  and  social  nature, 
determined  to  extract  all  the  good  out  of  life  consistent  with  right  living. 

He  was  married  on  July  2,  1863  to  Miss  N.  A.  Burden,  daughter  of  Judge  Burden, 
of  Polk  County,  Oregon.    They  have  four  children,  all  daughters. 


ALISKY,   Chari,bs  Adoi^ph,  was  bom  near    Frankfort-on-the-Main,    Germany, 
October  6,  1840,  and  is  a  descendant  of  an  old  and  highly  honorable  German 
family  which  for  several  generations  has  resided  at  or  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  place  of  his  nativity.     His  father,  William  Alisky,  was  a  native  of  Mayence,  and 
early  in  life  exhibited  rare  musical  talent,  at  the  age  of  seven  years  playing  a  flute 
solo  at  a  concert  in  Mayence.     His  genius  for  music  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Hessia  under  whose  protection  he  was  sent  to  the  Conservatory  of  Music 
at  Paris.     Here  he  became  a  classmate  and  intimate  friend  of  Richard  Wagner,  the 
celebrated  composer,  and  Karl  Maria  Von   Weber,  who  at  that  time  were  pursuing 
their  musical  studies  at  Paris.     After  completing  his  musical  education   at   Paris  he 
became  musical  director  of  the  Theatre  at  Darmstadt  at  that  time  one  of  the  largest 
and  finest  in  Germany.     While  thus  engaged  and  giving  promise  of  a  brilliant  future 
in  music,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hessia  died.     With  the  death  of  his  protector  and  bene- 
factor, his  professional  career  came  to  an  end  and  he  was  obliged  to  seek  new  means  of 
gaining  employment.     He  thereupon  embarked  in  the  music  printing  business,  which 
he  carried  on  only  for  a  brief  time,  when  he  sold  out  and  established  a  summer  resort 
at  Bergen,   near  Frankfort-on-the-Main — known  as  Bellevue — a  place  celebrated  for 
the  beauty  of  its  scenery.     The  latter  venture  was  in  advance  of  the  demands  of  the 
times  and  was  not  particularly  successful.     He  continued  in  this  line  of  work  but  a 
short  time  when  he  disposed  of  the  main  interest  in  the  venture  and  invested  most  of 
his  capital  in  a  Belgian  Company,  which  had  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  building 
a  canal  across  the   Isthmus  of  America,    intending  to   commence  operations  on  the 
Atlantic  side  at  the  city  of  Santa  Thoma  on  Tunis  Bay,  Guatamala.      With  his  wife 
and  children  he  proceeded  to  the  scene  of   operation,  but  the  vessel  in  which  they 
sailed  and  which  contained  supplies  for  the  work,   was  wrecked  at  the  mouth  of 
Montagua  River,   Guatamala.      The    family  was  saved  but  all  of   them    endured 
great  hardships.     In  attempting  to  save  the  goods  in  the  vessel,  Mr.  Alisky  exerted 
himself  excessively,  which  with  the  exposure  to  which  he  was  subjected  during 
the  storm  brought  on    an    illness  which   terminated    in  his   death  at  the  age  of 
thirty-seven  years.      All   of   the   family  passed  through  a  period  of  sickness,  and 
besides  the  father,  one  of  the  sons  died.      Mr.   Alisky  was  a  man  of  more  than 
ordinary  force  of  mind.     He  had  been  liberally  educated  while  his  musical  training 
had  been  most  carefully  and  thoroughly  conducted.     Had  he  devoted  himself  exclu- 
sively to  music  he  would  undoubtedly  have  taken  a  high  rank  in  his  profession.    Not 
only  was  he  a  performer  of  great  ability,  but  his  musical  compositions  possess  merit  of 
a  high  order.     He  was  also  a  man  of  practical   ideas  and  of  enlarged  views  and  had 
he  lived  to  carry  out  his  projects  would  have  achieved  for  himself  a  highly  creditable 
place  in  the  business  world. 


Biographical.  561 


At  the  time  of  the  death  of  his  father,  the  subjeA  of  this  sketch  was  four  years  of 
age.  The  family,  at  this  time  consisting  of  five  children,  after  a  short  stay  on  the 
Isthmus,  returned  to  Germany,  settling  at  the  old  home  near  Frankfort-on-the  Main, 
where  they  were  surrounded  by  their  relatives  who  were  well-to-do  people. 
Here  and  at  Mayence  and  Bergen  the  early  life  of  our  subje<5l  was  passed.  He 
received  a  good  pra(flical  education,  while  the  naturally  artistic  side  of  his  nature  was 
cultivated  and  developed  by  instru<5lion  in  drawing.  At  an  early  age  he  entered  the 
confe<5liouery  store  of  an  uncle  at  Mayence,  where  he  served  a  regular  apprentice- 
ship as  a  confe<5lioner.  From  Mayence  he  went  to  Frank fort-on-the-Main,  where  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  years  he  became  foreman  in  a  confecflionery  establishment. 
This  service  was  followed  by  a  brief  period  of  service  as  foreman  in  a  similar  estab- 
lishment at  Weisbaden,  a  popular  bathing  resort.  When  nearing  his  eighteenth  year 
he  withdrew  his  allegiance  from  his  native  country,  a(5luated  at  the  time  with  the 
piuT)ose  of  making  a  home  for  himself  in  the  new  world.  For  a  short  time  there- 
after, however,  he  worked  at  his  trade  at  Hamburg.  In  1859  he  came  to  America, 
and  for  a  time  continued  at  his  trade  in  the  service  of  an  uncle  in  New  York  city. 
He  then  went  to  Macon,  Georgia,  and  for  a  few  months  was  confecflioner  in  the 
Linear  House,  the  leading  hotel  of  the  city.  It  was  during  this  period  that  he  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  great  evil  of  negro  slavery  in  the  South,  which 
ultimately  made  him  a  strong  supporter  of  the  Union  cause  during  the  war  and  an 
ardent  member  of  the  republican  party.  After  his  experience  in  the  South  he  joined 
his  brother  Edward  in  California,  where  for  four  years  he  engaged  in  mining  in 
Tuolumne  county. 

In  1863  he  went  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  again  took  up  his  trade,  being 
employed  by  Peter  Job,  at  that  time  the  best  known  confecflioner  in  California.  He 
remained  but  a  short  time  in  San  Francisco,  and  came  to  Portland  in  the  fall  of  1863, 
where  for  a  few  months  he  followed  his  calling.  He  then  went  to  Victoria,  British 
Columbia,  and  established  a  confe<5lionery  store.  In  1866  he  returned  to  Portland 
and  established  a  manufacfluring  confe<5lionery  store.  For  three  years  he  condu<5led 
it  alone,  after  which  Charles  Hegele  became  a  partner  and  so  continued  until  1872, 
when  Mr.  Alisky  assumed  sole  control.  Perhaps  Mr.  Alisky  will  be  always  best 
known  in  Portland  in  conne<5lion  with  the  confe<5lionery  and  restaurant  which  for  so 
many  years  he  condu<5led  on  First  street  He  was  the  first  to  put  this  business  on  a 
high  plane,  and  during  all  the  years  he  was  conne<5led  with  it,  it  was  the  leading 
establishment  of  this  kind  in  the  city.  This  branch  of  his  business  he  disposed  of 
in  1886,  but  it  is  still  known  as  the  "Alisky  Restaurant."  In  1887  he  established 
the  Alisky  Candy  Manufacturing  Company,  but  sold  out  his  interest  in  1888,  and 
has  since  devoted  his  time  to  the  management  of  his  extensive  real  estate  interests. 

From  the  time  he  located  in  Portland,  Mr.  Alisky  has  had  unbounded  confidence 
in  the  city's  growth,  and  from. the  beginning  of  his  business  career  he  freely  invested 
the  profits  of  his  business  in  real  estate,  most  of  which  he  still  retains.  These  invest- 
ments have  proven  the  wisdom  of  his  judgment  and  have  made  him  a  large  fortune. 
He  is  at  the  present  time  owner  of  some  of  the  most  valuable  business  property  in 
the  city.  For  thirteen  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  volunteer  fire  department,  and 
at  one  time  was  assistant  engineer  of  the  city  department.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
various  German  social,  dramatic  and  singing  societies  of  Portland,  and  of  some  was 


562  History  of  Portland. 


one  of  the  founders.  For  thirteen  years  he  was  president  and  treasurer  of  Turn 
Verein  society,  and  was  the  first  president  of  the  Arion  society.  He  has  always  been 
a  liberal  supporter  of  the  various  aid  societies.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Independ- 
ent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  in  the  former  having 
received  the  highest  honors  of  the  subordinate  lodge. 

The  most  conspicuous  attribute  in  Mr.  Alisky's  chara<5ler  has  been  that  of  energy. 
From  the  time  he  started  in  business  for  himself  until  his  pracflical  retirement,  about 
three  years  ago,  few  men  could  have  pursued  their  plans  and  work  with  more  untiring 
and  steadfast  industry.  This  has  been  the  main  secret  of  his  success.  He  has  always 
been  a  firm  believer  in  Portland's  destiny  and  has  shown  his  faith  by  his  works.  He 
has  ever  been  a  free  and  liberal  contributor  to  every  deserving  public  enterprise,  while 
to  benevolent  and  charitable  efforts,  regardless  of  creed  or  se<5l  he  has  been  equally 
generous.  His  entire  business  career  has  been  above  reproach  and  he  rightfully  stands 
high  in  the  estimation  of  the  business  community.  During  recent  years  he  has  made 
an  extended  visit  to  Europe,  spending  considerable  time  amid  the  scenes  of  his  early 
youth,  and  while  the  Fatherland  will  ever  have  a  warm  place  in  his  heart,  he  is  proud 
of  his  adopted  country*  and  rejoices  that  his  lot  was  cast  among  the  most  progressive 
people  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Alisky  was  married,  in  1862,  to  Miss  Caroline  Francisca  Hegelc.  They  have 
one  son,  an  artist  of  much  promise,  who  is  pursuing  his  art  studies  in  Europe  under 
the  best  masters  of  Dresden  and  Munich. 


10HNS0N,  A.  H.  Few  American  cities  can  furnish  so  many  instances  where 
men  have  accumulated  large  fortunes  simply  by  well  dire<5ted  labor,  however 
adverse  the  circumstances  which  surrounded  their  early  struggles,  than  Portland. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  striking  example  of  the  truth  of  this  statement.  Arriv- 
ing in  Portland  some  thirtj*  odd  years  ago,  without  friends  or  money,  but  possessed 
of  good  health  and  plenty  of  pluck  and  energ}-,  he  has  steadily  pushed  onward  and 
upward  until  to-day  he  occupies  a  prominent  place  among  the  leading  business  men 
of  the  citv. 

He  was  bom  in  London,  in  1830,  and  is  the  third  among  eleven  sons  and 
daughters  of  Richard  and  Mercy  Johnson.  His  father  was  a  butcher,  but  on  coining 
to  .America,  in  1843,  settled  on  a  farm  in  Waukesha  County,  Wisconsin,  where,  with 
his  family,  he  continued  to  live  until  1869,  when  he  came  to  Portland,  and  resided 
¥rith  the  subject  of  this  sketch  until  his  death  in  1871.  Young  Johnson  had  but 
little  chance  for  gaining  an  education,  a  short  period  of  instruction  in  the  public 
schools  of  London  completing  his  opportunities  in  this  direction.  Although  he  was 
but  thirteen  years  old  when  he  left  London,  he  had  become  very  familiar  with  that 
great  city  and  he  still  retains  the  most  A-ivid  recollections  of  his  early  home.  After 
the  family  came  to  Wisconsin,  he  assisted  his  father  in  the  labors  upon  the  farm, 
being  thus  employed  until  after  he  had  passed  his  twentieth  year.  He  then  went  to 
Milwaukee  and  secured  work  in  the  pork  packing  establishment  of  John  Plankington. 
Here  he  remained  about  a  year,  when  he  entered  the  service  of  Thomas  Cross. 

In  the  spring  of  1852.  he  left  Milwaukee  with  an  ox-team  train  bound  for  Port- 
land. Oregon,  consenting  to  drive  a  team  across  the  plains  for  his  board.  He 
remained  with  the  train  during  its  long  and  wearisome  joomey  until   the  Cascades 


Biographical.  563 


were  reached.  Here  he  secured  passage  on  the  little  steamer  Flinty  bound  for  Port- 
land, arriving  September  17th,  1852.  He  had  been  brought  up  on  a  fiarm  and  was 
perfectly  familiar  with  all  the  conditions  necessary  to  carry  on  farming  successfully, 
and  the  rich  soil  of  the  Willamette  Valley,  combined  with  its  genial  climate  soon 
convinced  him  he  had  found  a  territory  which  would  in  time  become  a  rich  and 
prosperous  region.  He  determined  to  remain  and  work  out  his  destiny  here.  He 
had  no  money  or  even  an  acquaintance,  but  equipped  with  a  rugged  constitution  and 
plenty  of  pluck  and  energy,  he  was  not  for  a  moment  dismayed.  For  the  first  three 
months  after  his  arrival  he  worked  for  a  butcher  by  the  name  of  Charles  Albright. 
He  then  purchased  a  half  interest  in  a  meat  market  on  Front  street,  between  Morrison 
and  Yamhill.  Richard  S.  Perkins  soon  after  bought  the  other  half  interest  in  the 
business  and  the  firm  of  Johnson  &  Perkins  was  then  established.  Both  had  had 
practical  experience  in  this  line  of  business,  and  abundant  success  followed  their 
undertaking.  They  remained  together  for  ten  years,  and  during  this  period  were 
located  on  the  comer  of  Washington  and  First  streets  where  the  First  National  Bank 
now  is.  Since  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Perkins,  Mr  Johnson  has  managed  his  business 
alone.  In  1863  he  built  a  market  on  the  corner  of  First  and  A  streets,  known  as 
the  Pacific  Market  Here  he  remained  until  the  Central  Market  was  opened  in  1871, 
where  he  remained  for  sixteen  years.  In  1887  he  moved  to  his  present  location  on 
First  street,  below  Ash. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Johnson  has  been  the  heaviest  dealer  in  meats  in  the  city. 
His  operations  in  packing,  butchering,  handling  and  selling  of  all  kinds  of  live  stock 
have  grown  to  very  large  proportions,  his  yearly  business  reaching  a  sum  from 
$200,000  to  |400,000.  He  has  also  been  an  extensive  operator  in  real  estate,  owning 
some  of  the  most  valuable  business  blocks  in  the  city,  and  2,500  acres  of  timber  and 
farming  lands  within  ten  miles  of  Portland. 

During  his  whole  business  career  Mr.  Johnson  has  borne  a  high  reputation  as  an 
honorable,  straightforward  business  man.  Every  obligation  he  has  assumed  he  has 
faithfully  and  fully  discharged.  His  business  operations  have  brought  him  into  close 
contact  with  men  in  every  part  of  the  State,  and  have  given  him  a  wide  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  people  enjoyed  by  few  men  in  Portland.  He  has  been  a  hard 
worker  all  his  life,  but  his  years  of  a<$live  toil  have  had  but  slight  effect  upon  his 
naturally  vigorous  constitution.  He  has  ever  been  liberal,  generous  and  charitable, 
and  ever  ready  to  co-operate  with  Portland's  most  progressive  citizens  in  any  enter- 
prise which  promises  to  advance  the  general  good. 

He  was  married  in  1853  to  Miss  Cordelia  St.  Clair,  of  Washington  County, 
Oregon.  They  have  had  fourteen  children,  of  whom  ten  are  now  living — five  sons 
and  five  daughters,  in  order  of  birth  as  follows:  Stephen  M.,  Mercy  S.,  wife  of  A.  T^ 
Dobbins,  of  Columbia  County;  Arthur  R.,  Charles  N.,  Cordelia  J.,  wife  of  T.  N. 
Dunbar,  of  Portland;  Mary  H.,  wife  of  E.  H.  Parkhurst,  of  Portland;  Annie  M.,  wife 
of  Arthur  L.  Wylie,  of  Portland;  Hamilton  B.,  Caroline  V.  and  Admire  T.  G.  John- 
son. William  S.,  his  second  son  met  with  a  fatal  accident  in  Washington  County,  in 
the  spring  of  1889.     He  was  married  and  left  a  family  of  five  children. 

Mr.  Johnson  has  been  a  very  useful  man  to  Portland  and  to  the  country  at  large. 
On  men  of  work  and  worth  like  him  the  prosperity  of  communities  depends. 


564  History  of  Portland. 

WHALLEY,  John  William,  was  bom  on  the  28th  of  April,  1833.  His  ancestors 
on  his  father's  side  had,  for  a  long  period,  been  yoemen  residing  at  Dent  in  the 
West  Reding  of  Yorkshire,  England,  who  had  migrated  there  from  Norfolk,  and 
belonged  to  the  same  family  of  which  Edmund  Whalley  of  the  Cromwellian  Army 
was  a  member.  Many  of  the  family  held  respectable  positions,  both  in  the  church, 
the  army  and  at  the  bar,  the  elder  sons  usually  owning  and  managing  the  small 
estate  of  the  family,  the  younger  members  making  their  living  in  some  of  the  learned 
professions.  On  his  mother's  side  Mrs.  Whalley 's  "  fore-elders,"  as  termed  in 
Cheshire,  were  Welsh,  and  for  more  than  200  years  occupied,  under  lease  for  that 
term,  the  estate  of  Overton  Hall,  owned  by  Lord  Kenyon.  This  lease  terminated  in 
the  life-time  of  Mr.  William  Jones,  the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Whalley,  who  then  w^ith 
his  family  moved  to  Canada,  and  from  thence  to  New  York  City,  where  he  died  and 
was  buried  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard  on  Broadway. 

Mr.  Whalley 's  father,  Rev.  Francis  Whalley,  left  England  under  an  appoint- 
ment from  the  society  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts  and  was 
stationed  in  Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia,  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  bom.  In 
1835  the  family  returned  to  England,  the  father  becoming  rector  of  Rivington  Parish , 
Cheshire,  but  was  subsequently  appointed  Chaplain  of  Lancaster  Castle,  followed 
by  service  as  rector  of  the  parish  at  Churchtown,  Lancashire,  afterwards  of  New 
Hutton  and  then  of  Old  Hutton,  near  Kendal  in  Westmoreland.  Here  amid  the 
wild  and  grand  scenery  and  beautiful  lakes  of  the  north,  young  Whalley  lived 
until  thirteen  years  of  age,  pursuing  his  studies  under  the  guidance  of  his  parents, 
both  of  whom  were  cultured  and  educated  people.  He  not  only  at  this  age  had 
received  a  good  rudimentary  education  but  even  had  acquired  considerable  knowl. 
edge  of  the  classics,  being  able  to  read  Caesar  at  nine  and  Ovid  at  ten. 

The  humble  circumstances  of  Mr.  Whalley's  parents,  who,  beside  himself,  had 
two  sons  and  a  daughter  to  provide  for,  made  all  hopes  of  their  giving  him  a 
collegiate  education  impossible.  This  fact  induced  him,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  to 
take  service  as  an  apprentice  on  board  the  merchantman  *  *  Speed, ' '  in  which  vessel 
he  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  New  York,  in  the  year  1847.  On  arriving  in  New 
York,  not  liking  the  sea,  he  left  the  ship,  and  with  an  aimt  visited  his  grand 
mother,  who  at  that  time  was  the  widow  of  Dr.  Adrian,  of  New  Jersey,  a  man 
distinguished  both  in  scientific  and  political  circles.  Meeting  his  uncle,  Mr.  Thomas 
Jones,  author  of  an  excellent  treatise  on  bookkeeping,  and  a  teacher  of  that 
science,  young  Whalley  entered  his  office,  remaining  with  him  until  March,  1848, 
and  during  that  i>eriod  acquired  the  rudiments  of  a  fair  mercantile  education. 

Mr.  Jones  in  obedience  to  the  command  of  young  Whalley's  father  sent  him  to 
England  in  1848,  where  it  was  understood  a  situation  in  the  Bank  of  England 
awaited  him;  but  on  arrival  there  it  was  found  impossible  to  secure  the  situation 
Being  unable  to  obtain  employment,  and  realizing  that  his  native  country  offered 
few  advantages  to  a  person  without  pecuniary  expe<5lation  and  commanding  little 
influence,  young  Whalley  again  determined  to  go  to  sea.  He  went  to  Liverpool  in 
February,  1849,  and  bound  himself  as  an  apprentice  on  board  the  Antelope,  then 
bound  for  San  Francisco,  California,  at  which  point  he  arrived  on  the  17th  of  July, 
1849,  in  the  very  height  of  the  gold  excitement.  With  other  sailors  young  Whalley 
deserted,  and  began  the  life  of  a  miner.  During  the  winter  of  1849  he  worked  in  the 
mines  on  the  south  fork  of  the  American   River  below  Coloma,  and  in  1850  on  the 


Biographical.  566 

Middle  Yuba.  He  followed  a  miner's  life,  going  through  all  the  vicissitudes  thereto, 
until  the  year  1858,  at  which  time,  being  then  located  in  Yreka,  California,  he 
determined  to  abandon  mining,  which  had  been  unprodu(5live,  and  to  study  for 
admission  to  the  bar. 

Being  without  means,  and  desiring  more  opportunity  for  studying  than  the  occupa- 
tion of  mining  had  afforded,  he  procured  the  position  of  teacher  in  the  school  at 
Little  Shasta,  near  Yreka.  He  pursued  teaching  with  success,  up  to  the  year  1864, 
exclusive  of  the  years  1861  and  1862,  most  of  the  time  being  employed  in  the  public 
school  at  Yreka,  the  county  seat  During  the  years  1861  and  1862,  he  filled  the 
office  of  county  superintendent  of  schools,  in  which  position  he  served  with  great 
credit  and  to  the  entire  satisfa(5lion  of  the  people. 

From  1858  to  1861,  Mr.  Whalley  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  local  press  of 
Siskiyou  county  and  to  the  Hesperion  magazine,  published  at  San  Francisco.  Many 
poetical  contributions  to  the  latter  periodical  were  extensively  copied  throughout  the 
United  States,  evoking  much  favorable  comment  from  the  local  press. 

On  the  21st  of  July,  1861,  Mr.  Whalley  was  married  to  Miss  Lavina  T.  Kimzey,  of 
Little  Shasta,  who  had  been  one  of  his  pupils.  Seven  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  six  daughters  and  one  son.  Five  of  the  daughters  are  now  living,  one  of  whom 
is  married  to  Mr.  J.  Frank  Watson,  of  Portland,  and  another  to  Lieutenant  Allison, 
Second  Cavalry  United  States  Army,  now  stationed  at  Walla  Walla. 

During  the  years  Mr.  Whalley  passed  in  teaching,  he  continued  reading  law,  and 
was  admitted  to  pra<5lice,  in  1861,  before  Judge  Dangerfield  in  Siskiyou  county,  but 
deferred  entering  into  a<5live  practice  until  186t.  He  then  went  to  Grant  county, 
Oregon,  and  there  opened  a  law  office,  meeting  with  good  success  in  his  profession. 
Mr.  M.  W.  Fecheimer,  who  had  studied  law  with  Mr.  Whalley,  soon  after  being 
admitted  to  praAice,  opened  an  office  in  Portland,  and  it  was  through  his  solicitation 
that  Mr.  Whalley  finally  determined  to  come  to  Portland.  He  was  led  to  this  decision 
partly  through  a  desire  to  reach  a  point  where  better  facilities  could  be  had  for 
educating  his  children  than  could  be  found  in  Grant  county.  He  arrived  in  1868, 
and  formed  a  co-partnership  with  Mr.  Fecheimer,  under  the  well  remembered  firm 
name  of  Whalley  &  Fecheimer.  The  firm  soon  acquired  a  lucrative  practice.  They 
made  the  bankrupt  law  of  1867  a  specialty,  and  most  of  the  business  in  that  depart- 
ment of  legal  pra<5lice  throughout  the  State  came  into  their  hands.  This  was  an 
exceedingly  profitable  branch  of  pra<5lice  in  Oregon  for  some  years  after  the  establish- 
ment of  the  firm.  The  surplus  earnings  from  their  professional  work,  both  members 
invested  in  business  property  in  Portland  and  its  rapid  increase  in  value  during  recent 
years  has  secured  for  each  a  handsome  fortune. 

In  1870,  Mr.  Whalley  was  ele<5led  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  Multnomah 
county  and  served  for  one  term,  when  he  retired  altogether  from  political  life, 
preferring  to  devote  his  whole  attention  to  his  profession. 

Mr.  Whalley  has  been  a  prominent  Odd  Fellow  for  many  years  and,  in  1870, 
represented  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Oregon  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States,  at 
its  session  in  Baltimore. 

Desiring  to  visit  Europe,  Mr.  Whalley,  in  1883,  dissolved  his  legal  co-partnership 
and  with  his  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Allison,  made  an  extended  tour  of  the  Old  World. 
He  returned  to  Portland  in  1884,  and  resumed  the  pradHce  of  law  in  connedlion  with 
Mr.  H.  H.  Northup  and  Mr.   Paul  R.   Deady,  under  the  firm  name  of  Whalley, 


366  History  of  Portlaxtl 


tb^  &  Jjtadj,  A  Ixr^  pramce  was  qa5ckly  obcaiacd.  tbe  firm  becoming 
cspecsaHj  pro^aent  in  isiportant  railwav  liti^arsoa.  Jodge  E.  C  Brooangh  was 
aHgi'rrtfii  &&  2  raetsber.  in  1SS5.  the  firm  name  being  cbanged  to  Whallev.  Brooangh* 
Nocth^p  Al  Dead j.  >Ir.  Dea^y  subsequently  retired,  and  the  finn  was  thereafter 
kncrwn  rader  tiie  Ts-mt  of  Ulial>y.  Brocangfa  &  Xorthnp.  Haring  accnmnlated  a 
large  pc^^ert j.  and  the  management  of  his  own  ptivate  bosiness  requiring  more 
of  his  time  than  his  legal  practice  permitted,  3ir.  WhaHey  retired  finom  the  firm  and 
the  actiTe  practice  of  the  law  in  March.  1S89. 

>Ir.  WhklJty  has  long  held  a  place  in  the  firont  rank  of  his  ptofiessioo.  He  has  a 
well  ordered  mind  and  in  his  forensic  encoonters  hss  legal  forces  are  always  under 
pericct  coctrol.  His  love  of  a  •'fine  point**  has  become  a  snbject  of  trite  remark 
among  his  legal  brethren  throughout  the  State.  He  e»  remarkable  for  his  tactical 
and  strategic  qualities.  He  avails  himself  of  every  opportunity  for  legal  surprises 
and  overlooks  no  means  of  legal  defense.  By  many  pracdtioDCTs  the  weightier 
matters  of  the  law  are  often  sacrificed  to  these  qualitxsw  but  such  is  not  the  case  with  Mr. 
\Mialley.  The  care  which  he  bestows  upon  the  "critical  niceties**  of  the  law  is  due  to 
his  mental  activity  and  to  the  habit  of  thoroughness  in  what  he  undertakes,  and  not 
to  any  ne^ect  of  any  of  the  broad  principles  which  make  the  study  and  practice  of 
the  law  one  of  the  most  elevating  and  useful  pursuits  of  mankind. 

Mr.  \llialley  has  a  thorough  contempt  for  the  farces  and  shams  of  society*  which 
with  a  combative  temperment  has  led  to  a  habit  of  speaking  his  mind  about  men  and 
things  with  plain  and  piquant  speech,  and  not  infrequently  with  ofiense  to  those  who 
find  themselves,  in  the  language  of  Bret  Harte.  "the  individuals  who  happen  to  be 
meant.**  He  has  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  humorous,  and  this  with  his  imitative 
faculties  make  him  the  best  story  teller  and  the  most  enjoyable  companion  at  the 
bar. 

He  is  an  indefatigable  sportsman  and  is  a  master  of  the  science  of  casting  a  fly, 
or  for  that  matter  of  making  one;  and  he  can  talk  to  the  professional  angler  in  his 
own  language.  £ver\-  foot  of  that  sportsman's  paradise  fxx>m  "Mock*s  bottom'*  to 
**Charley  Saline's"  is  to  him  familiar  ground.  In  illustration  of  the  difficulty  that 
men  bent  on  pleasure  sometimes  have  in  leaving  the  cares  of  business  behind  them, 
it  is  related  of  him  that  he  once  made  the  trip  of  several  miles  to  his  favorite  hunting 
preserve,  absorbed  by  the  question  whether  demurrer  would  lie  to  a  particular  com- 
plaint, only  to  find  ^hen  his  destination  was  reached  that  he  had  left  his  gun  at 
home.  The  man  in  charge  of  the  premises  has  alwa\*s  steadfastly  refused  to  disclose 
the  nature  of  the  remarks  which  the  occasion  seems  to  have  required. 

For  the  last  several  years  his  fondness  for  shooting  aquatic  fowl  has  led  to  the 
partial  abandonment  of  the  pursuit  of  other  classes  of  game  birds.  With  a  few  chosen 
friends  he  controls  the  shooting  privileges  over  about  1200  acres  of  lake  and  marsh  land 
on  Sau\-ie"s  Island,  which  in  season  he  visits  once  a  week.  He  has  taken  a  great 
interest  in  the  preservation  and  protection  of  the  game  of  the  State,  and  urged  with 
vigorous  zeal  the  enactment  by  the  Legislature  of  beneficial  game  laws.  Largely 
through  his  efforts  this  was  finally  accomplished,  the  statute  of  the  State  to-day 
containing  many  laws  of  his  own  construction,  regulating  the  taking  of  game  which 
are  susceptible  of  no  misinterpretations.  For  a  long  time  he  w^as  President  of  the 
Multnomah  Rod  and  Gun  Club  of  Portland,  an  organization  which  under  his  personal 
influence  and  endeavor  accomplished  much  good  in  the  lin^  just  indicated,  and  was 


Biographical.  567 


especially  vigilant  in  the  detection  of  violation  of  game  laws  and  active  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  wrong  doers.  He  was  also  chosen  first  President  of  the  Sportsman's  Asso- 
ciation of  the  Northwest,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  was  re-elected.  This 
association,  virtually  an  amalgamation  of  the  different  sportsman's  clubs  of  the 
northwest  territory,  had  for  its  object  the  protection  of  the  game  of  the  entire 
northwest,  and  the  promotion  of  that  uniformity  in  legislation  made  desirable  by  the 
geographical  location  of  the  different  States  and  Territories  and  the  similarity  in  the 
kind  and  habits  of  the  game  found  therem.  This  association  is  now  in  active 
existence,  and  is  exerting  an  influence  which  will  not  fail  to  largely  effect  the  course 
of  legislation  upon  matters  coming  within  the  scope  of  its  constitution. 

Mr:  Whalley  is  a  man  of  alert  mind,  of  great  legal  and  literary  erudition,  has 
ready  command  of  language,  and  speaks  and  writes  with  admirable  force.  He  is  at  all 
times  accessible,  is  steadfast  in  his  friendships  and  has  intellectual  powers  that  would 
bring  him  to  distinction  in  any  situation. 


KILLIN,  Benton,  one  of  Portland's  prominent  citizens,  was  born  in  DesMoines, 
Iowa,  on  the  5th  day  of  August,  1842.  When  only  three  years  old  his  parents 
crossed  the  plains,  and  settled  on  the  old  homestead,  on  Butter  Creek,  Clackamas 
county,  Oregon,  in  the  spring  of  1847.  Here  his  aged  mother  still  lives,  enjoying,  in 
the  evening  of  life,  a  rest  from  the  severe  toils  of  her  earlier  years.  On  this  farm  the 
next  twelve  years  of  young  Killin's  life  was  spent  in  the  hard  labors  of  a  farmer's 
boy.  But  while  thus  surrounded,  with  but  little  to  arouse  his  ambition,  he  was 
planning  something  different  and  to  his  taste  better. 

When  16  years  old  he  started  out  firom  home  to  fight  life's  battle  alone.  During 
the  summer  he  toiled  faithfully  on  a  farm  and  with  the  wages  thus  earned  he  entered 
the  Willamette  University,  where  he  remained  as  a  student  until  the  spring  of  1861, 
supporting  himself  in  the  meantime  by  working  for  farmers  in  the  neighborhood 
during  vacation,  and  employing  himself  at  whatever  his  hands  found  to  do  on 
Saturdays. 

In  the  spring  of  1861,  his  health  gave  away.  The  tell-tale  flush  upon  the  cheek 
and  the  exasperating  cough  gave  out  the  warning  that  consumption  was  fast  taking 
hold  on  him.  Abandoning  his  studies,  he  sought  to  renew  his  strength  in  the  mount- 
ains and  mines  of  Idaho,  where  he  remained  until  January,  1862. 

At  this  time  his  health  being  restored,  his  patriotism  led  him  to  the  support  of 
his  endangered  country,  and  for  three  years  he  served  faithfully  in  the  1st  Oregon 
Cavalry,  enduring  without  murmur  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  a  soldier's  life  to 
serve  the  country  he  loved  so  well. 

Peace  being  restored,  he  gladly  laid  down  his  arms,  and  resumed  the  work  of 
obtaining  an  education.  In  the  fall  of  1865,  he  entered  Pacific  University  at 
Forest  Grove,  where  with  untiring  diligence  he  prosecuted  his  studies  for  one  year, 
going  over  a  two  years'  course  in  that  time. 

Afler  leaving  school  he  commenced  reading  law,  supporting  himself  in  the  mean- 
time by  teaching  a  winter  term  of  school.  In  1866,  he  was  elected  superintendent  of 
schools  for  Clackamas  county,  serving  out  his  term  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people. 


568  History  of  Portland. 


In  the  fall  of  1867,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  law  and  at  once  opened 
an  office  in  Oregon  City.  »  He  was  successful  fix>m  the  start,  trying  and  winning 
in  the  first  year  of  his  pradlice,  one  of  the  most  stubbornly  contested  a^ons 
for  damage  ever  fought  in  the  courts  of  Oregon,  in  which  his  client  recovered  f4,000. 

In  1870,  Hon.  E.  D.  Shattuck  offered  him  a  place  with  Logan  &  Shattuck.  On 
the  first  of  January  of  that  year  the  firm  of  Logan,  Shattuck  &  Killin  was  formed; 
and  to  say  what  is  the  simple  truth,  that  Mr.  Killin  fully  sustained  his  part  in  that 
firm,  is  to  give  him  a  great  compliment.  The  firm,  which  lasted  for  some  four  years, 
was  one  of  the  leading  law  firms  in  the  State,  and  when  it  was  dissolved,  in  1874,  by 
the  retirement  of  Hon.  David  Logan,  and  the  return  of  Hon.  E.  D.  Shattuck  to  the 
bench,  Mr.  Killings  position  in  the  front  rank  of  the  Portland  bar  was  fully  estab- 
lished.    This  rank  he  has  ever  since  maintained. 

In  July,  1873,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  Burnett  Hoover,  a  daughter  of 
the  late  Jacob  Hoover,  of  Washington  county,  one  of  Oregon's  earliest  and  most 
honored  pioneers.  Her  brother,  Hon.  J.  Hoover,  ex-mayor  of  Spokane  Falls,  is  now 
president  of  the  Exchange  National  bank  of  that  city,  and  one  of  her  leading  citizens. 
Mr.  Killin  and  wife  have  two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  who  are  truly  their  parent's 
joy  and  pride. 

Mr.  Killin  is  a  land  lawyer  and  to  this  branch  of  the  law  he  has  principally 
devoted  himself.  His  opinions,  always  honestly  given,  carry  with  them  a  weight 
second  only  to  the  decisions  of  our  highest  courts.  He  has  always  shown  his  faith  in 
the  future  of  the  city  by  investing  his  means,  as  fast  as  obtained,  in  real  estate,  and 
as  a  result  he  is  now  possessed  of  an  ample  fortune. 

His  judgment  is  good  and  his  advice  has  been  sought  and  followed  in  many  of  the 
larger  transactions  which  have  taken  place  in  our  city  since  he  has  been  practicing 
his  profession  here. 

In  politics  Mr.  Killin  is  a  democrat,  but  his  independence  will  not  allow  him  to 
be  a  strong  partisan.  He  is  nevertheless  a  quiet  and  effective  member  of  his  party 
and  his  executive  ability  causes  his  advice  to  be  eagerly  sought  by  his  party  associates. 

He  has  never  sought  office  but  his  friends,  who  are  many,  confidently  expect  to 
see  him  some  day  high  in  position. 

Like  all  strong  men  he  is  a  man  of  his  own  opinions,  which  he  expresses  fearlessly. 
He  is  firm  and  unyielding  in  his  attachments  and  is  always  ready  to  assist  his  friends. 
While  not  in  the  ordinary  sense  a  popular  man  yet  in  the  circle  of  those  to  whom  he 
gives  his  confidence,  none  has  a  warmer  place  than  he.  He  is  the  soul  of  honor,  and 
wherever  known  his  word  passes  as  current  as  coin  of  the  realm. . 

In  person  Mr.  Killin  is  a  portly  gentleman,  of  pleasing  appearance,  and  though 
now  only  in  the  prime  of  life  is  thoroughly  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his  early  years  of 
toil.  The  honorable  success  he  has  achieved  is  sufficient  attestation  that  his  work 
has  been  done  well. 


SAYLOR,  WII.I.IAM  H.,  M.  D.,  was  bom  in  Wapello  County,  Iowa,  August  17, 
1843.  His  parents  were  Conrad  G.  and  Mary  A.  (Black)  Saylor.  In  1852  he 
was  brought  by  his  parents  across  the  plains  to  Oregon,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year 
arrived  in  Portland.  In  the  succeeding  spring  the  family  went  to  Ol3rmpia,  Wash- 
ington Territory,  remaining  there  until  the  summer  of  1854  when  they  removed  to 


Biographical.  569 


a  farm  which  his  father  had  purchased  in  Rock  Prairie.  Here  our  subject  lived  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian  war  of  1855  when  the  family,  removed  for  protection 
to  Fort  Henness,  on  Grand  Mound  Prairie,  residing  there  until  hostilities  were  prac- 
tically at  an  end  in  the  fall  of  1856,  when  they  returned  to  Oregon,  settling  at 
McMinnville.  During  the  first  years  of  his  life  here  he  performed  the  duties  of  clerk 
in  his  father's  store,  meanwhile  attending  school  at  the  old  college  building,  within 
whose  walls  so  many  of  the  prominent  men  of  Oregon  have  obtained  the  greater  por- 
tion of  their  education.  During  the  summers  of  1861-2-3  he  was  engaged  in  mining 
at  Oro  Fino,  Salmon  River  and  Boise  mines,  and  the  remaining  portions  of  these  years 
attended  school  at  the  Willamette  University.  Even  at  this  time  he  had  resolved  to 
become  a  physician.  The  life  he  was  leading  and  the  prospects  it  held  out  to  him  by 
no  means  met  the  scheme  of  his  ambition,  and  despite  the  disadvantages  of  his 
surroundings  and  opportunities  his  cherished  plans  made  him  courageous  and 
equal  to  all  emergencies  But  before  he  could  put  his  resolve  into 
execution  a  turn  had  come  in  the  civil  war  which  made  the  outlook 
for  the  success  of  the  rebel  cau^e  seem  imminent,  gladdening  the  hearts  of 
the  rebel  sympathizers  in  the  north  and  making  every  lover  of  the  Union  tremble  for 
the  safety  of  the  country.  At  this  time  a  call  was  made  upon  the  patriotic  sons  of 
Oregon  to  enlist  and  go  forth  for  the  protection  of  the  frontiers  against  Indian  depre- 
dations, they  having  been  vacated  by  the  regular  troops  by  reason  of  their  having 
been  ordered  to  the  South  to  defend  and  protect  the  old  flag.  The  doctor,  true  to 
the  needs  of  the  country,  was  among  the  first  to  offer  his  services.  He  enlisted  in 
Company  B,  First  Oregon  Infantry,  in  December  1864  and  served  until  he  was 
honorably  discharged  in  1865.  He  then  returned  to  The  Dalles  and  as  a  prelude  to 
the  study  of  medicine  entered  a  drug  store.  After  gaining  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
practical  part  of  medicine  so  far  as  such  occupation  would  permit,  in  the  mean- 
while studying  his  text  book  under  the  dirction  of  Dr.  J.  W.  McAfee,  he  resigned  the 
position  and  began  a  systematie  course  of  study  of  medicine  at  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  Willamette  University,  graduating  from  that  institution  in  1869  with 
high  honors. 

He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Forest  Grove  and  met  with  most 
flattering  success.  After  several  years  practice,  being  satisfied  that  there  was  still 
much  to  be  learned  in  his  profession,  he  went  to  New  York  and  entered  the  cele- 
brated Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College,  graduating  in  1876.  Soon  thereafter  he 
returned  to  Oregon  and  resumed  practice  in  Portland  where  he  has  since  remained. 

Doctor  Saylor  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  Oregon  State  Medical  Society 
and  in  1879  held  the  office  of  Corresponding  Secretary;  in  1883  was  elected  Presi- 
dent, and  in  1887  was  chosen  one  of  the  Board  of  Censors  for  a  term  of  five  years. 
In  its  interest  he  has  always  been  an  active  member,  contributing  at  nearly  every 
session  a  treatise  on  some  important  subject.  Soon  after  locating  in  Portland  he  was 
appointed  attending  surgeon  and  physician  at  Good  Samaritan  Hospital  and  has  ever 
since  retained  the  position.  In  1882-3  he  was  Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  Willam- 
ette University,  and  at  the  organization  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  State  Uni- 
versity of  Oregon  was  elected  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery  and  Diseases  of  the  Genito- 
urinary Organs  which  position  he  still  retains.  In  recognition  of  his  abilities  he 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Moody  Brigade  Surgeon  of  the  State  Militia  and  served 
during  Gov.  Moody's  term  of  office.     For  two  years  he  has  been  medical  director  of 


570  History  of  Portland. 


the  Oregon  Department  of  the  G.  A.  R, ;  in  1887  was  Grand  Medical  Director  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  for  the  jurisdiction  of  Oregon,  Washington  and 
British  Columbia,  and  at  present  is  President  of  the  Portland  Medical  Society. 

Dr.  Saylor  was  married,  in  1873,  to  Miss  Phoebe  A.  Wing,  who  at  that  time  was  a 
preceptress  in  the  Pacific  University  at  Forest  Grove.  She  died  in  1875,  leaving  to 
him  the  care  of  a  daughter.  He  was  again  married,  in  1883,  to  Miss  Carrie  Caples, 
eldest  daughter  of  Hon.  J.  F.  Caples,  of  Portland. 

In  his  profession  Dr.  Saylor  holds  a  position  due  to  his  talents  and  manly 
charadler.  His  services  are  eagerly  sought  after  in  consultation  where  wise  counsel,  a 
high  degree  of  skill  and  unerring  choice  of  means  and  exp>edients  are  required.  He 
is  a  general  pracflitioner,  but  it  is  in  the  department  of  surgery  he  particularly  excels, 
having  performed  successfully  some  of  the  most  difficult  operations  known  to  sur- 
gical science. 

Politically  the  Doctor  is  an  ardent  republican,  and  although  solicited  at  times  to 
accept  nomination  for  several  important  offices,  he  has  persistently  refused,  preferring 
to  confine  his  usefulness  to  his  profession.  In  religions  views  he  is  liberal,  rather 
leaning  toward  the  belief  of  the  denomination  known  as  Christians,  of  which  his 
parents  were  adlive  and  worthy  members.  Personally,  the  Dodlor  is  a  plain,  unassum. 
iug  man,  of  sensible  and  pracflical  ideas.  He  is  affable  and  pleasant  in  manner  and 
has  the  same  genial  greeting  for  all,  be  they  rich  or  poor,  which  has  made  him 
deservedly  popular  with  all  classes.  In  the  prime  of  life,  with  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  his  profession  and  an  experience  of  the  most  varied  and  valuable  chara<5ler,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  expedl  that  in  the  years  to  come,  Dr.  Saylor  will  add  new  laurels  to 
a  reputation  which  even  now  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of  Oregon^s  most  successful 
pradlitioners. 


LOT  AN,  James,  was  bom  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey  in  1843,  and  is  of  Irish  descent, 
his  father  John  Lotan,  having  been  born  in  Ireland  and  emigrated  to  America  in 
184-0.  Until  his  twelfth  year  young  Lotan  attended  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
city.  He  then  became  an  apprentice  to  the  machinist  trade  in  his  uncle's  shop. 
After  acquiring  a  full  knowledge  of  his  trade  he  went  to  Jacksonville,  Florida,  where 
with  an  elder  brother  he  was  employed  until  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  began,  when 
he  returned  home,  and  a  few  months  thereafter,  in  May  1861,  enlisted  for  two  years 
in  Company  C,  Ninth  New  York  Volunteer  Regiment,  commanded  by  Col.  Rush  C 
Hawkins.  This  regiment  was  first  stationed  at  Fort  Monroe  and  from  there 
proceeded  to  Newport  News,  where  it  took  part  in  a  fight  at  Great  Bethel,  which 
resulted  in  one  of  the  first  victories  for  the  Union  army.  It  left  Newport  News  with 
Gen.  Butler's  expedition  and  at  Fort  Hatteras  joined  Gen.  Bumside's  command, 
proceeding  with  this  division  of  the  army  up  Pamlico  Sound  to  Newbem,  N.  C, 
where  it  fought  a  battle.  From  this  point  it  proceeded  back  to  Roanoke  Island  and 
from  there  to  Newbem,  participating  in  the  battle  of  South  Mills  and  in  numerous 
skirmishes  along  the  line  of  March.  From  Newbern  the  regiment  proceeded  through 
the  Dismal  Swamps  to  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  from  there  by  way  of  Newport  News  to 
Aquila  Creek  where  it  joined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  formed  a  part  of  Bum- 
side's  division  during  the  terrible  slaughter  of  Union  men  at  the  battles  of  Fredericks- 


Biographical.  571 


burg,  Antietam  and  South  Mountain.  At  the  latter  battle  the  ninth  lost  heavily,  and 
after  being  twice  recruited  went  back  to  Newport  News,  where  Mr.  Lotan  remained 
with  the  regiment  until  his  term  of  enlistment  expired.  He  was  mustered  out  in 
June,  1863. 

In  July,  1863,  Mr.  Lotan  went  to  Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  was  employed  at 
his  trade  in  the  navy  yard  until  May,  1864,  when  he  sailed  from  New  York,  via 
Panama,  for  San  Francisco,  arriving  in  the  latter  city  after  a  voyage  of  thirty-nine 
days.  After  working  at  his  trade  in  San  Francisco,  and  Victoria,  Vancouver's  Island, 
a  few  months,in  April,  1865,  he  came  to  Portland,  where  he  has  ever  since  continued 
to  reside.  For  seven  years  after  coming  to  Portland  he  was  employed  by  the  Oregon 
Iron  Works,  the  first  two  years  as  a  journeyman  and  •  the  remainder  of  the  time  as 
foreman  of  the  machine  shop.  In  1872  he  became  superintendent  of  the  Willamette 
Iron  Works.  He  soon  after  purchased  a  small  amount  of  its  stock  and  as  he  was 
able  continued  to  add  to  his  original  purchase  until  he  acquired,  several  years  ago,  a 
half  interest  in  the  concern,  the  works  now  being  owned  by  Mr.  Lotan  and  M.  W. 
Henderson,  each  having  an  equal  interest.  They  employ  over  one  hundred  men, 
and  do  a  general  foundry  and  machine  business,  but  make  a  specialty  of  steamboat 
boilers  and  engines,  and  in  this  line  for  several  years  past,  have  made  more  than  all 
the  rest  of  similar  works  in  Portland  combined.  In  1884  they  established  a  shop 
at  The  Dalles,  known  as  the  Fulton  Iron  Works,  where  twenty-five  men  are 
employed,  principally  in  making  railroad  castings  for  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Naviga- 
tion Company.  Mr.  Lotan  is  manager  of  both  concerns  and  it  is  almost  solely  owing 
to  his  practical  knowledge  and  constant  supervision  of  the  business  that  such  a 
high  degree  of  success  has  been  attained 

In  1870  Mr.  Lotan  was  appointed  United  States  Local  Inspector  of  steam  vessels, 
by  Secretary  Boutwell.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment  there  were  only  seventy-one 
steamboats  in  the  district  under  his  jurisdiction.  This  number  had  increased  to  one 
hundred  and  seventy  in  1887,  and  his  duties  in  relation  to  them  consumed  so  much 
of  the  time  which  his  personal  and  private  business  demanded  that  he  was  forced  to 
resign  the  position.  His  practical  mechanical  knowledge  made  his  services  in  this 
connection  highly  valuable  and  much  appreciated  by  the  government 

Soon  after  coming  to  Portland,  Mr.  Lotan  joined  the  Washington  Guards,  one  of 
the  leading  military  organizations  of  that  day,  and  took  quite  an  interest  in  local 
military  affairs.  He  was  elected  2d  Lieut,  of  the  company,  and  when  the  Washing- 
ton Guards  and  the  Emmett  Guards  were  formed  into  a  battalion,  he  was  elected  and 
commissioned  its  Major,  holding  this  office  until  the  battalion  was  disbanded  some 
two  years  later.  He  also  served  for  fifteen  years  in  the  old  Volunteer  Fire  Depart- 
ment, of  Portland,  and  rendered  valuable  assistance  in  the  organization  of  the 
present  paid  department.  He  was  appointed  a  fire  commissioner  in  1883,  by  Mayor 
Chapman,  a  position  he  still  retains  and  most  acceptably  fills. 

Mr.  Lotan  has  always  been  an  enthusiastic  republican,  and  in  local  political  afiiiirs 
for  the  last  seventeen  years,  has  taken  a  most  prominent  part.  Personally  he  has 
never  been  a  seeker  after  office,  but  no  one  in  Portland  has  more  persistently  labored 
for  the  success  of  his  party  and  candidates  than  Mr.  Lotan.  His  position  as  a  leader 
is  well  recognized,  and  has  been  thrust  upon  him  more  by  the  force  of  circumstances 
and  the  knowledge  of  his  friends  of  his  political  sagacity  and  ability  for  leadership, 


572  History  of  Portland. 

than  through  any  desire  on  his  part  for  political  notoriety  or  influence.  He  has 
repeatedly  been  chairman  of  the  Republican  County  Committee,  and  at  present  holds 
this  position.  In  every  campaign  which  has  been  waged  during  recent  years  in  city 
and  State  politics,  Mr.  Lotan  has  taken  a  prominent  part.  He  is  a  man  of  strong 
personality,  and  while  not  naturally  aggressive,  is,  when  occasion  demands  it,  a  hard 
fighter,  and  not  easily  driven  from  a  stand  he  may  take  as  to  men  or  political 
principles. 

Mr.  Lotan  has  been  successful  in  business  as  the  result  of  hard,  persistent  work, 
and  because  of  his  thorough  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  line  in  which  he  is 
engaged.  The  business  which  he  practically  controls  is  no  inconsiderable  factor  in 
the  city's  prosperity,  and  in  the  years  to  come  promises  to  become  a  still  more  impor- 
tant element  in  Portland's  material  development. 

Mr.  Lotan  was  married  in  1868  to  Miss  Emma  Carroll,  of  Portland.  They  have 
one  son,  who  is  assisting  his  father  in  the  management  of  his  business. 


"T^  LOSTERM AN,  John,  wholesale  grocer  and  commission  merchant  of  Portland, 
l\  was  bom  in  Hoya,  Prussia,  in  1840.  He  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  town  and  also  attended  an  Agricultural  College  in  Eastern  Prussia.  In 
1858  he  took  charge  of  an  estate  for  a  large  land  proprietor  continuing  in  such 
capacity  for  about  ten  years.  In  1867  he  came  to  America  and  for  the  first  six 
months  while  acquiring  the  English  language  worked  on  a  farm  in  Illinois.  He 
then  went  to  Cariboo,  British  Columbia  and  was  engaged  in  prospecting  and  mining 
for  nearly  a  year,  after  which  he  came  to  Portland  and  for  three  years  worked  as  a 
clerk  for  Joseph  Levi,  a  meat  packer.  He  then  started  in  business  for  himself  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Henry  Hewitt  &  Co.,  general  commission  and  grocery 
merchants.  In  1870  he  retired  firom  the  firm  and  embarked  in  the  wholesale  grocery 
and  provision  business  on  the  corner  of  First  and  Ash  streets.  At  the  end  of  four  or 
five  years  he  removed  to  the  corner  of  Front  and  Ash  streets.  For  the  first  few 
years  his  brother,  A.  Klosterman,  was  associated  with  him  in  business  under  the  firm 
name  of  Klosterman  Bros.,  but  since  1879  Mr.  Klosterman  has  been  alone  although 
the  firm  name  of  Klosterman  &  Co.  has  been  retained.  Since  1881  he  has  been 
located  at  70  Front  street. 

Mr.  Klosterman  commenced  business  with  a  very  limited  capital,  but  year  by  year 
his  trade  has  increased  in  magnitude  until  at  the  present  time  it  has  grown  to  large 
proportions.  He  is  an  extensive  importer  of  foreign  groceries  and  provisions  and 
finds  sale  for  his  goods  in  Alaska,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Montana  and  Washington  and  from 
500  to  1000  miles  north,  south  and  east  of  Portland,  five  traveling  salesmen  being 
employed  in  this  large  territor>\ 

He  was  married,  in  1875,  to  the  oldest  daughter  of  Capt.  John  H.  Wolfe,  for  many 
years  commodore  of  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company's  line  of  steamers. 
They  have  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 

Mr.  Klosterman  possesses  fine  business  abilities  and  has  had  a  remarkably  success- 
ful career.  The  management  of  his  business  has  so  thoroughly  taken  up  his 
time  and  attention  that  he  has  had  comparatively  little  time  to  devote  to 
projedls  outside  the  line  in  which  he  is  engaged.     Nevertheless  he  has  made  some 


Biographical.  573 


fortunate  real  estate  speculations,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Oregon  Fire  and  Marine 
Insurance  Company  and  a  diredlor  in  the  City  Board  of  Charities.  He  is  regarded  as 
one  of  Portland's  trustworthy  business  men  and  one  whose  career  already  brilliant  in 
its  achievments,  promises  to  be  of  still  greater  benefit  to  the  city  and  State  in  the 
years  to  come. 

NORTHUP,  Henry  H,  of  Portland,  was  bom  in  Berkshire,  Massachusetts,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1839.  His  father  was  a  farmer  as  were  his  ancestors  for  several 
generations.  He  attended  the  public  schools,  and  when  of  sufficient  age,  which  in 
those  days  was  nine  or  ten  years,  was  kept  at  home  during  the  summer  to  assist  in 
the  work  upon  the  farm.  When  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twelve  years  his  father 
died,  leaving,  with  slender  property,  a  widow  and  three  children  of  whom  the  subjedl  of 
this  sketch  was  the  only  son.  From  that  time  commenced  a  struggle  for  existence. 
His  mother,  a  courageous  and  capable  woman,  descended  from  the  Wilmarths,  wished 
her  son  to  follow  some  other  vocation  than  that  pursued  by  his  father,  and  to  this 
end  was  desirous  that  he  should  attend  school  and  be  educated.  In  this  desire  the 
boy  shared.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  that  being  before  the  era  of  public  schools,  he 
was  sent  to  the  Academy  located  in  the  town  of  Lenox,  Berkshire,  then  the  shire 
town  of  the  county,  remaining  two  years.  By  working  outside  of  school  hours  he 
paid  for  his  board,  while  his  mother,  by  her  efforts  supplied  his  other  needs.  It  was 
while  attending  this  school  he  first  formed  the  idea  of  following  the  law  for  a 
profession,  never  communicating  the  thought,  however,  as  it  was  the  wish  of  his 
mother  that  he  should  become  a  physician. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  commenced  to  teach,  and  for  the  next  three  years,  he,  in 
this  way,  provided,  in  the  main,  means  for  his  own  support  and  at  the  same  time  was 
enabled  to  attend  school  a  sufficient  period  during  each  year  so  as  to  properly  con- 
tinue his  education.  At  this  time  he  was  nearly  prepared  for  college,  and  the 
question  arose  whether  he  should  attempt  a  collegiate  course,  or  be  content  with  a 
less  ambitious  preparation  for  life.  Some  few  years  prior  to  this,  a  State  Normal 
school  had  been  established  at  Westfield,  in  his  native  State,  and  was  then  in 
successful  operation.  It  was  finally  decided  that  he  should  attend  here,  and  not 
without  regret  did  he  relinquish  the  cherished  thought  of  a  more  extended  course 
of  study,  a  regret  that,  as  he  says,  lingers  with  him  to  this  day.  Entering  this 
institution  in  the  spring  term  of  1858,  he  graduated  upon  his  twenty-first  birthday, 
in  1860,  and  immediately  thereafter  accepted  a  position  as  tutor  in  an  institution 
known  as  the  Western  University,  at  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania. 

At  this  time  there  was  much  written  about  the  States  bordering  upon  and  beyond 
the  Mississippi  River.  The  Kansas  excitement  was  at  its  height  and  there  was  a 
general  desire  to  "go  west."  Following  this  popular  feeling,  the  young  teacher,  at 
the  close  of  the  school  year,  and  against  the  desire  of  those  connected  with  the 
University,  resigned  his  position  and  pushed  on  to  the  State  of  Missouri.  It  was  his 
expectation  to  obtain  a  position  in  some  institution  of  learning,  but  he  soon  found 
that  the  Normal  teachers  from  the  fi*ee  State  of  Massachusetts,  were  not  wanted  at 
that  time  within  the  borders  of  that  State,  and  he  was  compelled  to  seek  the  more 
congenial  atmosphere  of  Iowa.  Here  he  engaged  in  teaching,  during  the  winter  of 
1860-61,  in  the  town  of  Anamosa,  and  here  he  began  the  study  of  law,  borrowing 
a  "Blackstone"  firom  the  office  of  a  lawyer  friend,  and  spending  his  time  in  the 
office  on  Saturdays. 


574  History  of  Portland. 

In  April,  1861,  at  the  close  of  the  school  year,  he  went  to  Dubuque,  to  engage  as 
teacher  in  one  of  the  public  schools  of  that  city.  The  attack  on  Fort  Sumter  had 
but  recently  occurred,  and  the  first  call  for  troops  had  just  been  made.  The  "Govern- 
or's Grays,"  a  Dubuque  militia  company  under  the  lead  of  Captain,  afterward  Major- 
General,  Frank  Herron,  had  volunteered.  But  many  of  the  old  members  of  the 
company  could  not  go  and  recruits  were  wanted.  The  spirit  of  the  times  was 
inspiring.  The  young  teacher  entered  the  ranks;  became  a  member  of  the  First 
Iowa  Infantry,  and  in  a  few  weeks,  under  the  leadership  of  General  Lyon,  was  again 
in  Missouri,  making  the  campaign  of  1861  in  that  State,  ending  in  the  battle  of 
Wilson's  Creek,  the  death  of  General  Lyon  and  the  retreat  of  the  Federal  forces  on 
Rolla. 

The  period  of  enlistment  of  the  First  Iowa  having  expired,  Mr.  Northup  returned 
to  his  Eastern  home,  somewhat  broken  in  health,  resulting  from  the  hardships  of  the 
campaign,  the  troops  having  been  put  into  the  field  without  overcoats,  rubber  blankets 
or  even  the  regulation  uniform,  and  having  under  the  skillful  generalship  of  Lyon, 
been  vigorously  thrown  against  the  enemy  wherever  opportunity  offered.  Teaching 
a  private  school  in  the  winter  of  1861-62,  in  his  native  town,  in  the  spring  of  the 
latter  year,  he  again  entered  the  army,  having  obtained  the  relu<5lant  consent  of  his 
mother,  remaining  until  the  fall  of  1863,  when  he  resumed  teaching  and  desultory 
reading  of  the  law. 

In  March,  1865,  he  was  appointed  to  a  clerkship  in  the  Government  service  at 
Washington,  and  here,  while  attending  to  the  duties  of  his  position,  resumed  his 
legal  studies,  graduating  from  the  Columbia  College  Law  School  in  June,  1868,  and 
being  soon  after  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Distridl  of 
Columbia. 

In  May,  1871,  Mr.  Northup  resigned  his  position  at  Washington  and  removed  to 
Portland,  Oregon,  where  he  entered  upon  the  pra(5lice  of  the  law.  Two  years  later 
a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  office  of  Register  of  Bankruptcy  for  the  Distridl  of  Oregon, 
and  he  was  appointed  to  that  position,  and  satisfa<5lorily  performed  the  duties  of  the 
office  until  the  repeal  of  the  bankrupt  law  in  1878.  Since  then  he  has  been  engaged 
in  a  general  pra<5lice,  giving  much  attention  to  real  estate  and  corporations.  He  is 
associated  in  business  with  Judge  E.  C.  Bronaugh  and  the  firm  is  in  the  enjojTnent  of 
an  extensive  pradlice. 

Mr.  Northup  has  taken  no  ac^live  part  in  politics  and  has  always  been  known  as 
an  Independent  Republican.  In  1888,  however,  considering  the  importance  of  the 
eledlion,  he  f>ermitted  his  name  to  be  used  as  a  candidate  for  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives in  the  Oregon  Assembly  from  Multnomah  county,  and  was  eledled.  He  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  political  campaign  of  that  year,  which  resulted  in  giving  the 
largest  Republican  majority  ever  known  in  the  State,  and  which  did  so  much  to 
forecast  the  presidential  eledlion  in  November  following. 

Mr.  Northup's  legislative  career  was  a  very  adlive  one  and  met  the  approbation  of 
his  constituents.  He  was  the  introducer  of  the  pilot  bill,  a  measure  intended  to 
correal  the  abuses  in  the  pilotage  system  on  the  Columbia  and  Willamette  Rivers; 
also  of  the  Soldiers'  Relief  Bill,  and  had  charge  of  the  Consolidated  Charter  Bill  for 
the  consolidation  of  tlie  cities  of  Portland,  East  Portland  and  Albina,  a  measure 
which  passed  the  assembly  but  failed  to  become  a  law  by  reason  of  the  Governor's 
veto.  He  also  took  an  adlive  part  in  the  discussion  on  the  "Portland  Water  Bill" 
and  the  bill  to  regulate  the  shipping  of  seamen. 


Biographical.  575 


As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Northup  possesses  a  high  order  of  talent  and  has  achieved  well 
merited  success  in  every  branch  of  practice.  In  corporation  law  he  is  particularly 
well  versed,  and  of  late  years  his  practice  has  largely  pertained  to  litigation  growing 
out  of  the  complicated  and  conflicting  questions  relating  thereto.  A  diligent  student, 
his  time  and  attention  have  been  exclusively  devoted  to  his  profession  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  conflicting  interests,  which  united  to  his  natural  love  for  his  calling  and  a 
worthy  ambition  to  excel,  best  explain  the  success  he  has  attained.  He  has  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  qualities  which  distinguish  the  well  read  lawyer,  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  principles  and  practices  of  the  law,  from  the  showy  barrister  who 
def>ends  upon  his  own  brilliancy  and  finely  worded  appeals  to  passion  or  prejudice  for 
success.  He  is  practical  and  thorough  in  everything.  He  is  not  a  brilliant  speaker, 
but  is  noted  for  clearness  of  thought,  concise  perspicuity  of  expression  and  intense 
earnestness,  qualities  which  have  most  weight  in  the  Courts  where  simple  wit  or 
rhetoric  are  held  in  least  esteem.  His  distinguishing  traits  as  a  lawyer  are  careful 
and  thorough  investigation  of  the  law  and  fact  of  his  cases  and  the  methodical  and 
accurate  preparation  of  them  for  trial.  In  person  he  is  of  medium  height  and  well 
proportioned,  with  pleasant  features  and  keen,  sparkling  eyes.  He  is  progressive  in 
his  ideas,  has  finn  belief  in  the  future  of  Portland  and  to  the  extent  of  his  ability 
extends  his  aid  to  every  project  to  advance  and  beautify  the  city.  With  a  private  and 
public  life  above  reproach,  a  man  of  perfect  integrity,  of  great  sincerity  of  purpose 
and  high  sense  of  duty  he  possesses  in  a  high  degree  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
his  associates  both  in  and  put  of  his  profession. 


MORKLAND,  J.  C,  was  bom  in  the  State  of  Tennessee.  June  10,  184.4,  and  is  the 
youngest  of  nine  children  of  Rev.  Jesse  and  Susan  (Robertson)  Moreland.  His 
father,  a  well  known  and  highly  respedled  pioneer  of  Oregon,  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  while  his  grandfather,  on  the  maternal  side,  fought  in  the  war  of  the  Revo- 
lution; and  two  of  his  mother's  brothers  took  part*  in  the  war  of  1812,  the  elder  of 
whom  rose  to  the  rank  of  a  Brigadier-G2neral  under  Jackson  in  the  Creek  war. 

In  184-8,  in  view  of  the  baleful  influence  of  slavery,  his  father  moved  to  Illinois 
with  his  family.  Here  tliey  remained  four  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they 
started  westward  for  Oregon.  After  six  months  of  weary  journeying  amid  the  perils 
and  dangers  incident  to  crossing  the  plains  with  ox-teams,  they  reached  the  Wil- 
lamette Valley,  toil  worn  and  well  nigh  destitute.  Settling  on  a  donation  land  claim 
in  the  southern  part  of  Clackamas  County,  the  father  began  with  brave  heart  to  make 
a  home  in  the  then  wilds  of  Oregon.  Here  the  youth  of  our  subje<5l  was  passed,  until 
the  death  of  his  mother  in  1859,  when  the  family  removed  to  Needy.  Shortly  there- 
after, in  .\pril,  1860,  he  commenced  to  learn  the  printer's  trade  in  the  office  of  the 
Oregon  Farmer,  at  Portland,  .\ftcr  serving  three  years  and  a  half  he  secured  a 
position  as  printer  on  the  Oregonian.  While  employed  at  his  trade  in  Portland 
he  attended,  at  intervals,  the  Portland  Academy,  supporting  himself  with  the  money 
he  had  earned  at  the  case.  His  studies  were,  however,  interrupted  in  1864,  by 
accepting  the  position  of  foreman  under  Henry  L.  Pittock,  state  printer  at  Salem. 
He  nevertheless  managed  to  devote  a  part  of  his  time  to  acquiring  an  education  and 
later  on  after  a  further  term  at  school,  graduated  at  the  Portland  Academy  in  July, 
1865.     He  soon  thereafter  began  the  study  of  the  law  under  the  direcflion  of  David 

[37l 


576  History  of  Portland. 


Logan,  and  part  of  the  time  in  Logan's  office.  For  some  ten  months,  while  reading 
law,  he  serN'ed  as  foreman  on  the  Vancouver  Registery  supporting  himself  by  this 
labor.  In  April,  1867,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Washington  Territory.  He 
began  pra<5lice  in  Boise  City,  Idaho,  where,  in  July,  of  1867,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Abbie  B.  Kline.  Finding  it  impossible  to  gain  a  livelihood  at  his  profession  in  Boise 
Cit>',  he  secured  a  position  at  his  trade  on  the  Idaho  Statesman,  and  was  thus 
employed  for  a  year.  In  July,  1868,  he  returned  to  Portland  and  for  a  few  months 
served  as  foreman  of  the  Oregonian.  He  then  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  John 
F.  Caples,  attomey-at-law,  and  from  that  time  has  devoted  himself  to  his  profession 
acquiring  as  the  years  have  gone  by  a  constantly  increasing  pradlice,  and  an  enviable 
reputation  as  a  lawyer. 

He  has  always  been  an  enthusiastic  Republican  in  politics,  and  from  the  time  he 
took  up  his  permanent  residence  in  Portland  has  bsen  a  prominent  factor  in  local 
political  affairs.  In  1872  he  was  eledled  a  member  of  the  Common  Council,  and 
ser\'ed  for  three  years.  In  1877  he  was  appointed  City  Attorney,  a  position  he  held 
for  fiv^e  years,  when  he  resigned.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  County  Judge  of  Mult- 
nomah County,  by  Gov.  Moody,  to  serve  an  unexpired  term.  In  this  position  he 
served  for  five  months,  discharging  the  duties  of  the  position  with  great  fairness  and 
to  the  satisfa(5lion  of  both  bar  and  people. 

Mr.  Moreland  is  quite  an  ardent  Mason  of  the  degree  of  Knight  Templar,  and  has 
accepted  various  positions  of  prominence  in  the  order,  at  present  being  Senior  Grand 
Warden  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Oregon.  In  1887  he  was  Grand  Orator,  and  his 
oration  at  the  ann  ual  meeting  received  flattering  notices  of  commendation  from  the 
correspondents  of  the  craft  all  over  the  United  States. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  Mr.  Moreland  is  a  true  and  worthy  man.  Under  diffi- 
culties that  would  have  discouraged  or  daunted  many,  he  has  achieved  success.  He 
is  one  of  the  best  of  our  citizens,  and  is  a  high  type  of  the  professional  man. 


CMITH,  Charles  J.,  Manager  of  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company,  was 
^  bom  in  Nicholasville,  Kentucky,  March  13,  1854,  and  is  the  son  of  Charles  F. 
and  Z.  A.  (Jackson)  Smith.  His  father  was  a  merchant  at  Nicholas\nlle  for  several 
years,  but  in  1857,  removed  to  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  where  he  died  in  1877.  In 
the  latter  city,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  a  private  school  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  fourteen,  when  he  entered  Blackburn  University  at  Carlinville, 
Illinois,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  in  1870.  After  graduation  he  spent  one 
year  as  a  clerk  in  a  real  estate  office  in  Kansas  City.  In  August,  1871,  he  began  his 
railroad  career  as  store-keeper  in  the  employ  of  the  Missouri  River,  Fort  Scott  & 
Gulf  railroad,  now  known  as  the  Kansas  City,  Springfield  &  Memphis  railroad,  being 
thus  employed  for  a  year  and  a  half.  This  service  was  followed  by  a  period  of  clerk- 
ship in  the  office  of  the  Master  Mechanic  and  as  chief  clerk  of  the  motor  power.  He 
then  spent  three  years  as  clerk  in  the  auditor's  office  of  the  same  road  and  of  the 
Leavensvvorth,  Lawrence  &  Galveston  railroad,  aften^ards  known  as  the  Kansas  City, 
Leavensworth  &  Southern.  In  1878,  he  became  adling  or  assistant  auditor  of  the 
Kansas  City,  Fort  Scott  &  Gulf;  Kansas  City,  La\\Tence  &  Southern;  Atkinson  & 
Nebraska,  and  Kansas  City,  St.  Joseph  &  Council  Bluff  railroads,  holding  these 
various  positions  for  two  years,  and  during  this  period  resided  in  Kansas  City. 


Biographical.  577 


In  July,  1880,  he  came  to  Portland  when  he  was  appointed  assistant  comptroller 
of  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company,  and  in  0(5lober  following,  was 
appointed  to  a  similar  position  in  the  Oregon  Improvement  Company.  In  July, 
1881,  he  became  comptroller  of  these  two  companies,  but  owing  to  change  of  man- 
agement in  the  latter  company,  he  resigned  the  position  in  April,  1884,  but  retained 
the  comptrollership  in  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company  until  September, 
1886,  when  he  was  appointed  treasurer  with  an  oflSce  in  New  York  City.  In  con- 
ne<5lion  with  the  duties  of  this  position,  he  also  assumed  those  of  assistant  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  Oregon  Transcontinental  and  the  Oregon  Improvement  Company, 
of  New  York. 

In  March,  1888,  he  went  to  Omaha,  Nebraska,  and  became  General  Land  Com- 
missioner of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad.  He  remained  in  this  position  until  May, 
1889,  when  he  returned  to  Portland  and  assumed  his  present  position  as  joint 
manager  of  the  Oregon  Railway  &  Navigation  Company,  and  of  the  Oregon  Short 
Line  Railway  Company,  lessee. 

Few  men  of  his  years  have  had  so  extensive  an  experience  in  the  complicated  duties 
of  railway  management  as  Mr.  Smith.  His  advance  to  his  present  position,  where 
thorough  and  exa(5l  knowledge  of  innumerable  details  are  necessary  to  secure 
success,  has  been  of  logical  growth.  He  began  in  a  subordinate  position,  worked 
hard  to  master  every  branch  of  the  service,  and  every  step  forward  prepared  him  for 
the  next.  Early  in  life  he  has  attained  to  a  position  which  would  satisfy  the  ambi- 
tion of  most  men,  and  which  already  places  him  among  the  prominent  railroad  men 
of  the  country.  He  possesses  the  executive  ability,  capacity  for  hard  and  continuous 
work,  keen  business  sense  and  experience  which  admirably  fit  him  for  railroad 
management,  and  give  promise  of  higher  advancement.  Personally  he  is  pleasant 
and  affable  in  manner,  easily  wins  and  holds  friends,  while  his  standing  in  the  com- 
munity as  an  honest  and  upright  citizen  is  of  the  highest. 

Mr.  Smith  was  married  on  July  15,  1880,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  McMillan,  of  Kansas, 
and  to  them  four  children  have  been  bom. 


JEFFERY,  Edward  James,  was  bom  in  Oneida  county,  New  York,  April  23, 
1835,  and  is  of  English  descent,  his  parents  having  been  born  in  England. 
During  his  infancy  the  family  moved  to  Lenawee  county,  Michigan.  Here  he 
resided  on  a  farm  and  obtained  a  limited  education  in  the  distridl  school  until  the 
spring  of  1852,  when  he  started  across  the  plains  for  the  Pacific  slope.  In  Odlober 
following,  after  a  journey  of  more  than  six  months,  he  arrived  at  Placerville,  Cali- 
fornia, where,  until  the  following  spring  he  engaged  in  mining.  He  then  went  to 
Stockton  where  he  was  employed  in  a  brick  yard  for  a  season.  In  the  fall  he  went 
to  Tuolumne  county,  and  worked  in  the  mines  until  1856,  when  he  located  in  Shasta 
county,  and  for  two  years  was  engaged  in  farming. 

Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Fraser  River  gold  excitement  in  1858,  he  started 
for  that  region,  taking  passage  on  the  Cortez  on  the  first  trip  made  by  that  vessel 
from  San  Francisco  to  Bellingham  Bay.  From  the  latter  point  he  followed  a  trail  as 
far  as  Mount  Baker,  but  beyond  that  point  was  unable  to  proceed  further  because  of  the 
absence  of  any  well  defined  trail.  Returning  to  Bellingham  Bay  he  then,  with  five 
companions,  made  a  trip  with  a  canoe  up  the  Skagit  River  and  all  around  the  Sound, 


578  History  of  Portland. 


traversing  a  section  of  country  at  that  time  containing  but  few  inhabitants,  but  now 
(lotted  with  several  large  and  populous  cities.  He  finally  ascended  the  Fraser  as  far 
as  Fort  Vale,  and  after  an  unsuccessful  prospecting  tour,  returned  to  Bellingham  Bay 
in  a  penniless  condition— the  fate  of  most  of  the  early  miners  who  started  to  the 
Fraser  mines  in  search  of  the  "golden  fleece."  By  working  his  passage  on  the  Gold 
Hunter  he  arrived  in  San  Francisco,  and  for  two  years  thereafter  was  employed  in 
farming  and  brick  making  at  Stockton. 

In  the  spring  of  1862,  he  started  for  the  Carriboo  mines,  in  British  Columbia, 
but  on  the  way,  while  waiting  at  Vidloria,  news  was  received  of  a  rich  gold  find  on 
the  Stickeen  River,  in  the  Russian  Possession,  near  where  Fort  Wrangle  is  now 
located  Abandoning  his  original  purpose  he  then  started  for  the  new  field,  and 
during  the  summer  prospected  along  the  Stickeen,  but  it  proved  a  fruitless  task.  He 
then  returned  to  Fort  Simpson  and  being  without  funds,  hired  out  as  a  sailor  on  a 
Hudson  Bay  ship,  and  made  a  trip  three  hundred  miles  north  of  Sitka.  Upon  his 
return  to  Vidloria,  in  November,  he  accepted  anything  in  the  way  of  work  he  could 
find  to  make  a  living.  In  the  spring  of  1863,  he  again  started  for  the  Carriboo 
mines.  Working  his  way  on  a  vessel  to  Fort  Yale,  he  started  from  that  point  on 
foot  and  walked  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  to  the  mines,  a  journey  through  a 
comparatively  uftinhabited  region  and  fraught  with  many  hardships.  He  worked  in 
the  mines  during  the  summer  and  in  the  fall  returned  to  Portland,  but  the  fascination 
for  mining  was  still  strong  within  him,  and  the  following  spring  he  went  to  the  Boise 
Basin  mines,  Idaho.  After  spending  the  summer  in  unsuccessful  prospedling,  he 
came  back  to  Portland  and  determined  to  abandon  mining,  which  had  proved  in  his 
case  a  most  unprofitable  pursuit.  With  only  a  few  cents  in  his  possession  he  began 
the  struggles  for  a  fortune  in  a  less  fascinating  but  more  sure  channel. 

He  first  secured  a  position  in  a  saw  mill,  where  the  Oregon  &  California  railroad 
office  is  now  located.  \  short  time  tliereafter  he  became  superintendent  of  the  brick 
yard  of  A.  M.  Kldridge  and  was  thus  employed  for  two  years.  He  then,  in  partner- 
ship with  George  Fagg,  embarked  in  the  brick  business,  establishing  a  yard  between 
Yamhill  and  Morrison  streets,  where  Donald  Macleay  now  resides.  During  this  time 
he  married  (August  8,  1867),  Miss  Mantilla  King,  daughter  of  Amos  N.  King,  one 
of  the  earliest  pioneers  of  Portland. 

After  his  marriage  Mr.  Jefferj*  started  a  brick  yard  on  the  premises  where  his 
present  residence  is  situated,  on  Nineteenth  and  B  streets.  Here  he  continued  the 
making  of  brick  until  1876.  when  he  removed  his  yard  to  the  comer  of  Twenty-third 
and  J  streets.  At  the  latter  place  he  remained  until  the  fall  of  1886  when  he  com- 
menced making  brick  at  his  present  location  in  East  Portland  on  the  Sandy  road. 
His  business  in  this  line  has  grown  to  large  proportions,  and  during  the  last  two 
years  he  has  averagei^l  over  five  and  a  half  million  bricks  annually.  Besides  his 
brick  business,  he  has  of  late  years  been  extensively  engaged  in  city  and  railroad 
contracling.  For  a  time  he  was  associated  with  S.  S.  Cook,  under  the  firm  name  of 
S.  S.  Cook  &  Co.,  in  macadamizing  and  street  paving.  This  firm  was  succeeded  by 
the  present  firm  of  Bays  &  Jeffery.  They  have  done  a  large  portion  of  the  macada- 
mizing on  the  streets  of  Portland  and  laid  the  stone  block  pavement  on  Front  and 
First  street.  With  S.  S.  Cook,  under  the  firm  name  of  E.  J.  Jeffery  &  Co.,  he  built 
in  1882,  the  Grave  Creek  Tunnel  and  1800  feet  of  the  Cow  Creek  Tunnel  No.  8,  for 
the  Oregon  &  California  railroad.     Late  in  the   fall   of  1883,  with  D.  D.  McBean,  he 


Biographical.  579 


commenced  the  Siskiyou  Tunnel  for  the  same  road,  but  the  failure  of  Villard,  after 
two-thirds  of  the  work  was  com  pleted,  caused  the  work  to  be  suspended.  The  last  of 
his  city  contraAing  consisted  in  the  constru<5lion  of  the  Tanner  Creek  brick  sewer 
extending  from  Washington  street  and  emptying  into  the  river  near  the  Albina  ferry, 
and  the  Johnson  Creek  sewer,  commencing  at  the  City  Park  and  extending  a  mile 
and  three-quarters  to  the  bone  yard.  He  is  also  interested  in  the  Arlington  Silver 
mine  in  the  Ruby  distri(5l,  Washington  Territory,  being  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
company  which  is  now  erecfling  a  plant  to  reduce  the  ore.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
organizers  and  builders  of  the  Multnomah  Street  Railway  line. 

Mr.  JefFery  is  a  democrat  and  for  many  years  has  taken  an  active  part  in  local 
and  State  politics.  In  1872,  when  there  was  much  dissatisfaction  among  the  mem- 
bers of  both  political  parties  in  Multnomah  County  with  the  political  leaders,  Mr. 
JefFery  was  nominated  as  the  citizens  candidate  for  sheriff  and  elected.  His  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  this  office  was  so  satisfactory,  that  two  years  later,  when  he  was 
nominated  as  the  regular  democratic  candidate,  he  was  again  elected.  He  has  since 
been  his  party's  candidate  for  State  Senator  and  for  Sheriff,  accepting  the  nominations 
at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  his  friends  when  the  republicans  were  largely  in  the 
majority  and  there  was  little  hope  of  success.  During  the  presidential  election  of 
1888  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Central  Committee  and  in  this 
campaign  as  well  as  in  preceding  ones  was  an  earnest  worker   for  his  party. 

To  Mr.  JefFery  and  wife  seven  children  have  been  born,  five  daughters  and  two 
sons.     Their  eldest,  a  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  Ivan  Humason. 

Mr.  JefFery  is  an  active  factor  in  Portland's  prosperity  and  takes  a  lively  interest 
in  everything  calculated  to  advance  the  public  good.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  North  Pacific  Industrial  Association;  is  a  large  stockholder  in  the  enterprise, 
a  director  and  its  treasurer.  The  recent  Industrial  Fair  held  by  the  association  was 
the  largest  and  most  successful  exhibition  ever  held  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  toward 
the  gratifying  success  attained  Mr.  JefFery  in  large  measure  contributed.  He  is  a 
man  of  fine  business  attainments  and  in  all  of  his  enterprises  has  achieved  a  high 
degree  of  success,  while  a  5  a  citizen  he  deservedly  holds  an  honorable  position  in  the 
community. 

THOMPSON,  H.  Y.,  was  born  at  Senecaville,  Guernsey  county,  Ohio,  June  4, 
1845.  He  was  favored  with  a  liberal  education  in  the  public  and  high  schools  of 
his  native  town.  With  the  hope  of  improving  his  health,  which  had  become 
impaired,  in  1862,  he  undertook  a  trip  across  the  plains  and  during  the  winter  of 
1862-3  was  engaged  in  mining  in  Auburn,  Baker  County,  Oregon,  In  the  spring  of 
1863  he  went  to  Idaho  City  and  for  three  years  carried  on  his  mining  operations  at 
that  place.  His  health  not  improving,  he  determined  to  try  the  climate  of  the 
valley  region  of  Oregon  and  in  1866  came  to  Salem.  He  soon  after  obtained  a 
position  as  a  teacher  in  a  school  near  Silverton,  Marion  County,  at  which  time  he 
began  the  study  of  law,  having  made  arrangements  with  Shaw  &  Holman,  attorneys 
of  Salem,  for  the  loan  of  the  necessary  books.  He  continued  to  teach  and  at  the 
same  time  pursued  his  legal  studies  for  one  year  near  Silverton,  when  he  vSecured  a 
position  in  the  city  school  of  Salem,  where  he  taught  and  read  law  for  another  year. 
He  was  then  admitted  to  the  bar  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at 


580  History  of  Portland. 


Salem  in  partnership  with  Sylvester  C.   Simpson.      At  this  time,  the   Recorder  of 
Salem  having  resigned,  Mr.  Thompson  was  appointed  for  the  unexpired  term  and  was 
afterward  elected  by  the  people  for  three  successive  terms. 

Before  the  expiration  of  his  last  term  he  determined  to  remove  to  Portland  for  the 
purpose  of  practicing  his  profession.  He  accordingly  resigned  his  position  and  came 
to  this  city  in  1870.  For  a  time  he  was  in  partnership  with  C.  B.  Bellinger,  but  in 
1872  became  associated  with  Geo.  H.  Durham,  then  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  this 
district.  He  became  Mr.  Durham's  deputy  and  together  they  transacted  the  business 
of  the  office.  In  1874  Mr.  Thompson  was  elected  Prosecuting  Attorney  of  the 
district — ^at  that  time  comprising  Multnomah,  Washington,  Columbia,  Clatsop  and 
Clackamas  Counties,  and  for  a  term  of  two  years  most  ably  and  efficiently  performed 
the  duties  pertaining  to  the  office.  In  1876  W.  Lair  Hill  became  associated  as 
partner  with  Mr.  Thompson  and  Mr.  Durham,  and  subsequently  Geo.  H. 
Williams  was  added  to  the  firm.  The  four  partners  remained  together  until  the 
spring  of  1886  when  the  firm  was  dissolved,  and  since  that  time  Mr.  Thompson  has 
pursued  practice  alone.  He  is  a  lawyer  of  conceded  ability  and  has  long  held  a 
prominent  place  among  the  most  successful  lawyers  of  Oregon.  As  an  advocate  he 
has  made  an  enviable  record  and  in  some  of  the  most  notable  criminal  trials  which 
have  occurred  in  this  section  during  recent  years  he  has  borne  a  conspicuous  part  as 
prosecutor  or  defender.  As  a  speaker  he  is  widely  and  most  favorably  known.  He 
was  engaged  in  a  general  practice  until  about  a  year  ago  and  since  that  time  he  has 
devoted  his  attention  almost  exclusively  to  practice  pertaining  to  corporations  and 
real  estate.  He  is  attorney  for  the  Oregon  Real  Estate  Company,  Fair  Haven  and 
Southern  and  New  Westminster  and  Southern  Railroad  Companies,  the  Skagit  Coal 
and   Iron  Company  and  the  Fair  Haven  Laud  Company. 

Mr.  Thompson  has  always  been  an  enthusiastic  republican;  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  State  political  affairs,  and  has  long  been  regarded  as  an  able  leader.  He  has 
never  been  a  seeker  after  office,  but  whenever  called  upon  has  devoted  his  time  and 
energies  to  the  service  of  his  party  without  being  moved  by  personal  interest  or 
expectation  of  reward.  He  has  delivered  political  addresses  in  different  parts  of  the 
State  and  as  an  effective  political  speaker  has  few  superiors.  That  his  ser\nces  in 
this  regard  as  well  as  his  conceded  ability  as  an  organizer  have  been  potent  factors  in 
achieving  party  victories  in  Oregon  is  freely  acknowledged. 

Mr.  Thompson  was  married  in  April,  1871  to  Miss  Anna  B.  Smith,  daughter  of 
the  late  Hon.  Joseph  S.  Smith,  an  estimable  lady,  who  with  her  husband  deservedly 
holds  a  high  place  in  the  social  life  of  Portland.  They  have  three  children.  Mr. 
Thompson  is  a  man  of  refined  and  cultivated  tastes,  but  unpretentious  and  utterly 
devoid  of  any  desire  for  display.  He  is  genial  in  manner,  a  popular  citizen  and  is  held 
in  high  esteem  both  in  and  out  of  his  profession. 


WOODWARD,' John  Henry,  was  bom  at  Peach  Orchard  in  the  town  of  Tompkins 
(now  Hedlor),  Schuyler  County,  New  York,  February  9,  1836,  and  is  the 
eldest  son  of  John  Woodward,  who,  with  his  father's  family  came  to  America  from 
London,  England,  in  1824,  settling  on  a  large  farm  in  what  was  then  comparatively 
a  wilderness  on  the  banks  of  Seneca  Lake,  New  York,  where  members  of  the  family 
still  reside. 


Biographical.  581 


Mr.  Woodward  received  his  primary  education  at  the  county  distri<5l  school.  Later 
on  he  attended  an  academy  at  Peach  Orchard  under  the  management  of  John  A. 
Gillette  and  was  finally  prepared  for  college  at  the  Ithaca  Academy,  Ithaca, 
New  York,  having  as  classmates  Eugene  Schuyler,  \Vm.  L.  Bostwick,  and 
others  who  have  since  become  men  of  note.  During  his  school  days  young  Wood- 
ward was  a  leader  in  athletic  and  outdoor  sports,  and  is  still  remembered  by  his 
schoolmates  for  his  proficiency  in  feats  requiring  muscle  and  physicial  endurance. 
The  rugged  health  he  still  enjoys,  the  elasticity  of  movement  and  splendid  physical 
condition  which  now  belie  the  years  he  has  lived  may  be  largely  ascribed  to  his 
youthful  love  for  physical  exercise. 

After  completing  his  preparations  for  a  collegiate  course  he  commenced  the  study 
of  law  in  the  office  of  Douglas  Boardman,  since  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New 
York  State.  A  year  later  he  went  to  Elmira,  New  York,  and  there  continued  his 
legal  studies  with  the  firm  of  Diven,  Hathaway  &  Woods,  and  in  May,  1860,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  In  the  following  fall  he  opened  an  office  at  Watkins,  New 
York,  where  he  speedily  acquired  a  good  pra<5lice,  but  the  progress  of  his  professional 
life  was  soon  interrupted.  In  the  latter  part  of  February,  1861,  before  the  inaugura- 
tion of  President  Lincoln,  in  anticipation  of  the  troubles  which  followed,  he  assisted 
in  the  organization  of  a  company  of  young  men  who  were  to  be  ready  for  any 
emergency.  This  company  became  the  nucleus  of  the  23d  Regiment  N.  Y.  Infantry, 
and  was  known  as  Company  "I."  The  organization  of  the  regiment  in  which  Mr. 
Woodward  materially  assisted,  both  in  conne<5lion  with  company  "  I  "  and  other 
companies,  was  perfe<5led  at  the  time  of  President  Lincoln's  first  call  for  75,000  volun- 
teers. In  company  "  I,"  as  in  other  companies,  were  men  who  had  been  at  the  West 
Point  Military  Academy,  and  they  were  naturally  selected  as  officers  of  th?  company 
and  regiment.  The  regiment  entered  the  service  of  the  United  States  under  the 
command  of  Col.  H.  C.  Hoffman,  Mr.  Woodward  at  the  time  being  a  private  in 
company*' I."  He  served  in  that  capacity  until  August,  1861,  when  he  received 
from  President  Lincoln  a  general  staff  appointment  with  the  rank  of  captain,  and  was 
assigned  for  duty  at  Headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  On  the  movement  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potom  ic  to  the  Peninsular,  early  in  the  spring  of  1862,  he  became 
connedled  with  the  general  staff  of  the  Army  of  the  Rappahannock  under  the  com- 
mand of  Gen.  McDowell.  He  remained  with  Gen.  McDowell  until  immediately 
after  the  battle  of  Yorktown  when  he  was  ordered  to  the  Headquarters  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  under  Gen.  McClellan  at  Yorktown,  continuing  at  those  Headquarters 
and  at  the  supply  posts  of  the  army  throughout  the  Peninsular  campaign,  ending  with 
the  battle  of  Malvern  Hill,  the  final  retreat  at  Harrison  Landing  and  the  evacuation 
immediately  before  Gen.  Pope's  unfortunate  campaign. 

During  this  period  Captain  Woodward  was  offered  staff  positions  by  corps  com- 
manders with  increased  rank,  but  so  highly  did  Gen.  McClellan  value  his  services 
that  he  would  not  consent  to  the  change.  As  proof  of  Gen.  McClellan 's  estimation 
of  his  soldierly  qualities  it  need  only  be  stated  that  in  his  report  of  the  Peninsular 
campaign,  he  mentions  Captain  Woodward  by  name  as  one  of  the  staff  who  had 
rendered  efficient  and  valuable  service  in  that  trying  and  arduous  campaign. 

On  the  evacuation  of  Harrison's  Landing,  Captain  Woodward  was  appointed  to 
superintend  the  shipments  and  all  details  of  the  evacuation.  He  continued  on  duty 
at  the  Headquarters  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  during  the  brief  but  disastrous  cam- 


582  History  of  Portland. 

paign  of  Gen.  Pope;  the  hurried  but  thorough  reorganization  of  the  army  by  Gen. 
McClellan,  rapid  march  and  vigorous  delivery  of  battle  at  South  Mountain  and 
Antietam,  and  until  Gen.  Grant  assumed  command  of  the  *' armies  operating  against 
Richmond."  From  the  latter  event  until  the  close  of  the  war  he  served  with  the 
general  staflf  of  that  general's  command.  In  June,  1865,  he  was  breveted  major  **  for 
faithful  and  meritorious  services." 

After  the  grand  review  of  the  army  in  Washington  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
resigned  his  commission  and  returned  to  Watkins,  New  York,  where  he  resumed  the 
pra<5lice  of  the  law.  Here  he  continued  with  marked  success  until  the  spring  of  1871 , 
when  he  came  to  Portland,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided.  He  at  once  took  a 
prominent  place  among  the  practitioners  at  the  Portland  bar,  a  position  he  has  not 
only  most  creditably  sustained,  but  has  gained  a  reputation  for  professional  ability  of 
a  high  order  throughout  the  Pacific  Northwest. 

In  the  spring  of  1874  he  was  a  candidate  before  the  State  Republican  Convention 
forjudge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  lacked  only  one  vote  of  a  nomination.  During 
the  same  year  he  was  nominated  by  the  Republican  Convention  for  County  Judge  of 
Multnomah  County,  and  was  not  only  ele<5led  but  ran  far  ahead  of  his  ticket  He 
held  the  office  of  County  Judge  for  four  years,  his  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the 
position  being  eminently  satisfactory  to  the  people,  and  notably  so  in  reference  to 
the  reforms  he  effe<5led  in  the  management  of  county  finances. 

He  is  an  ardent  Republican  in  politics  and  has  always  voted  with  his  party, 
notwithstanding  his  obje<5lion  to  some  particular  methods.  By  appointment  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  he  is  now  serving  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Distri<5t  of  Oregon  and  Chief  Supervisor  of 
Elections  for  the  District  of  Oregon.  With  the  exceptions  named  he  has  never  been 
a  candidate  for  public  office,  and  never  for  a  position  not  strictly  in  the  line  of  his 
profession.  His  whole  time  and  attention  have  been  devoted  to  his  profession,  and 
the  high  degree  of  success  he  has  attained  has  been  the  result  of  patient,  persevering 
work  and  the  possession  and  exercise  of  those  manly  qualities  which  inspire  con- 
fidence and  command  respect. 

He  was  married,  February  23,  1863,  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Whitaker,  daughter  of 
Lewis  Whitaker,  of  Deckertown,  New  Jersey,  having  been  granted  a  brief  leave  of 
absence  from  military-  duty  at  the  time.  Mr.  Woodward  and  family  are  members  of 
Trinity  Episcopal  Church. 

COULTER,  Samuel,  was  born  in  Tyler  county,  Virginia,  August  20,  1832,  and  is 
a  son  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Rodes)  Coulter.  His  father's  parents  were  natives  of 
Wales  and  at  an  early  day  settled  in  Virginia,  while  his  maternal  ancestors  came 
from  England.  At  the  age  of  four  years  he  lost  his  father  and  soon  thereafter  the 
family  moved  to  Van  Buren  county,  Iowa.  When  he  reached  the  age  of  twelve  his 
mother  died,  after  which  he  went  to  live  with  his  half  brother,  Capt  B.  L.  Henness, 
who  now  resides  near  Mt.  Tabor,  Oregon,  who  kindly  offered  him  a  home  and  such 
educational  advantages  as  the  place  afforded. 

In  1 850  he  drove  an  ox  team  across  the  plains  to  Oregon,  arriving  at  Oregon 
City  on  the  12th  of  September,  1850,  his  entire  possession  at  the  time  outside  of  a 
scanty  wardrobe  being  two  dollars  in  money.     But  he  was  not  discouraged  and  soon 


Biographical.  583 


after  his  arrival  he  secured  employment  and  in  April,  1851,  was  able  with  six  others 
to  purchase  a  wagon  and  six  yoke  of  oxen  and  complete  outfit  for  the  mines,  it  being 
reported  at  the  time  that  good  mines  had  been  discovered  near  Yreka,  California. 
The  excitement  caused  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  was  then  most  intense, 
and  young  Coulter  determined  to  try  his  fortune  in  this  direction.  His  mining 
venture  was  rewarded  with  a  fair  degree  of  success  but  after  one  season's  experience 
he  returned  to  Oregon  and  engaged  in  lumbering,  following  this  business  for  a  year. 
He  then  went  to  Olympia,  Washington  Territory,  when  that  part  of  the  country  was 
only  accessible  by  canoe  up  the  Cowlitz  River  or  trail  along  its  banks.  Here  he 
took  up  a  claim  under  the  donation  act  upon  which  he  resided  and  cultivated  for 
some  five  years.  During  this  time  he  married  Miss  H.  E.  Tilley,  eldest  daughter  of 
Judge  Abram  Tilley,  formerly  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana.  Soon  after  his  marriage 
he  engaged  in  the  cattle  business,  which  he  followed  until  1877,  when  he  closed  it 
out  and  moved  to  Portland.  In  1878,  he  and  C.  P.  Church  purchased  the  land  and 
built  the  Esmond  Hotel,  and  the  year  following  in  company  with  James  Steel  and  D. 
D.  McBean  he  constructed  a  section  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  from  Chany  to 
Spokane  Falls.  In  1881  he  again  embarked  in  the  wholesale  cattle  business  with 
Seattle  as  headquarters  and  with  branches  at  Tacoma  and  Port  Townsend.  In  1884 
the  Esmond  Hotel  burned,  after  which  he  purchased  Mr.  Church's  interest  in  the 
property  and  rebuilt  it.  He  retired  from  the  cattle  business  in  1886,  since  which  he 
has  confined  himself  to  his  extensive  real  estate  and  mining  interests. 

He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Northwest  Coal  and  Transportation  company, 
of  which  he  has  since  been  president.  This  company  owns  and  is  operiating  mines 
along  the  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  near  Tacx)ma.  He,  with  his  two  sons, 
organized  the  Washington  Lumber  company,  which  has  built  a  line  of  railroad  from 
timber  lands  to  salt  water  on  Puget  Sound.  He  is  also  president  and  principal  owner 
of  the  Takou  gold  mines  near  Juneau,  Alaska.  Besides  these  interests  he  is  a  large 
owner  of  real  estate  in  Portland,  and  of  many  thousands  of  acres  of  valuable  timber 
lands  in  Oregon  and  Washington.  In  the  management  of  his  large  interests  he  finds 
his  time  fully  occupied  and  has  little  opportunity  to  engage  in  enterprises  not  con- 
nected with  his  private  affairs. 

To  Mr.  Coulter  and  wife  three  sons  have  been  bom,  two  of  whom  are  living.  The 
eldest,  Clarence  W.,  is  manager  of  the  Takou  Milling  and  Mining  Company,  of 
A  laska,  and  the  other,  Alvah  S. ,  is  also  conne<5led  with  this  company.  Both  sons  are 
also  associated  with  their  father  in  the  Washington  Lumber  Company.  His  second 
son  Esmond,  after  whom  the  Esmond  Hotel  was  named,  died  at  an  early  age. 

Mr.  Coulter  is  a  republican  in  politics,  but  takes  no  adlive  part  in  political  affairs. 
While  he  resided  in  Washington  Territory,  he  was,  however,  appointed  by  President 
Grant  internal  revenue  colle<5lor  for  the  territory  and  held  the  position  for  four  years. 
Beyond  this  office  he  has  never  held  political  position  and  has  no  inclination  in  this 
diredlion.  In  all  of  his  business  career  he  has  shown  rare  good  judgment  and  has 
accumulated  a  large  fortune.  He  is  conservative  in  his  ideas;  is  a  man  of  strong  con- 
\n<5lions  and  when  he  determines  upon  a  course  of  a<5lion  is  not  easily  turned  aside  until 
the  end  he  has  in  view  has  been  reached.  Coming  to  this  portion  of  the  Union  a  mere 
boy  in  years,  he  has  grown  with  its  growth  and  is  now  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  pio- 
neers in  adlive  business  life  in  Oregon.  He  has  ever  maintained  an  unsullied  record  as 
a  business  man,  while  his  life  in  every  way  has  been  exemplary  and  above  reproach. 


584  History  of  Portland. 


He  is  social  and  genial  in  natnre  and  deservedly  popular  with  all  who  know  him.  A 
man  of  naturally  mgged  constitution,  he  is  still  remarkably  acHve  and  in  vigorous 
health.  He  is  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term  a  self-made  man  and  is  a  representative 
of  the  best  tj-pe  that  our  pioneer  times  have  produced. 


WIBERG,  Charles  M.,  was  bom  in  Norkoping,  Sweden,  in  1820.  His  youth 
and  early  manhood  were  passed  in  diflferent  parts  of  his  native  land,  engaging 
in  various  occupations  until  he  became  an  apprentice  at  the  shoemakers*  trade.  .-Vfter 
acquiring  his  trade  he,  in  1841,  went  to  London,  where  he  was  employed  for  nearly  three 
years.  He  then  came  to  the  United  States,  landing  in  New  York  in  1843.  From 
that  time  until  1850,  he  worked  at  his  trade  in  New  Milford,  Conne^cut,  New  York 
City,  Milwaukee  and  Janesville,  Wisconsin,  and  New  Orleans,  Louisiana.  In  1850, 
he  started  in  business  for  himself  at  Milwaukee,  but  had  only  gotten  fairly  underway 
when  he  was  burnt  out  by  the  great  fire  of  1851.  With  his  entire  capital  destroyed 
and  several  hundred  dollars  in  debt,  he  determined  to  seek  a  new  home  in  Oregon, 
and  in  1852,  he  started  for  Portland  via  the  Isthmns  of  Panama,  arriving  here  July 
6,  1852.  For  a  short  time  after  his  arrival  he  worked  at  his  trade,  but  in  December, 
1852,  opened  a  boot  and  shoe  store,  the  first  in  this  line  of  trade  ever  started  in 
Portland.  He  began  on  a  small  scale,  but  fortune  favored  him  and  in  a  short  time  he 
was  doing  a  prosperous  business.  The  first  money  he  could  spare  from  his  business 
he  used  in  paying  the  indebtedness  he  had  incurred  at  Milwaukee,  paying  not  only 
the  full  amount  he  owed  there  but  interest  on  it  from  the  time  it  was  contracfled 
until  paid.  This  debt  he  could  have  settled  at  a  great  reduction,  but  he  refused  al! 
offers  of  compromise,  insisting  on  pa>nng  in  the  manner  he  did.  This  incident 
illustrates  his  innate  sense  of  honor  and  honesty  which  throughout  his  long  com- 
mercial career  has  ever  been  so  conspicuously  exhibited.  For  several  years  Mr. 
Wiberg  conducted  his  business  alone,  but  in  1860,  J.  A.  Strowbridge  became  a 
partner  under  the  firm  name  of  Wiberg  &  Strowbridge.  In  1864,  a  wholesale  busi- 
ness was  begun  in  conneclion  with  their  retail  trade,  and  leather  and  twining  were 
added  to  their  stock.  A  hi^h  degree  of  success  followed  their  exertions  in  this  line 
of  trade  and  a  large  business  was  built  up.  In  1869,  they  sold  out  the  boot  and 
shoe  business  to  Kramer  &  Kaufman.  For  some  time  thereafter,  Mr.  Wiberg  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Strowbridge  continued  in  the  leather  and  finding  business,  but 
he  finally  sold  out  and  for  a  few  years  led  a  retired  life.  He  then  started  again 
in  the  boot  and  shoe  business  and  for  a  time  John  Keman  was  associated  with  him 
under  the  firm  name  of  Wiberg  &  Kernan.  The  latter  sold  his  interest  to  A.  M. 
Hollabaugh  in  1882,  since  which  time  the  firm  has  been  Wiberg  &  Hollabaugh. 

Mr.  Wiberg  has  been  interested  in  various  other  enterprises  outside  of  his  regular 
line  of  trade.  He  was  one  of  the  original  promoters  and  stockholders  in  the  Willam- 
ette Iron  Bridge  Company,  the  Merchants  National  Bank  and  the  Pacific  Insurance 
Company.  He  has  also  been  a  large  operator  in  real  estate,  and  still  owns  valuable 
property  in  and  near  the  city.  Coming  to  Portland  at  an  early  day  he  has  seen  all 
the  mar\'elous  changes  which  have  occurred  in  this  portion  of  the  northwest,  and  is 
now  one  of  the  oldest  merchants  in  the  city.  His  reputation  as  a  business  man  has 
been  of  the  highest.  The  rewards  of  his  honorable  business  career  have  been  a  large 
fortune  and  the  deserved  esteem  of  all  who  know  him. 


Biographical.  585 


He  was  married,  in  1858,  to  Miss  P.  Ingram,  of  Portland.  They  have  had  nine 
children,  eight  of  whom  are  living.  Their  eldest  son,  Charles  Edwin,  died  recently 
at  the  age  of  twenty-six. 

THERKELSEN,  Laurits  Walse,  was  bom  in  Denmark,  twelve  miles  east  of 
Copenhagen,  in  1842.  He  had  limited  educational  advantages  and  early  in  life 
became  apprenticed  to  the  carpenter's  trade,  at  which  he  worked  in  his  native  town 
until  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years  when  he  came  to  America,  and,  in  1861, 
landed  in  San  Francisco.  Here  for  the  next  ten  years  he  followed  his  trade  with  the 
exception  of  one  year  at  San  Jose,  when  he  engaged  in  contra<5ling.  In  1871,  he 
came  to  Portland  and  for  ten  years  following  was  largely  engaged  in  contra<5ling  and 
building  in  the  city  and  vicinity.  During  this  period  he  ere(^led  Trinity  church,  Bank 
of  British  Columbia,  First  National  Bank,  Bishop  Scott  Grammar  School,  United 
States  Government  building  at  Vancouver,  woolen  factory  at  Oregon  City,  Centennial 
Block,  part  of  Union  Block  and  hundreds  of  private  residences  and  other  business 
blocks.  From  the  first  his  business  assumed  large  magnitude  and  he  not  only  soon 
became  the  largest  contradlor  in  the  city,  but  his  operations  were  nearly  equal  to  all 
of  the  other  builders  combined. 

In  1881,  he  made  an  extended  trip  to  Europe  with  his  family,  and  after  an  absence 
of  several  months  returned  to  Portland  and  organized  the  North  Pacific  Lumber 
Company.  The  progress  of  this  company  has  been  remarkable.  The  mill  was 
started  with  a  capacity  of  about  25,000  feet  of  lumber  per  day,  while  its  present 
output  is  110,000  feet.  The  annual  business  of  the  company,  requiring  the  employ- 
ment of  250  men,  reaches  a  sum  of  J500,000  annually  and  is  the  second  largest  concern 
of  its  kind  in  Oregon.  A  general  wholesale  lumber  business  is  conducted  and  the 
shipments  extend  as  far  East  as  Chicago.  Mr.  Therkelsen  has  been  vice-president 
and  manager  of  the  company  from  the  start  and  its  gratifying  success  is  almost 
wholly  due  to  his  sagacious  supervision. 

Mr.  Therkelsen  is  an  enthusiastic  republican  in  politics,  but  has  no  desire  for 
political  office.  He  was,  however,  ele<5led  a  member  of  the  lower  house  in  the  State 
legislature  for  Multnomah  county,  in  1884,  and  during  his  term  labored  assiduously 
for  the  a<5l  creating  the  Portland  water  commission,  in  which  he,  w^ith  fifteen  others 
were  named  as  members.  Since  the  bill  became  a  law,  the  commissioners  have 
purchased  the  old  water  supply  system  and  have  increased  its  capacity  and  usefulness 
but  have  now  under  headway  plans  for  the  erection  of  new  works,  such  as  the  com- 
missioners were  empowered  by  the  adl  to  construdl.  In  1887,  Mr.  Therkelsen  was 
eledled  school  dire<5lor  in  Distri<5l  No.  1,  but  with  tlie  two  exceptions  named  he  has 
steadfastly  refused  to  take  an  adlive  part  in  local,  city  or  county  political  affairs.  His 
own  private  business  affairs  engross  his  entire  time  and  attention  and  this  alone  would 
prevent  his  participation  in  politics  even  had  he  the  taste  or  inclination. 

He  was  married  in  1869  to  Miss  Maggie  Pugh,  of  San  Francisco.  They  have  had 
seven  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of 
Trinity  Episcopal  church. 

Mr.  Therkelsen  has  always  been  a  hard  worker,  and  has  the  constitution  and 
physical  vigor  which  permit  of  continued  exertion  with  little  apparent  fatig^ue.  All 
of  his  ventures  have  proven   highly  successful  and  he  has  accumulated  a  handsome 


586  History  of  Portland. 


fortune.  He  possesses  good  business  judgment,  is  conservative  rather  than  bold  in  his 
operations,  and  carefully  works  out  his  plans.  He  is  a  large  owner  of  real  estate  in 
Portland  and  his  operations  in  this  line  have  exhibited  sagacious  foresight  which  have 
largely  added  to  his  financial  fortune.  He  is  a  firm  believer  in  Portland's  future 
greatness  and  is  ever  ready  to  contribute  his  share  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the 
city.  His  business  standing  is  of  the  highest,  while  he  is  held  in  deserved  respe<5t  as 
a  man  of  unblemished  public  and  private  life. 


N 


GON,  William  C,  was  born  in  Leicester,  England,  in  1835.  At  the  age  of 
nine  years  he  came  with  his  parents  to  America,  settling  in  Andover,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  his  father  found  employment  at  his  trade  in  a  woolen  mill.  He 
received  the  benefits  of  a  common  school  education  until  thirteen  years  old  when  he 
began  to  work  in  a  woolen  mill  at  Andover.  He  was  employed  for  several  years 
thereafter  in  similar  mills  at  Lawrence  and  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  for  some 
three  or  four  vears  in  the  State  of  Maine.  During  this  period  he  acquired  a  very 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  business  and  became  very  proficient,  especially  in  carding 
and  spinning. 

The  memorable  financial  depression  of  1857  was  particularly  severe  on  the  eastern 
woolen  manufadlurers  and  all  of  them  were  either  forced  to  suspend  operation  or 
continue  their  business  on  the  most  limited  scale.  Nearly  all  the  weavers  in  the 
Eastern  States  were  thrown  out  of  employment.  Mr.  Noon  not  being  able  to  secure 
work  at  his  trade  sought  new  avenues  in  which  he  might  gain  a  livelihood.  At  this 
time  the  discoveries  of  gold  in  California  were  attra<5ting  immigration  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  in  the  spring  of  1858  Mr.  Noon  started  for  the  Pacific  Coast, 
at  the  time  having  only  sufficient  money  to  pay  his  fare.  He  arrived  in  California  via 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  in  the  spring  of  1858,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
spring  of  1861,  was  engaged  in  mining  and  ranching  on  the  American 
River.  In  the  latter  business  he  was  particularly  unfortunate,  the  great 
flood  in  the  spring  of  1861  destroying  his  entire  herd  of  stock  which  he  had 
gained  at  the  end  of  three  years  of  the  hardest  kind  of  toil.  He  was  thus  reduced  to 
the  same  financial  condition  in  which  he  had  come  into  the  State.  After  working  a 
sufficient  time  to  gain  the  necessary  money  to  pay  his  fare  to  Oregon,  he  left  Cali- 
fornia, and  in  February,  1862  arrived  in  Portland.  The  woolen  mills  at  Salem  had 
then  been  in  operation  but  a  short  time,  and  here  he  soon  after  obtained  employment. 
He  remained  in  Salem  until  the  fall  of  1863,  when  he  went  to  the  Salmon  River 
mines,  and  for  four  succeeding  seasons  was  engaged  in  mining,  during  the  winter 
being  employed  in  the  Oregon  City  mills. 

In  1869  Mr.  Noon  came  to  Portland  and  entered  the  employ  of  J.  W.  Cook,  a  bag, 
tent  and  awning  manufacturer.  This  branch  of  business  was  condu<5ted  at  this  time 
on  a  very  limited  scale  in  Portland,  but  Mr.  Noon,  with  his  pradlical  experience  with 
machinery'  and  his  knowledge  of  cloth  manufadluring,  saw  its  possibilities  if  properly 
managed.  In  1873  he  purchased  Mr.  Cook's  interest  in  the  business  and  under  his 
management  it  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  manufadluring  enterprises  in  the 
State.  For  eleven  years  Mr.  Noon  condudled  the  business  very  successfully  alone, 
but  since,  it  has  been  operated  by  the  firm  of  W.  C.  Noon  &  Co.  Their  fadlory  is  the 
oldest  of  its  kind  in  the  city  and  its  capacity  is  now  more  than  all  the  other  similar 


Biographical.  587 


fa<5tories  in  the  northwest.  It  gives  employment  to  seventy  persons  and  is  equipped 
with  the  most  expensive  and  latest  improved  machinery  of  every  description.  The 
building  occupied  by  the  firm  stands  on  the  comer  of  First  and  C  streets,  is  four 
stories  high  and  one  of  the  most  substantial  pieces  of  architedliu'e  in  the  city.  The 
four  floors  and  basement  are  occupied,  and  every  facility  is  ofForded  for  making  the 
lightest  summer  oiling  cover  to  the  heaviest  canvas  for  the  largest  public  gathering, 
besides  sails  of  all  sizes  and  weight.  Year  by  year  their  trade  has  extended  until  at 
the  present  time  they  not  only  supply  the  field  of  Oregon,  Washington  and  Idaho, 
but  also  sell  largely  in  British  Columbia,  Alaska,  Montana  and  Utah. 

The  building  up  of  this  large  business  within  comparatively  a  few  years  has 
almost  solely  devolved  upon  Mr.  Noon.  He  has  been,  and  is  still,  the  pra<5lical 
business  head  of  the  concern,  and  it  has  been  almost  entirely  owing  to  his  exertions 
that  such  a  high  degree  of  success  has  been  attained.  He  has  not  only  had  many 
years  experience  in  this  line  of  work  but  possesses  a  high  order  of  mechanical  ability. 
These  requisites,  added  to  constant  and  unflaging  industry  and  honorable  business 
methods,  explain  the  develoment  of  an  enterprise  which  has  grown  to  be  an  inportant 
fa<5lor  in  Portland's  material  prosperity. 

Mr.  Noon  has  been  a  consistent  member  of  Grace  Methodist  Church  for  many 
years,  and  is  one  of  its  trustees.  He  was  married  in  1867  to  Adeline  Good,  of  Oregon 
City,  who  died  in  1870,  two  children  having  been  bom  to  them.  Mr.  Noon's  present 
wife  was  Miss  Emily  Southard  of  Norwich,  Connecticut.  They  have  had  four  children 
of  whom  three  are  living,  In  all  that  relates  to  Portland's  growth  and  prosperity, 
during  nearly  two  decades,  Mr.  Noon  has  borne  a  part  of  far-reaching  influence. 
His  labors  have  contributed  to  the  now  well  recognized  and  acknowledged  commer- 
cial supremacy  secured  by  Portland  over  a  wide  territory,  and  it  is  largely  owing  to 
the  efforts  put  forth  by  men  such  as  Mr.  Noon  that  the  city  will  continue  to  hold  the 
bulk  of  trade  of  the  Pacific  Northwest. 


ZAN,  Frank,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  of  Slavonic  descent  and  was  bom  in 
1851  in  Stavigrard,  Dalmatia,  while  that  county  was  under  Austrian  rule. 
After  completing  his  education  in  the  public  school  of  his  native  town,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  Convent  of  the  Dominican  Fathers,  with  the  intention  of  becoming 
one  of  their  order.  .After  studying  theology  for  nearly  two  years  at  that  school,  he 
concluded  to  abandon  the  idea  of  devoting  his  life  to  ministerial  work;  and  not 
wishing  to  be  drafted  into  military  service,  to  which  duty  every  young  man  is  subject 
in  that  countrj-,  but  desiring  to  become  a  sea  faring  man,  he  accordingly  arranged 
matters  with  a  sea  captain  to  ship  with  him  for  nautical  instruction.  For  nearly  a 
year  he  followed  the  sea,  but  finding  such  vocation  too  monotonous  for  his  naturally 
energetic  nature,  upon  reaching  the  port  of  New  York  he  bid  farewell  to  the  life  of  a 
sailor  and  started  out  to  tr>'  his  fortune  in  the  "land  of  the  free."  PVoni  New  York 
shortly  after  landing,  he  came  to  San  Francisco  where  his  older  brother,  M.  Zan,  his 
present  partner,  was  then  located  engaged  in  business. 

After  living  in  San  Francisco  a  short  time  he  came  to  Portland  in  1870,  at  that 
time  being  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  to  take  charge  of  a  branch  house  in  the  broom 
manufacturing  business,  started  i  n  tliis  city  a  year  prior  by  two  brothers,  Vincent  and 
George  Zan.     Business  at  this  time  was  no  t  very  encouraging  and  the  two  brothers 


588  History  of  Portland. 


named  sold  out  the  Portland  branch  to  the  present  firm  of  Zan  Brothers  (M.  and 
Frank  Zan).  The  management  of  the  business  in  Portland  was  entrusted  to  Frank 
Zan  and  under  his  charge  a  high  degree  of  success  was  attained.  At  the  end  of  a 
few  years  it  had  grown  to  such  magnitude  that  his  older  brother  moved  to  this  city, 
and  two  years  later  they  dissolved  with  their  San  Francisco  partner,  he  taking  the 
California  business  and  Zan  Brothers  the  house  in  this  city.  Since  that  date  Portland 
has  been  the  headquarters  of  their  business. 

From  a  small  and  unpretentious  beginning  their  business  has  grown  to  large  pro- 
portions and  to-day  occupies  a  conspicuous  position  in  the  industrial  life  of  the 
Pacific  Northwest.  Two  manufacturing  establishments  are  constantly  operated  by 
the  firm,  a  wooden -ware  factory*  located  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Willamette  River 
about  four  miles  north  of  the  cit}%  and  a  broom  and  willow-ware  factory  at  No.  14 
North  Front  street.  These  factories  are  the  largest  of  their  kind  on  the  coast  Port- 
land is  the  supply  depot  of  three  branch  houses  of  the  firm  located  at  San  Francisco, 
Seattle  and  Melbourne,  Australia.  Goods  are  shipped  all  over  the  coast  from  Los 
Angeles  on  the  south  to  Alaska  on  the  north  and  as  far  east  as  Salt  Lake  and  Denver, 
while  their  trade  is  gradually  extending  even  farther  eastward  and  toward  the 
south. 

The  building  up  of  this  large  business  within  a  comparatively  few  years  represents 
on  the  part  of  the  members  of  this  enterprising  firm  not  only  untiring  energy  but 
united  and  harmonious  co-operation  and  sagacious  business  generalship.  Both 
brothers  have  been  indefatigable  in  their  exertion,  and  each  has  contributed  his  full 
share  toward  the  success  attained,  the  work  of  the  one  admirably  supplementing  that 
of  the  other. 

Mr.  Frank  Zan  has  traveled  extensively  in  the  interest  of  the  firm  and  has  visited 
every  important  business  center  in  the  United  States.  His  varied  experience  has 
naturally  broadened  his  views  and  liberalized  his  ideas  concerning  men  and  afifairs. 
He  is  enthusiastic  in  his  belief  concerning  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
as  a  great  commercial,  manufacturing  and  agricultural  region  and  in  his  individual 
capacity  is  doing  much  to  hasten  the  time  when  this  part  of  the  Union  will  rival  the 
Atlantic  States  in  wealth  creating  enterprises.  He  is  public  spirited  but  extremely 
modest  and  retiring  in  his  disposition  and  seeks  to  avoid  rather  than  court  positions 
snch  as  would  place  him  before  the  public.  He  is  a  hard  worker,  a  man  of  exem- 
plary habits  and  possesses  the  knowledge  and  experience  which  with  his  vigorous 
health  give  promise  of  still  greater  achievements  in  the  years  to  come. 

He  was  married  in  1875  to  Miss  Jennie  Donovan,  of  Portland.  They  have  two 
children,  both  boys. 


HKXRICHSEN,  Lars  C,  wholesale  and  retail  jeweler,  of  Portland,  was  bom  in 
Denmark,  in  1839.  His  father  was  a  farmer  and  he  remained  at  home  on  the 
farm  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years  when  he  went  to  Apenrade,  town 
of  Schleswig,  Denmark,  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  watchmaker,  where  he  remained  for 
six  years.  In  1860,  he  emigrated  to  America  and  located  in  Portland,  and  after 
working  a  short  time  at  his  trade,  removed  to  Vancouver  where  he  remained  a  little 
more  than  a  year,  when  he  again  came  to   Portland   where  he  has  ever  since  resided. 


Biographical.  589 


Upon  his  return  to  Portland  he  secured  employment  with  Jacob  Cohn,  then  located 
on  Front  street  A  few  years  later,  with  Gustave  Hanson,  he  purchased  his 
employer's  business  and  under  the  firm  name  of  L.  C.  Henrichsen  &  Co.,  continued 
business  on  Front  street,  but  about  twenty  years  ago  removed  to  First  street.  Mr. 
Hanson  remained  in  the  firm  but  three  years,  and  from  that  time  until  1879,  Mr. 
Henrichsen  was  alone.  In  1879,  S.  H.  Green  berg  became  a  partner  and  was  asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Henrichsen  for  seven  years,  since  which  the  latter  has  continued  the 
business  alone. 

Mr.  Henrichsen  is  not  only  a  dealer  in  but  a  manufacturer  of  jewelr}',  both  for  a 
retail  and  a  wholesale  trade,  and  is  the  leader  in  this  branch  of  business  in  Portland, 
his  trade  extending  over  the  entire  State.  This  large  business  has  been  built  up  by 
honorable  dealing,  by  hard  and  persistent  work  and  the  exercise  of  excellent  busi- 
ness sagacity.  He  is  recognized  in  this  community  as  a  man  of  the  highest  integ- 
rity and  has  the  perfect  confidence  of  the  business  public. 

He  was  married  in  1867,  to  Miss  Hannah  Winter,  a  native  of  Denmark.  They 
have  tliree  children  and  one  of  the  most  pleasant  homes  on  Lownsdale  street.  Mr. 
Henrichsen  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  of  the  Masonic  order,  being  a 
member  of  the  order  of  Scottish  Rite.  At  the  present  time  he  is  the  oldest  jeweler 
in  business  in  Portland,  and  his  connection  with  Portland's  growth  and  progress  has 
been  in  every  way  creditable  to  himself  and  beneficial  to  the  city. 


\1  f  OODWARD,  Tylkr,  was  born  in  Hartland,  Windsor  county,  Vermont,  in  1835, 
V  f  and  is  of  Puritan  descent.  His  grandfather  fought  in  the  war  of  the  revolution, 
while  his  father,  Erastus  Woodward,  participated  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  and  the  academies  at  Kimball,  Union  and  Meriden, 
New  Hampshire,  and  Thilford,  Vermont.  When  he  reached  his  majority,  he  taught 
school  in  his  native  town  for  one  term  during  the  winter.  He  lived  at  home  until  1860, 
when  he  came  to  Marysville,  California,  and  for  one  year  served  as  clerk  in  a  hotel  of 
which  his  brother  was  proprietor.  In  the  summer  of  1861,  he  went  to  Washoe 
county,  at  the  time  the  gold  excitement  had  broken  out  in  that  region.  Here  for 
some  months  he  was  interested  in  a  saw  mill,  located  on  the  Truckee  river,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  where  the  Central  Pacific  railroad  starts  up  the 
mountains.  In  the  spring  of  1862,  he  sold  out  and  came  to  Oregon,  spending  the 
sunmier  prospecting  and  mining  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Florence  mines.  The  follow- 
ing winter  he  clerked  in  a  store  in  John  Day's  mines,  where  Canyon  City  is  now 
located.  He  then  located  at  Umatilla  and  for  several  months  was  engaged  in  stock 
feeding. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  he  purchased  a  stock  of  goods  consisting  of  general  mer- 
chandising and  miners'  supplies;  chartered  a  train  and  started  for  Stinking  Water 
mines  in  Montana.  He  joined  forces  with  a  train  in  which  L.  H.  Wakefield  was 
interested,  and  together  they  started  on  the  long  and  toilsome  journey  which  was 
beset  with  unusual  dangers  and  hardships.  They  arrived  in  Hell  Gate,  or  Bitter  Root 
Valley  in  July  and  here  started  business  in  a  house  built  by  John  Grant,  chief  agent 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  near  where  Missoula  is  now  located.  For  four  years  a 
successful  business  was  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Woodward,  Clement  & 


590  History  of  Portland. 


Co.  Clement  then  sold  his  interest  to  the  other  partners  and  the  firm  became 
known  as  Woodward  &  Wakefield.  Supplies  were  purchased  in  Portland  and  Mr. 
Woodward  during  the  following  six  years  made  frequent  trips  to  our  city  and  became 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  city's  business  men  of  that  day.  Besides  merchan- 
dising Mr.  Woodward  was  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising  during  this  period 
and  most  substantial  success  followed  his  efforts  in  all  three  directions.  In  1870,  he 
sold  out  his  interest  in  Hell  Gate,  with  a  view  of  locating  in  Portland,  thoroughly 
convinced  at  this  early  day  of  the  city's  ultimate  destiny  as  the  commercial  centre  of 
this  portion  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  Mr.  Woodward's  journey  from  Hell  Gate  after 
closing  out  his  business  there,  for  a  distance  of  some  three  hundred  miles  was  one  he 
will  always  have  cause  to  remember.  The  country'  at  this  time  was  without  safeguards 
against  lawlessness  and  was  peopled  by  many  desperate  characflers.  Taking  with  him 
all  of  tlie  money  he  had  accumulated,  amounting  to  some  thirty  thousand  dollars,  he 
started  alone  on  horseback,  but  had  not  proceeded  far  before  he  was  pursued  by  high- 
waymen, whom  he  knew  only  waited  for  a  convenient  opportunity  to  rob  him.  Years 
of  residence  among  the  rough  chara<5lers  who  infested  mining  camps  made  him  fully 
aware  of  the  dangers  of  his  situation.  It  was  simply  a  question  of  endurance  and 
strategy  between  himself  and  pursuers,  and  it  was  only  by  constant  watchfulness  and 
knowledge  of  the  country  that  he  was  enabled  to  elude  them.  Until  he  reached 
Spokane  Falls  he  was  followed  and  had  he  been  overtaken  he  would  have  lost  his 
money  and,  without  doubt,  his  life. 

After  his  arrival  in  Portland,  Mr.  Woodward  made  a  trip  to  his  old  Eastern  home, 
but  he  soon  returned  and  has  since  made  his  residence  here.  He  immediately  invested 
largely  in  real  estate,  and  became  a  member  of  the  real  estate  firm  of  Parrish,  Atkin- 
son &  Woodward.  His  operations  were  rewarded  with  success,  although  at  the  time 
he  was  considered  by  many  as  engaged  in  a  hazardous  business.  He  had  unlimited 
faith  in  the  city's  advance  and  he  backed  his  judgment  with  money  and  reaped  a  rich 
harvest.  His  speculations  in  real  estate  have  been  continued  up  to  the  present  and  he 
is  now  largely  interested  in  city  and  suburban  property. 

He  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  incorporators  of  the  Trans-Continental  Street 
Railway  and  for  several  years  has  been  its  president.  He  was  also  one  of  the  first 
promoters  and  stock  holders  in  the  Walla  Walla  railroad,  and  has  been  interested  in 
several  other  minor  business  ventures,  but  the  street  railway  and  his  real  estate  opera- 
tions have  absorbed  most  of  his  time  and  attention. 

Since  the  birth  of  the  republican  party,  he  has  been  a  zealous  republican,  casting 
his  first  vote  for  Gen.  John  C.  Fremont.  While  in  Montana,  he  was  almost  the  only 
a<5live  rLpublicau  in  Missoula  county  and  did  much  to  keep  up  the  party  organization. 
He  served  as  postmaster  of  Hell  Gate  and  at  that  time  was  perhaps  the  only  repub- 
lican oflTicial  in  Montana  Territory.  Since  residing  in  Portland  he  has  ser\*ed  one 
term  as  county  commissioner  and  is  now  serving  his  second  term  as  member  of  the 
city  council.  While  strong  in  his  political  faith  and  a  zealous  supporter  of  his  party 
he  has  never  been  an  aspirant  for  political  office,  having  decided  repugnance  for  the 
usual  methods  employed  to  gain  political  power. 

He  was  married  November  8,  1872,  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Ross,  a  native  of  Portland 
and  a  daughter  of  Sherry  Ross,  an  early  Oregon  pioneer.  To  them  one  child,  a 
daughter,  has  been  bom. 


Biographical.  591 


Mr.  Woodward's  chara<5ler  was  developed  amid  the  surroundings  of  a  newly 
settled  country,  where  men  are  called  upon  to  adl  quickly  and  independently  and  to 
rely  wholly  upon  themselves.  This  has  made  him  strongly  self  reliant  and  indepen- 
dent in  nature.  In  all  that  he  does  he  is  governed  by  his  judgment  and  is  influenced 
but  little  by  the  adlions  of  others.  He  is  reserved  in  manner,  but  is  warm  in  his 
friendships,  and  steadfastly  loyal  to  all  whom  he  trusts  with  his  confidences. 
He  has  been  very  successful  in  business,  possesses  excellent  business  habits 
and  judgment,  and  is  a  good  type  of  that  class  of  men  who  have  made  the 
Pacific  side  of  our  continent  all  that  it  is;  po^se>sing  in  large  measure  that  same 
unconquerable,  enterprising  spirit  which  will  make  it  a  worthy  rival  of  the  Atlantic 
sea  board. 


MARQUAM,  Hon.  P.  A.,  was  born  near  Baltimore,  Maryland,  February  28,  1823, 
and  is  the  eighth  child  in  a  family  of  nine  children  of  Philip  Winchester  and 
Charlotte  Mercer  (Poole),  Marquam.  His  grandfather  was  a  wealthy  merchant  of 
England,  enploying  many  ships  in  carr>'ing  on  an  extensive  trade.  His  father  was 
born  in  England  but  at  the  age  of  twenty  came  to  America.  His  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  Henry  Poole,  a  wealthy  planter,  on  whose  plantation  now  stands  Pool- 
ville,  Maryland.  On  account  of  sickness  and  financial  misfortune  the  father  of  our 
subject  soon  after  his  marriage  decided  to  leave  Maryland  with  the  hope  of  bettering 
his  fortune,  and  to  seek  a  new  home  in  the  west.  With  his  family  he  first  settled  in 
Ohio,  but  shortly  moved  to  Lafayette,  Indiana.  Here  the  family  settled  on  unim- 
proved government  land,  where  a  rude  home  was  erected  and  pioneer  life  com- 
menced. At  the  end  of  a  few  years,  by  the  united  labors  of  father  and  sons  a  greater 
portion  of  the  wild  tract  upon  which  they  had  settled  was  cleared.  By  this  time  Mr. 
Marquam's  elder  brothers  had  left  home  to  seek  their  own  fortunes,  leaving  him  at 
home  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the  family.  Being  the  youngest  of  the  boys  and 
naturally  strong  and  vigorous  he  was  naturally  selected  as  the  one  to  remain  upon 
the  farm.  If,  however,  he  cheerfully  accepted  his  lot  it  was  not  without  a  strong 
determination  to  make  of  himself  something  more  than  the  prospects  held  out  to  the 
average  farmer's  boy  in  a  new  and  undeveloped  country.  The  circumstances  which 
surrounded  hira'were  anything  but  encouraging.  His  father  was  not  only  unable  to 
give  him  an  education  but  needed  his  constant  labor  on  the  farm  to  maintain  the 
family.  To  assist  his  parents  and  at  the  same  time,  by  self  application,  to  acquire  an 
education  was  the  double  task  which  confronted  young  Marquam,  but  he  undertook 
it  with  that  same  pertinacity  of  purpose  that  in  later  years  brought  him  honorable 
position  and  the  attainment  of  a  large  fortune.  Day  by  day  as  he  labored  on  the 
farm,  and  without  neglecting  his  work  he  managed  to  devote  considerable  time  to  his 
studies.  His  evenings  and  odd  times,  when  most  boys  would  have  been  playing,  or 
resting,  he  devoted  to  acquiring  knowledge.  When  an  opportunity  offered  he  would 
take  up  his  books  and  it  was  in  this  way  that  he  not  only  gained  a  common  English 
education,  including  some  of  the  higher  branches,  but  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 
Latin  language  to  be  able  to  translate  the  Latin  phrases  found  in  law  books.  In  the 
meantime  he  had  saved  sufficient  money  to  buy  a  library  of  elementary  law  books 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  commence  the  study  of  law,  to  which  he  had  determined 
to  devote  himself. 

136] 


592  History  of  Portland. 


His  preparation  for  his  chosen  profession  was  pursued  in  the  same  way  that  his 
elementary  education  had  been  gained — devoting  alternate  hours  to  work  and  study 
—a  method  he  believes  the  only  true  way  of  gaining  a  proper  mental  and  ph3'sical 
training.  At  the  end  of  three  )'ears  of  such  prog^ss  he  had  not  only  equipped  him- 
self for  entering,  but  had  saved  enough  money  to  pay  his  tuition  at  the  law  school  at 
Bloomington,  Indiana.  He  had,  however,  previously  made  quite  an  advance  in  his 
legal  studies  by  studying  at  home  under  the  directions  and  guidance  of  Hon.  Godlove 
S.  Orths,  an  able  lawyer  of  Indiana,  and  who  at  one  time  was  a  representative  in  Con- 
gress, and  subsequently  Minister  to  Russia.  He  completed  the  prescribed  course  at 
Bloomington,  and  in  1S4-7  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  State. 

He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Wabash  county,  Indiana,  where  he 
remained  but  a  few  months  when  he  located  at  Renselaer,  Jasper  county,  in  the  same 
State.  Here  he  acquired  considerable  business  and  remained  until  he  left  for  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

The  excitement  caused  in  184-8  by  the  discover>'  of  gold  in  California,  induce<l  Mr. 
Marquam,  with  three  companions,  in  March,  1849,  to  start  across  tlie  plains  with  ox 
teams  in  search  of  the  "golden  fleece."  The  journey  was  filled  with  many  incidents 
of  interest,  but  finally  three  of  tnem  landed  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  in  September, 
1849,  after  a  trip  of  six  months  duration.  After  resting  a  few  weeks  Mr.  Marquam 
proceeded  up  the  Sacramento  Valley  to  the  Redding  mines. 

As  soon  as  he  arrived  at  his  destination  he  went  to  work  in  tlie  mines,  and 
remained  there  during  the  winter  of  1849  and  until  tlie  spring  of  1850,  occasionally 
relieving  the  monotony  of  the  pick  and  shovel  by  going  on  exp>editions  to  expel  the 
bands  of  marauding  Indians,  who  in  tliose  days,  were  the  mortal  dread  of  the  hard 
working  miners.  In  these  engagements  he  received  several  serious  wounds,  which 
laid  him  up  for  several  weeks. 

In  the  spring  of  1850,  still  suffering  from  the  injuries  he  had  received  Mr. 
Marquam,  with  others,  left  the  mines  and  descending  the  Sacramento  Valley, 
located  in  a  small  town  called  Fremont,  at  the  junction  of  the  Sacramento  and  Rio 
Del  Plumas  rivers,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Sacramento  City.  At  this  place, 
then  the  county  seat  of  Yolo  county,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  law,  and  at 
the  first  election  held  under  the  new  State  constitution  of  California,  was  elected 
county  judge,  practically  without  opposition.  Many  novel  questions  came  up  before 
the  new  judge,  and  he  rendered  important  service  in  tlie  organization  of  the  county  and 
State,  which  one  incident  will  serve  to  illustrate.  The  legislature  failed  to  name  the 
amount  of  the  lx>nds  the  county  officers  were  to  qualify  in  before  the  county  judge. 
Judge  Marquam  thereupon  fixed  the  amount  for  each  county  officer  in  Yolo  county, 
and  reported  his  action  to  the  legislature,  whereupon  that  body  approved  his  course 
by  adopting  in  the  general  laws  of  the  State  the  sums  he  had  affixed. 

After  ser^'ing  two  years  in  the  capacity  of  Judge,  Mr.  Marquam  came  to  Oregon,  in 
August,  1851 ,  his  principal  object  at  the  time  being  to  visit  his  brother  Alfred,  who  had 
come  to  Oregon  in  1845,  and  settled  in  the  southern  part  of  Clackamas  county,  at  a 
place  now  a  village  known  as  Marquam,  where  he  died  in  February,  1887.  After 
looking  over  the  country'  he  was  so  well  pleased  with  it  that  he  determined  to  locate 
here.  With  that  end  in  view  he  returned  to  California,  resigned  his  position  as  judge, 
settled  up  his  business  and  in  the  latter  part  of  1851  moved  to  Portland,  where  he  at 


Biographical.  593 


once  began  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  very  successful  from  the  beginning 
and  within  a  year  had  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  He  saw  that  Portland  was  some 
day  destined  to  be  a  metropolitan  city,  and  with  good  judgment  he  invested  in  real 
estate  all  of  the  accumulations  from  his  practice,  above  a  sum  sufficient  to  support  his 
family.  With  the  eye  of  a  business  man  he  looked  around  him  and  secured  some  of 
the  most  valuable  property  in  Portland  and  the  suburbs,  a  very  large  part  of  which 
he  still  ow^ns.  .\niong  his  large  purchases  was  that  of  298  acres,  known  as 
Marquam's  Hill,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  residence  sites  in  the  city  of  Portland.  Some 
of  this  large  tract  he  has  disposed  of,  but  a  large  share  he  has  retained  for  his  own  use 
and  on  which  he  has  long  resided. 

In  1862  Mr.  Marquam  was  elected  county  judge  of  Multnomah  county.  So  highly 
satisfactory  to  the  people  was  his  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  office,  that  after  the 
expiration  of  a  term  of  four  years,  he  was  re-elected  for  another  term,  by  a  very  large 
majority.  During  the  eight  years  he  served  in  this  office  he  was  never  absent  but  one 
day  from  any  term  of  court,  and  that  was  occasioned  by  sickness  in  his  family.  At 
the  expiration  of  his  second  term  he  returned  to  his  law  practice,  which,  with  the 
management  of  his  real  estate  and  other  private  business  demanded  his  attention. 

He  has  recently  completed  a  theatre  building  known  as  the  Marquam  Grand, 
which  for  elegance  of  appointments  is  not  excelled  on  the  coast,  and  which  in  con- 
nection with  the  store  and  office  building  he  is  now  constructing  will  form  the  finest 
structure  in  Portland,  and  greatly  add  to  the  architectual  appearance  of  the  city. 

Of  late  years  Judge  Marquam  has  t>een  gradually  relinquishing  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  at  the  present  time  has  practically  retired  from  legal  work,  his 
extensive  private  interests  demanding  all  of  his  time  and  energies. 

He  has  always  taken  an  active  part  in  whatever  was  for  the  best  interest  of  the 
city  and  county.  At  an  early  day  he  endeavored,  but  without  success,  to  have  the 
Market  and  Park  blocks,  which  had  been  donated  to  the  city,  improved,  and  thereby 
forever  secured  for  public  purposes,  and  also  strongly  advocated  a  free  bridge  across 
the  Willamette,  connecting  Portland  and  Kast  Portland.  In  furtherance  of  the  latter 
project  he  prepared,  had  printed  and  circulated  throughout  the  county,  petitions  to 
the  county  court  asking  that  the  county  be  authorized  by  general  tax  to  build  a  bridge 
across  the  river  to  be  forever  free  to  all  travel.  This  petition,  although  signed  very 
generally  by  the  tax  paying  portion  of  the  comnmnity,  failed  to  accomplish  the 
object  asked  for.  Although  now  a  stockholder  in  the  present  Morrison  street  bridge 
he  is  still  in  favor  of  a  free  bridge. 

In  1882  Judge  Marquam  was  nominated  as  the  republican  candidate  for  the  legis- 
lature from  Multnomah  county.  Although  he  in  no  sense  desired  the  office  nor  made 
the  slightest  effi^rt  to  secure  an  election,  he  was  elected,  receiving  a  very 
flattering  vote,  at  which  term  he  rendered  important  service  to  the  county  and  State. 
In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  staimch  republican,  but  has  never  been  a  seeker 
after  public  office.  Positions  he  has  been  called  upon  to  fill  have  come  unsolicited, 
and  have  been  accepted  in  obedience  to  the  clearly  expresjied  desire  of  his  fellow 
citizens  that  his  services  were  needed.  Duty  to  tlie  public  rather  than  his  own 
inclination  or  personal  interests  has  controlled  his  actions  in  this  regard. 

Judge  Marquam  was  married  May  8,  1853,  to  Miss  Emma  Kern,  daughter  of 
William  Kern,  a  lady  of  culture  and  refinement,  and  admired  for  the  many   excel- 


594  History  of  Portland. 


lencies  of  her  character,  Their  union  has  been  one  of  singular  congeniality  and  hap- 
piness. To  the  patience,  fortitude,  devotion  and  faith  of  his  wife  that  never  faltered 
as  well  as  her  untiring  energy  and  attention  to  his  interests.  Judge  Marquam  accords 
the  highest  credit  for  whatever  success  he  has  attained.  They  have  had  eleven 
children,  all  of  whom  are  living  and  enjoying  the  best  of  health. 

Beginning  the  race  of  life  without  the  l)estowed  advantages  of  education  or  riches, 
every  step  of  Judge  Marquam's  career  has  been  one  tliat  shows  the  innate  strength  of 
his  character-  an  iron  will  that  no  difficulties  could  daunt,  and  that  failure  only 
ser^-es  to  render  stronger.  His  struggle  for  an  education,  his  life  amid  the  hardship>s 
and  danger  of  the  frontiers,  and  the  persi.stent  patient  labors  of  later  years  against 
many  and  great  discouragements  all  show  the  mettle  and  unconquerable  spirit  of  the 
man.  Coming  to  Portland  at  an  early  period  of  its  history,  he  at  once  displayed  a 
belief  in  its  future,  as  wonderful  as  it  was  unswer\'iug.  Through  days  of  doubt, 
seasons  of  sunshine  and  storm;  he  never  lost  faith;  and  the  city's  marvelous  growth 
during  the  past  few  years  has  been  but  a  fulfillment  of  what  he  always  claimed  was 
surely  coming.  His  faith  led  him  to  make  many  investments  in  the  city  when  most 
men  doubted  his  wisdom  in  doing  so,  but  the  large  fortune  he  now  possesses  as  the  result 
of  these  early  investments  has  proven  the  correctness  of  his  judgment  Judge 
Marquam  has  led  a  remarkably  active  life,  but  possesses  a  hearty  and  rugged 
constitution  which  no  excesses  have  impaired,  and  to-day  he  enjoys  the  best  of 
health,  and  presents  the  appearance  of  one  much  younger  than  his  years.  A  man  of 
direct  methods  and  perfect  integrity,  he  has  ever  maintained  an  unsullied  record  for 
business  probity  and  as  a  high  minded  Christian  gentleman.  Secure  in  the  confidence 
and  respect  of -his  fellow  citizens,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  many  years  of  peaceful  com- 
forts may  be  in  store  for  this  honored  pioneer  of  Portland  whose  career  is  inseparably 
linked  with  the  city's  growth  and  progress. 


TWDD,  Charlks  II.  In  no  summary  of  the  forces  and  agencies  which  have  made 
^^  the  Pacific  Northwest  within  the  last  two  decades  take  such  rapid  strides  in 
material  greatness,  should  be  omitted  the  part  bourne  by  the  subjedl  of  this  sketch. 
For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  a  conceded  power  for  good  in  the  com- 
mercial, intelledlual  and  moral  progress  of  a  wide  extent  of  countr>',  and  has  left  in 
many  places  and  on  many  things  the  impress  of  his  individual  work.  The  following 
sketch  of  his  life  belongs  very  properly  to  the  history  of  a  city  where  he  has  long 
resided  and  held  such  a  prominent  place  in  public  affairs. 

Charles  H.  Dodd  was  bom  in  New  York  City,  February  26,  1838,  and  is  of 
English  parentage,  both  his  father  and  mother  having  been  bom  in  England-  At 
the  age  of  nine  he  left  New  York  and  became  an  inmate  of  the  home  of  a  daughter 
of  John  Bissell,  at  Stamford,  Connecticut.  His  education  up  to  this  period  had  been 
carefully  condu<5led  and  his  progress  had  been  beyond  that  of  most  boys  of  that  age. 
At  Stamford  he  was  enabled  not  only  to  enjoy  exceptional  educational  advantages,  but 
the  influences  which  surrounded  him  were  such  as  tended  to  develope  a  strong,  self- 
reliant  charadler,  and  give  a  proper  direction  to  his  mode  of  thought  and  a<5tion.  A 
member  of  a  family  of  culture  and  refinement,  and  in  a  community  which  represented 
the  highest  type  of  New  England  life,  there  was  naturally  inculcated  within  him  a 


Biographical.  595 


spirit  of  self-reliance;  a  feeling  that  the  accident  of  birth  conferred  no  patent  to 
nobility;  that  the  only  things  worthy  of  respe(5l  were  work  and  worth,  and  an  intense 
admiration  for  the  principles  underlaying  our  representative  republican  form  of 
government.  Amid  influences  thus  wholesome  he  passed  perhaps  the  most  important 
period  of  a  boy's  life,  pursuing  his  studies  with  such  avidity  and  under  such  favorable 
conditions  that  at  the  age  of  twelve  he  had  gained  a  fair  English  and  Latin  education 
and  three  years  later  was  far  enough  advanced  to  enter  Yale  college,  which  famous 
educational  institution  he  then  entered  with  the  intention  at  the  timj  of  finishing 
the  full  course.  Two  years  later,  however,  just  before  he  had  completed  the  Sopho- 
more year,  an  incident  occurred  that  turned  the  whole  current  of  his  life.  At  this 
time,  1855,  the  projecSl  of  building  a  railroad  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  to 
facilitate  the  increased  travel  caused  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  was  under 
way.  It  was  an  undertaking  l>eset  with  dangers  and  hardships,  and  up  to  the  time 
mentioned  hundreds  of  lives  has  been  lost  in  the  enterprise.  Men  competent  and 
willing  to  run  the  many  risks  involved  were  hard  to  find.  In  looking  for  recruits. 
Col.  Totten,  engineer-in -chief  of  the  road,  came  to  New  Haven  and  before  the  students 
in  Yale  college  explained  the  undertaking  and  solicited  the  aid  of  any  brave  enough 
to  join  in  the  work.  It  was  a  project  likely  to  arouse  the  interest  of  any  young,  ener- 
getic, healthy  and  adventuresome  boy.  Young  Dodd  with  three  others  volunteered 
to  join  the  engineering  corps;  was  accepted,  and  without  delay  started  for  the  field 
of  operations.  For  nearly  a  year  he  was  engaged  in  this  hazardous  and  novel  work, 
gaining  an  experience  in  many  particulars  both  unique  and  interesting.  Commen- 
cing at  Aspinwall  (now  known  as  Colon),  he  proceeded  with  the  engineering  party  the 
whole  distance  now  traversed  by  the  road  to  Panama,  a  portion  of  the  way  being 
along  the  Chagres  River,  where  he  contracted  the  well  known  "Chagres"  fever,  and 
for  several  weeks  was  so  ill  that  his  life  was  despaired  of.  He,  however,  recovered  in 
time  to  proceed  with  his  party,  being  one  of  the  comparatively  few  who  originally 
started  out  who  remained  until  the  work  was  completed. 

At  Panama  he  fell  in  with  C.  K.  Garrison,  a  prominent  figure  in  the  early  com- 
mercial history  of  California;  at  that  time  agent  of  the  Nicaraugua  Steamship 
Company,  and  who  three  years  previously  had  established  the  first  banking  house  at 
Panama.  By  Mr.  Garrison  he  was  sent  to  San  Francisco  on  the  steamer  Golden  Gate, 
Upon  his  arrival  in  San  Francisco  he  secured  employment  with  Farwell  &  Curtiss, 
hardware  and  commission  merchants.  His  work  for  this  firm  after  he  had  been  with 
them  some  .ime  brought  him  through  a  most  valuable  experience.  He  was  selected 
to  find  the  whereabouts  of  a  vessel  belonging  to  Peabody  &  Co.,  a  well  known  ship- 
ping house,  of  Boston,  which  had  been  either .  lost  or  stolen,  but  which,  it  was 
presumed,  was  at  some  port  in  South  America.  In  fulfilling  the  task  assigned  him, 
Mr.  Dodd  made  perhaps  a  more  extended  journey  through  South  America  than  up  to 
that  time  had  been  made  by  anyone  from  the  northern  part  of  the  Western  Continent. 
Leaving  San  Francisco  near  the  close  of  1855,  he  procee<led  by  steamer  to  Panama, 
thence  along  the  western  coast  to  Callao;  thence  further  south,  crossing  the  Andes 
from  Concepcion,  he  proceeded  to  Mendaza,  Buenos  Ay  res,  Montevideo  and  Rio 
Janeiro.  PVoni  the  latter  point  he  proceeded  by  steamer  to  Panama,  finally  reaching 
San  Francisco,  after  having  spent  nearly  a  year  on  the  journey  and  l)eing  perhaps  the 
first  American  to  cross  the  Andes  from  Concepcion.  He  succeeded  in  finding  the 
vessel  he  went  in  search  of  at  Monteivdeo,  which  he  supplied  with  a  new  captain  and 
crew  and  sent  to  Boston. 


596  History  of  Portland. 


upon  his  return  to  San  Francisco,  after  so  many  months  of  adventure  and  excite- 
ment, it  was  not  strange  that  Mr.  Dodd  should  look  for  avenues  of  employment 
oflfering  more  to  stimulate  his  fancies  than  the  prosaic  life  of  trade  could  offer.  The 
mines  seemed  to  offer  such  a  field,  and  he,  therefore,  began  the  life  of  a  min^r, 
beginning  his  search  for  the  "golden  fleece'*  in  Grass  Valley,  Nevada  countr\',  where 
he  remained  two  years.  From  thence  he  worked  with  his  companions  at  Gold  Bar,  on 
the  South  Yuba.  He  then  followed  in  the  train  of  the  Washoe  excitement  and 
went  to  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  and  was  among  the  early  discoverers  of  the  Ksmeralda 
mines.  Although  he  was  moderately  successful  in  mining  he  became  convinced,  after 
quite  an  extended  experience,  that  wealth,  however  great,  gained  at  the  expense  of  all 
domestic  ties  or  elevating  social  life  would  be  acquired  at  too  great  a  sacrifice.  So  in 
1861  he  abandoned  mining  and  with  the  capital  he  had  acquired  he  opened  a  hard- 
ware store  in  Esmeralda  in  connection  with  Wm.  Moliniux,  continuing  in  business 
for  four  years  with  a  fair  degree  of  success.  In  the  meantime,  near  the  close  of  1864-, 
he  joined  the  Esmeralda  Mounted  Rifles;  was  ele<5led  lieutenant  of  the  company,  and 
accompanied  his  command  to  Arizona,  where  it  was  sent  to  quell  the  raid  of  the 
Piutes  and  Mohave  Indians  on  San  Carlos  and  upou  inhabitants  of  Owen  Lakes  country*. 
In  this  service  he  was  engaged  until  August,  1865,  when  he  resigned  his  commission 
and  resumed  business  at  Esmeralda. 

In  May,  1866^  Mr.  Dodd  was  married  to  Lucy  A.  Sproat,  a  native  of  Middleboro, 
Massachusetts.  Life  now  began  to  assume  a  new  aspect.  He  began  to  feel  the  neces- 
sity of  establishing  a  home  where  there  would  \ye  a  degree  of  permanency  such  as  no 
strictly  mining  locality  ever  off*ers.  With  this  idea  in  mind  he  sold  out  his  business 
at  Esmeralda  and  started  for  Salt  Lake  City,  where  he  contemplated  establishing  a 
hardware  store  in  connection  with  the  Hawley  Bros.,  of  San  Francisco.  The  Mor- 
mons held  undisputed  control  of  Salt  Lake  City  at  that  time  and  President  Brigham 
Young  ruled  affairs  with  all  the  absolutism  of  the  Czar  of  Russia.  Mr.  Dodd  was 
soon  informed  that  he  could  not  start  in  business  at  that  point  unless  he  would  agree 
to  pay  tithes  to  the  Mormon  rulers,  this  he  refused  to  do.  He,  therefore,  began  to 
look  for  a  more  inviting  field  for  beginning  operations,  and  came  to  Oregon.  After 
making  a  tour  of  the  State,  he  located  at  Salem  where  he  established  a  hardware 
store  in  September,  1866.  For  two  years  he  was  rewarded  with  moderate  success 
when  he  disposed  of  his  stock  and  in  October,  1868,  came  to  Portland  where  he 
opened  the  hardware  story  of  Hawley,  Dodd  &  Co.,  Edward  \.  Hawley  being  his  partner 
and  M.  C,  Walter  N.  and  Cieo.  A.  Hawley,  of  San  I'Vancisco,  furnishing  a  portion  of 
the  capital  to  start  the  business,  and  becoming  their  financial  backers,  but  all  the  details 
of  the  business,  its  management  and  development,  were  entrusted  to  Mr.  Dodd  and 
partner,  but  Mr.  Dodd,  possessing  a  most  thorough  knowledge  of  the  business,  assumed 
practically  its  control  and  direction.  In  1880,  he  bought  out  his  partners'  interest 
and  has  since  been  sole  proprietor,  although  the  finn  name  of  Chas.  H.  Dodd  &  Co., 
has  Ixjcn  retained.  From  a  concern  with  limited  capital  against  strong  compe. 
tition  the  business  has  grown  to  large  proportions,  and  now  employs  a  capital  of 
from  $350,000  to  500,000  and  for  many  years  has  maintained  branch  stores  at 
Albany  and  Athena,  Oregon;  Spokane,  Pullman,  Colfax  and  Walla  Walla,  Washing- 
ton, and  Moscow  and  Lewiston,  Idaho. 


Biographical.  597 


From  his  first  connection  with  Portland  Mr.  Dodd  became  one  of  the  most  valua- 
ble factors  in  the  development  of  Oregon.  He  saw  that  to  make  the  State  prosperous 
it  was  only  necessary  that  its  rich  soil  should  be  cultivated.  The  settlers  who  came 
i6  Oregon  before  the  era  of  railroads,  by  the  long  distance  across  the  plains,  or  the 
more  expensive  route,  by  water,  in  most  cases  arrived  with  little  or  no  means,  and 
were  poorly  equipped  to  buy  the  necessary  implements  to  carry  on  agriculture.  When 
Mr.  Dodd  came  to  the  State  the  extensive  and  fertile  agricultural  lands  of  Oregon, 
Idaho  and  Washington,  naturally  tributary  to  Portland,  were  largely,  through  these 
drawbacks,  cultivated  only  to  a  limited  extent.  To  in  a  measure  remedy  this  state  of 
affairs,  Mr.  Dodd  established  supply  depots  in  convenient  localities,  personally  super- 
intending and  directing  the  work.  He  then  permitted  any  settler  who  might  be  in 
need  of  agricultural  implements,  and  without  means  of  paying  for  them,  to  take  them 
and  pay  for  them  whenever  they  were  able  out  of  the  cro|>s  to  be  raised.  Agricultural 
machinery  worth  thousands  of  dollars  was  loaned  and  sold  in  this  way  as  early  as 
1869.  The  Indian  wars  breaking  out  soon  after,  nearly  all  the  settlers  whom  he  had 
thus  supplied  were  driven  from  their  homes,  and  Mr.  Dodd  realized  but  small  returns 
from  his  venture.  But  he  had  the  future  good  and  prosperity  of  the  State  at  heart; 
was  not  looking  after  immediate  returns,  and  was  not  discouraged.  As  soon  as  peace 
was  secured,  new  settlers  came,  and  he  repeated  the  experiment  again — only  increas- 
ing the  volume  of  supplies,  loaning  them  under  the  same  conditions  he  had  done 
before.  Although  he  realized  from  this  venture  a  fair  profit,  he  has  besides  the  great 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  no  single  agency  did  more  to  prove  to  the  country  that 
the  region  his  enterprise  so  largely  assisted  to  bring  under  cultivation,  was  one  of  unsur- 
passed fertility.     In  this  direction  he  performed  a  work  of  far  reaching  importance. 

This,  however,  is  but  one  of  many  instances  wherein  he  rendered  his  adopted  State 
great  service.  He  has  been  at  the  front  and  among  the  recognized  leaders  in  so  many 
movements  for  the  public  good,  that  to  even  enumerate  them  would  extend  this  sketch 
beyond  its  prescribed  limits.  The  State  Board  of  Immigration,  one  of  the  strongest 
agencies  at  work  in  behalf  of  Oregon,  was  largely  created  by  his  efforts.  From  the 
time  the  subject  was  first  discussed  he  became  its  active  champion,  and  by  his  efforts 
before  the  Board  of  Trade  and  among  his  associates,  did  much  to  set  the  forces  in 
motion  which  culminated  in  its  formation  in  1881.  From  that  time  he  has  most  ably 
served  as  the  President  of  the  Board,  and  so  manifest  has  been  the  good  accomplished 
under  his  direction,  that  last  year,  (1889),  over  "f 35, 000  was  raised  by  voluntary  sub- 
scription in  Portland  to  carry  on  the  work,  while  for  1890,  over  $45,000  was  secured 
for  the  same  purpose.  For  many  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
and  for  nine  years  served  as  Vice  President,  largely  by  his  personal  efforts,  creating 
from  a  weak  and  powerless  organization  without  well  defined  aims  or  purposes,  a 
strong  and  influential  body,  whose  influence  upon  commercial  affairs,  is  felt  through- 
out the  St^te.  In  all  the  work  aided  by  and  directly  accomplished  by  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  behalf  of  Portland,  he  has  been  especially  active,  freely  devoting  his  time  and 
means  to  carry  out  every  project  which  seems  likely  to  advance  the  City's  good.  In 
1883  he  was  elected  a  School  Director,  and  served  for  five  consecutive  years— a  perio<l 
covering  the  most  important  years  in  the  history  of  the  Portland  Public  Schools — the 
High  School  having  been  completed  and  put  in  successful  operation  during  the  years 
named.     He  worked  incessantly  and  intelligently  in  the  direction  of  elevating  to,  and 


598  History  of  Portland. 


maintaining  a  high  standard  of  excellence,  both  in  teachers  and  curriculum,  many  of 
the  most  beneficient  and  liberal  measures  now  incorporated  in  the  present  school  sys- 
tem owing  their  origin  to  his  sagacious  counsel  and  vigorous  encouragement. 

Mr.  Dodd  is  a  man  of  strong  religious  convictions,  and  ever  since  his  residence  iu 
Portland,  has  been  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  has  l>een  specially  active 
in  Sunday-school  work,  having  been  Superintendent  of  St.  Stephen's  Sunday-school 
from  1868  to  1874,  and  of  Trinity  Sunday-school  from  1875  to  the  present  time,  never 
having  missed  being  at  his  post  a  single  Sunday  while  in  the  City. 

The  foregoing  is  merely  an  outline  of  Mr.  Dodd's  career,  and  gives  but  a  limitetl 
view  of  the  many  directions  in  which  his  active  energies  have  found  an  outlet.  It 
furnishes  but  a  feeble  idea  of  the  man,  and  no  insight  into  his  marked  individuality  or 
the  peculiarities  which  distinguish  him  from  other  men.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary*  to 
say  that  of  the  men  prominently  identified  with  the  forces  which  have  made  the 
Pacific  Northwest  what  it  is  to-day,  he  holds  no  mean  place.  Few^  men  possess  a 
greater  amount  of  physical  energy  or  have  had  a  more  varied  experience  with  men  or 
affaii-s.  His  mental  operations  are  quick,  while  his  ready  power  of  expressing  him- 
self forcibly  and  clearly,  would  be  the  first  tiling  to  impress  one  brought  in  contact 
with  him.  Quickly  grasping  any  subject  towards  which  his  mind  is  tume<l,  he  is  fer- 
tile and  original  in  applying  means  to  meet  every  emergency.  Whatever  he  under- 
takes he  goes  at  it  with  a  determined  energy,  which  seemingly  has  not  stopped  for  a 
moment  to  think  of  defeat.  There  is  perhaps  no  business  in  Portland  of  equal  mag- 
nitude to  his  own,  which  represents  so  thoroughly  the  effort  of  one  mind,  or  stands  so 
alone  as  the  creative  work  of  one  man.  He  physically  and  mentally  works  harder 
than  any  one  connectetl  with  his  business,  and  has  the  constitution  to  permit  of  such 
application.  Although  he  impresses  the  casual  observer  as  the  active,  ever-on-the- 
move,  always  ready  and  apparently  never  tired  business  man,  still  he  does  an  immense 
amount  of  general  reading,  and  keeps  fully  abreast  of  the  literary  and  scientific  world, 
and  has  one  of  the  best  selected  private  libraries  in  the  City.  He  has  a  delightful 
social  side,  and  finds  perhaps  his  greatest  pleasure  in  associating  with  congenial 
friends.  He  has  not  let  the  daily  grind  of  an  exacting  business  career  sour  his  nature 
or  impair  the  natural  kindness  of  his  disposition.  The  hard  features  of  commercial 
life  are  left  behind  when  he  emerges  from  business,  and  all  that  makes  a  man  welcome 
wherever  he  goes,  takes  their  place.  His  home  life  has  been  singularly  a  happy  one. 
His  wife,  of  refined  and  cultured  mind,  has  been  truly  a  helpmate  and  companion, 
sharing  and  co-operating  in  all  of  his  plans,  and  has  done  her  full  share  toward  creat- 
ing a  home  where  he  finds  his  chief  happiness.  They  have  had  foiu-  children,  three  of 
whom,  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  are  living.  Their  elder  son,  Walter  H.,  is  a  graduate 
of  Amherst  College,  Class  of  1889.  while  their  second  son,  Edward  Arthur,  is  in  the 
Junior  class  at  the  same  College,  and  will  graduate  in  1891. 

Such  is  a  brief  accouut  of  this  successful  merchant  and  public  spirited  citizen, 
whose  talents  were  never  hoarded  in  a  napkin  or  put  out  at  usury,  but  have  in  manv 
ways  enrichetl  his  fellows,  and  in  full  measure  contributed  to  the  prosperitv  o( 
his  State  and  section. 


Biographical.  599 


HOLMAN,  James  Duval,  was  bom  in  August  18,  1814,  on  his  father's  farm  in 
Woodford  county,  Kentucky.  He  was  of  the  Holman  family  so  well  known  in 
the  Southern  and  Middle  States.  His  mother  was  a  Duval  of  Hugenot  descent,  a 
family  of  equal  position  with  the  Holmans  in  the  south.  Of  Mr.  Holman *s  great- 
grand  parents,  three  came  from  Virginia  and  one  from  North  Carolina.  His  patents 
were  John  and  Betsy  L.  Holman,  who  were  married  in  October,  1810.  In  1817  they 
moved  to  Tennessee,  where  they  resided  for  nine  years,  when  they  moved  to  Clay 
county,  Missouri.  His  mother  died  in  1841,  and  his  father  came  to  Oregon  in  tlie 
immigration  of  1843.  In  August,  1840,  James  D.  Holman  married  Rachael  Hixson 
Summers  of  Fleming  county,  Kentucky,  who  survives  him,  and  now  (1890),  is  living 
at  Portland.  Her  family  is  well  known,  particularly  in  Kentucky,  and  is  closely 
related  to  the  Hixson,  Mason  and  Morris  families  of  that  State.  She  was  born  Febru- 
ary 27,  1823,  in  Fleming  county,  Kentucky,  and  in  1840  accompanied  her  father, 
Thomas  Summers,  on  a  trip  to  Western  Missouri,  which  he  took  for  his  health. 
While  there  she  met  Mr.  Holman. 

Soon  after  he  reached  manhood  Mr.  Holman  engaged  in  mercantile  business. 
During  that  period  the  large  number  of  Mormons  in  this  section  of  Missouri  caused 
great  trouble,  and  partly  by  reason  of  his  opposition  to  them  and  the  active  measures 
against  them,  in  which  he  was  a  participant,  he  failed  in  business  in  1845.  His 
failure,  too,  was  caused  in  part  by  tlie  bankruptcy  of  a  large  number  of  his  debtors. 
He  refused  to  avail  himself  of  bankruptcy  or  insolvency  laws,  and  after  he  came  to 
Oregon,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  do  so,  he  voluntarily  repaid,  with  accrued  inter- 
est, all  his  debts  and  obligations  contracted  before  his  business  in  Missouri  failed. 

In  1846,  Mr.  Holman,  with  his  wife  and  two  children  came  to  Oregon  across 
the  plains  in  the  immigration  of  that  year.  They  left  Independence,  Missouri,  in 
the  spring  and  arrived  at  Oregon  City,  October  5,  1846.  It  is  unnecessary  to  recount 
the  hardships  and  privations,  and  their  encounters  with  Indians  on  their  toilsome 
land  journey  of  over  2,000  miles.  All  old  residents  of  Oreg'jn  know  what  the 
immigrations  of  tlie  '40's  endured.  It  is  a  part  of  the  heroic  history  of  Oregon. 
When  Mr.  Holman  and  his  family  started  for  Oregon,  all  that  part  of  the  country 
north  of  California  was  in  dispute  between  the  United  States  and  England.  The 
Ashburton  treaty  was  not  made  until  the  immigrants  of  1846  were  half  way  over  on 
their  western  march.  At  that  time  California  belonged  to  Mexico.  There  were 
rumors  of  war,  but  the  Mexican  war  had  not  begun.  And  gold  was  not  known  as 
being  in  California  until  two  years  later. 

The  real  pioneers  of  Oregon  are  those  who  came  prior  to  1847.  Others  experi- 
enced equal  hardships  and  dangers,  but  the  Ashburton  treaty  settled  forever  the 
claim  that  what  is  now  the  States  of  Oregon  and  Washington  belonged  to  the  United 
States.  Those  who  came  after  1846  took  no  risk  on  the  ownership  of  the  country. 
The  earlier  immigrations  had  made  plain  the  road  which  the  later  immigrations 
traveled. 

On  their  arrival,  Mr.  Holman  and  his  family  stayed  for  a  short  time  in  Oregon 
City,  but  soon  after  they  settled  on  a  piece  of  land  in  Clackamas  county,  near 
Oregon  City,  where  they  lived  until  1848.  At  that  time  news  was  brought  by  ^ 
sailing  vessel  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  Mr.  Holman  took  his  family 
to  Oregon  City,  and,  with  others,  organized  a  party  to  go   overland  to  California 


600  History  of  Portland. 


and  seek  for  gold.  This  party  were  the  first  overland  Argonauts  to  arrive  in  Cali- 
fornia after  the  discovery  of  gold  there.  Mr.  Holman  was  very  successful  in 
mining.  After  some  months*  working  of  placers  on  the  American  and  the  Feather 
rivers,  he  "cleaned  up"  several  thousand  dollars.  General  Sutter  becoming 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Holman  made  him  an  offer  to  take  charge  of  all  of  Sutter's 
property,  but  he  declined  and  recommended  his  old-time  friend,  Peter  Burnett, 
aftenn-ards  Governor  of  California,  who  accepted  the  trust,  and  thus  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  large  fortune. 

In  1849  Mr.  Holman  returned  to  Oregon  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  where  he 
purchased  a  large  stock  of  merchandise.  He  opened  a  store  at  Oregon  City,  and 
his  business,  which  was  directed  with  energy  and  intelligence,  prospered.  He 
engaged  in  various  enterprises  calculated  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  town.  He 
was  active  in  raising  money  to  build  a  dam  to  increase  the  depth  of  the  water  in  the 
Willamette  River  below  the  mouth  of  the  Clackamas.  Among  his  papers  at  his  death 
was  found  a  deed  of  the  ferry  at  Oregon  City,  for  which  he  paid  $14-, 000.  In  184-9 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  first  Territorial  legislature  of  Oregon,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  Engrossed  Bills  of  that  body  as  well  as  a  member  of 
the  committee  on  Ways  and  Means. 

In  1850,  having  acquired  considerable  money  from  his  business  and  foreseeing 
that  the  commercial  city  of  the  northwest  must  be  on  tide-water  and  not  at  Oregon 
City,  and  believing  that  such  a  place  would  be  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River, 
he  bought  from  Dr.  Elijah  W^lite  a  large  interest  in  tlie  townsite,  saw  mill  and  other 
improvements  at  Pacific  City,  on  Baker's  Bay,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  In 
that  year  he  moveil  to  Pacific  City  with  his  family  and  took  up  a  donation  claim 
adjoining  Pacific  City  by  purchasing  the  possessory-  rights  of  the  first  occupant 

For  a  time  Pacific  City  gave  promise  of  being  the  principal  city  of  the  northwest. 
A  number  of  buildings  were  erecte<l  there  and  a  large  amount  of  capital 
was  investetl  in  the  place;  but  by  the  jealousy  of  rival  towns,  the  whole  townsite  was 
taken  by  the  l'nite<l  States  Government  as  a  military  reser\-ation  after  expensive 
improvements  had  l)een  made  by  Mr.  Holman  and  others.  Pacific  City,  thereupon, 
went  down  and  finally  was  blotted  out  of  existence.  Mr.  Holman  had  invested  all 
his  capital  there.  Among  his  other  investments  he  had  lx>ught  a  large  hotel  fully 
equippe<l,  which  entirely  filled  a  ship.  This  building,  shipped,  of  course,  in  "  knock 
down"  state,  was  sent  from  New  York,  alrea<ly  to  l)e  put  togetlier.  Mr.  Holman 
Ixnight  and  erecte<l  this  hotel  at  Pacific  City,  at  a  total  cost  of  |2H,000.  This  with 
the  other  improvements  and  the  townsite  was  taken  by  the  government  in  1852,  and 
it  was  not  until  1S79  that  the  government  paid  him  for  the  hotel  building.  For  the 
other  improvements  and  for  the  townsite,  the   government  has   not  paid   to  this  day. 

On  the  failure  of  Pacific  City,  Mr.  Holman  was  compel le<i  to  move  on  his  dona- 
tion claim,  and  to  live  there  for  four  years  to  secure  it  as  provided  by  the  donation 
law.  He  perfecte<l  his  right  to  this  claim  and  it  now  l)elongs  to  his  widow.  On  this 
land  is  situatetl  the  present  town  ofllwaco.  In  1857,  he  and  his  family  moved  to 
Portland,  where  he  resideil  and  engageil  in  business  until  his  death  in  1882. 

In  1859  he  w:is  elected  one  of  the  three  directors  of  the  Portland  Public  Schools, 
and  was  annually  electe<l  for  four  successive  terms.  He  was  a  strong  advocate  of 
of  the  high  school  system  of  education,  and  although  he  was  opposed  in  his  \iews  by 


Biographical.  601 


others  while  in  office,  he  had  the  satisfaction  some  years  before  his  death  of  seeing 
his  ideas  carried  out,  and  the  Portland  Public  Schools  brought  to  their  present  high 
standard. 

In  1872,  he  started  the  town  of  Ilwaco  on  his  donation  claim  on  Baker's  Bay. 
This  town  has  grown,  and  at  this  time  Ilwaco  and  its  suburbs  and  surroundings  com- 
prise the  principal  watering  place  of  the  Northwest. 

In  his  youth  Mr.  Holnian  joined  the  Baptist  Church,  but  the  close  communion  of 
that  religious  body  not  being  in  accordance  with  his  ideas,  he  finally  became  a 
Presbyterian.  He  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Portland,  in  1860,  and  was  one  of  the  elders  of  that  church  from  early  in  its  organi- 
zation to  the  time  of  his  death,  being  then  the  senior  elder.  In  1881  he  erected  at 
Ilwaco,  on  a  very  sightly  knoll,  near  his  own  cottages,  a  tasteful  chapel.  His  breadth  of 
religious  view  was  shown  when  he  made  this  structure  a  union  chapel,  free  and  open 
alike  to  all  denominations.  He  joined  the  Ancient  Order  of  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons  in  1850,  being  initiated  at  Oregon  City  in  the  first  lodge  of  that  order  founded 
in  Oregon.     He  remained  an  affiliating  member  until  his  death. 

Politically,  like  most  Southerners,  he  was  a  Whig  until  the  breaking  up  of  that 
party.  He  then  became  a  Democrat  and  remained  such,  steadfast  through  all  its 
dark  times  and  trouble,  until  the  end  of  his  life.  Through  the  civil  war  he  assisted 
in  keeping  his  party  together  at  great  personal  cost  to  himself;  for  he  was  not  a  man 
to  swerve  from  his  principles  for  personal  gain,  convenience  or  popularity. 

The  hardships  and  exposures  of  his  pioneer  life  had  told  on  his  naturally  strong 
constitution  and  repeated  attacks  of  inflamatory  rheumatism  brought  on  Bright's 
disease,  which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  his  death. 

Of  his  children,  he  left  surviving  him  two  sons,  Frederick  V.  and  George  F. 
Holman,  both  nieml)ers  of  the  Oregon  bar,  and  two  daughters,  Frances  A.  and  Kate 
S.,  who  still  live  with  their  mother  in  Portland.  Of  his  wife,  it  should  be  said  that 
in  coming  to  Oregon  she  willingly  sacrificed  everything  except  her  love  for  her 
husband,  and  her  children.  She  was  in  all  respects  truly  his  helpmate.  By  her 
buoyant  dispo.sition  she  aided  her  husband  in  making  financial  losses  an  incentive  to 
new  effort;  and  reverses  were  robbed  of  bitterness  by  her  sympathy  and  encourage- 
ment. There  never  was  a  better,  braver  or  nobler  woman,  nor  a  truer,  more  devoted, 
nor  more  helpful  wife. 

Mr.  Holinan's  business  affairs  were  for  many  years  interrupted  and  interfered  with 
by  the  long  sickness  and  death  of  several  of  his  children.  At  one  time  after  he  had 
started  in  business  at  Portland,  a  daughter  Ijccame  ill,  and  in  order  that  she  might 
have  better  medical  treatment,  and  with  the  hope  that  her  sufferings  would  be  less,  in 
a  more  favorable  climate,  he  abandoned  his  business  and  took  his  daughter  and 
wife  to  California,  where  his  daughter  died.  This  is  a  single  instance  out  of  a  life 
time  of  tender  devotion.  He  educated  all  of  his  children  and  bore  his  privations 
and  losses  on  their  behalf  willingly,  as  sacrifices  on  the  altars  of  love  and  duty. 
In  every  domestic  relations  he  was  ever  a  true  and  very  tender  man. 

Mr.  Holman  was  a  pioneer  of  the  highest  type.  He  was  in  every  way  honest  and 
honorable — an  exemplary  man  and  a  model  citizen.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  religious 
convictions  and  devoted  to  his  family  and  his  friends. 


602  History  of  Portland. 


Personally  he  was  brave,  almost  to  recklessness;  he  was  temperate,  untiring, 
energetic  and  far-seeing.  He  never  dispaired,  never  let  circumstances  conquer  him 
never  sat  idle  bewailing  his  luck  or  his  fate.  He  had  the  enterprise  and  the  daring 
in  business,  which  is  so  essential  for  the  well-being  of  new  communities.  Had  he 
possessed  less  of  these  qualities  he  might  have,  by  the  process  of  accumulation  and 
the  accident  of  his  location,  acquired  great  wealth.  Had  not  his  whole  fortune  been 
tied  up  in  his  Pacific  City  enterprise,  or  had  the  government  paid  him  in  1852,  as  it 
should  have  done,  instead  of  deferring  the  payment  for  twenty-seven  years,  there- 
after, he  would  undoubtedly  have  made  a  vast  fortune  at  Portland.  As  it  was  he  died 
possessed  of  property,  the  income  of  which  was  sufficient  for  his  support. 

After  all  it  is  the  personal  qualities  of  a  man  which  make  him,  and  by  which  he  must 
be  measured  and  remembered.  If  a  man  acquires  great  wealth  by  his  ability  and 
enterprise  it  becomes,  in  a  proper  sense,  a  monument  to  him,  as  is  any  other  deserved 
success.  But  if  a  man  acquires  riches  by  tlie  enterprise,  energy-  or  foresight  of  others 
the  wealth  thus  accunmlated  becomes  usually  greater  than  the  man.  The  failures  of 
such  a  man  as  Mr.  Hoi  man  are  often  more  creditable  than  the  successes  of  some 
other  men. 

Mr.  Holman  was  a  leader  in  that  army  of  state  builders — the  immigrants —  not  a 
camp  follower  who  lived  on,  nor  a  sutler  who  grew  rich  from  the  needs  of  such  an 
army.  It  was  such  men  as  he  who  cut  out  the  way  to  Oregon  and  made  it  possible 
for  later  comers  to  be  successful.  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  helped  lay  strong  and 
solid  the  foundations  of  the  State  of  Oregon.  When  sufficient  time  has  elapsed  to 
write  a  true  history  of  Oregon  and  its  people  it  will  he  then  that  such  pioneers  as  Mr . 
Holman  will  be  given  the  credit  which  they  so  fully  deser\'e. 


JONKS,  Hknrv  K.,  M.  I).  The  subjedt  of  this  brief  memoir,  was  bom  iu  Steuben, 
Oneida  county,  New  York,  in  1837,  and  is  the  third  child  in  a  family  of  nine 
children  of  Hugh  W.  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Jones.  His  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm 
and  during  his  youth  his  educational  advantages  were  of  the  most  limited  nature. 
The  humble  circumstances  of  his  parents,  with  a  large  family  to  pro\-ide  for,  made  it 
impossible  to  give  their  children  anything  but  the.  most  meagre  opportunities  for 
gaining  an  education.  Until  after  our  subjecl  had  reached  his  majority  most  of  his 
time  had  been  passed  in  labor  upon  the  farm,  during  which  period  the  only  mental 
discipline  he  received  was  such  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  winter  terms  at 
the  tUstricl  school.  Environed  by  circumstances  which  offered  little  to  encourage 
his  ambition;  surrounded  by  obstacles  which  seemed  almost  insurmountable,  his 
future  prospe<5ls  for  a  career  beyond  that  of  the  most  mo<lest  pretensions  were  any- 
thing but  bright,  but  even  at  this  time  he  determined,  however  much  the  effort  might 
cost  him,  to  rise  above  the  conditions  in  which  fate  had  placed  him. 

He  knew  how  hard  the  work  would  be,  he  knew  the  difficulties  he  must  face  and 
overcome,  but  a  high  purpose  made  him  courageous  and  he  was  not  dismayed. 
Solely  <lependent  upon  himself,  with  none  to  share  the  inspiration  of  his  cherished 
plans,  and  with  few  kindly  works  of  cheer,  he  commenced  the  struggle  for  self 
advancement.     It   is,    perhaps,  needless   to   follow    him   during  this  period  of   his 


Biographical.  603 


experience  which  finds  a  counterpart  in  the  lives  of  so  many  who  from  like  condition 
under  the  incentive  of  a  worthy  purpose  have  risen  to  fame  and  fortune.  Compelled 
to  earn  his  support  by  severe  manual  toil,  while  pursuing  his  studies,  his  advance  was 
necessarily  slow,  and  when  he  entered  Whitetown  Seminary  he  was  at  that  time  much 
older  than  the  oldest  student  there.  The  embarassment  caused  by  this  disparity  in 
age  was  a  severe  test  of  manhood,  and  surely  there  is  not  a  moment  in  the  history  of 
this  gentleman  when  the  unalloyed  metal  of  his  chara<5ler  shone  more  brightly  than 
when  he  resolved  under  the  circumstances  to  go  on  in  pursuit  of  an  education. 

While  preparing  for  college  at  this  institution  the  war  of  the  rebellion  began  and 
all  over  the  great  State  of  New  York,  at  the  first  call  for  troops,  men  from  the  ranks 
of  the  professions,  from  the  farm,  from  work  shops,  from  schools  and  colleges  stepped 
forth  to  defend  the  Union.  A<5live  preparations  for  war  were  seen  on  every  hand, 
ordinary  avocations  of  life  lost  their  charms,  and  in  the  wild  excitement  which 
prevailed  the  military  spirit  was  enkindled  in  the  most  sluggish  nature.  Our  young 
student  was  enthused  with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  even  his  ambitious  thirst  for 
an  education  Ijecame  secondary  to  the  great  cause  which  demanded  the  services  of 
every  patriotic  citizen.  After  assisting  in  the  formation  of  a  company  he  enlisted  on 
August  1,  1862,  as  a  private  in  Company  I,  146th  Regiment,  New  York  Volunteers. 
His  promotion  in  the  service  rapidly  followed.  On  0<5lober  1, 1862,  he  was  appointed 
first  sergeant;  February  1st,  1863,  commissioned  second  lieutenant;  March  1,  1863, 
first  lieutenant,  and  November  19, 1863,  captain. 

Beginning  with  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,, December,  1862,  he  partic- 
ipated in  all  the  engagements  ii^  which  his  regiment  bore  such  conspicuous  and 
gallant  part  until  disabled  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  5th,  1864-.  This 
service  included  the  memorable  advance  on  the  Rappahannock  by  Gen.  Burnside  in 
the  winter  of  1862-3,  and  the  sanguinary  battle  of  Chancellor\411e  under  Gen. 
Hooker,  in  May,  1863.  The  soldierly  (jualities  displayed  by  Officer  Jones  quickly 
won  the  good  opinion  of  his  superiors.  At  the  time  of  Gen.  Hooker's  withdrawal 
from  the  Rappahannock,  the  146th  was  on  picket  duty  at  the  United  States  Ford. 
When  the  Union  forces  withdrew.  Officer  Jones  was  left  with  100  men  to  guard  this 
ford,  remaining  twelve  hours  after  his  coq)s  and  regiment  had  left.  He  then  by  a 
forced  march  started  to  rejoin  them,  overtaking  them  some  sixteen  or  eighteen  hours 
later  at  Manassas  Jun<5lion.  He  was  overtaken  on  the  way  by  the  advance  of  Stuart's 
cavalry  and  skirmished  with  them  for  about  ten  miles  south  of  Bristow  Station.  His 
condu<5l  throughout  this  trying  ordeal  was  most  highly  commended  and  was  the 
dire<5l  cause  of  his  subsequent  promotion  as  captain. 

During  the  second,  third  and  fourth  days  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  the  146th 
regiment  formed  a  part  of  the  3d  brigade,  2d  di\'ision,  5th  army  corps  and  was  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight  which  marked  this  decisive  battle  of  the  rebellion.  On  the 
second  day  the  146th,  with  three  other  regiments,  at  a  severe  loss  of  officers  and 
men,  charged  up  and  obtained  possession  of  Little  Round  Top,  a  position  recognized 
by  Meade  and  Lee  as  the  key  of  the  critical  battle  of  the  war,  and  held  it  through  the 
entire  engagement.  It  was  here,  on  the  third  day  of  the  fight,  while  his  company 
supported  Battery  D,  of  the  5th  U.  S.  Artillery,  during  the  terrible  cannonading, 
that  Officer  Jones  received  a  concussion,  which,  with  his  subsequent  exposure  event- 
ually resulted  in  the  loss  of  hearing  in  his  right  ear  and  partial  loss  in  the  left. 


604  History  of  Portland. 


After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  he  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Williamsport,  the 
pursuit  of  Lee*s  army  and  the  battle  of  L/ondon  Heights.  He  also  engaged  in  the 
skirmishing  in  advance  of  Stuart's  cavalry  at  Brandy  Station,  while  the  Union  forces 
were  falling  back  from  Culpepper  to  Rappahannock  Station  in  October,  1863.  This 
service  was  followed  by  participating  in  the  battles  of  Rappahannock  Station. 
November,  1863,  and  of  Mine  Run  of  the  same  month,  after  which  the  regiment 
went  into  winter  quarters  at  Warrentojundlion  where  it  was  employed  in  guarding 
the  railroad. 

The  14-6th  shared  the  fortunes  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  until  the  spring  of 
1864-,  when  General  C»rant  assumed  command  of  the  arm  v.  The  first  real  service 
the  regiment  saw  under  this  great  commander  was  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  on 
the  5th  of  May,  1 864-,  when  it  suffercfl  almost  total  annihilation — of  the  600  who 
entered  the  engagement  there  was  lost  nearly  4-00  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners. 
Captain  Jones  being  among  the  wounded,  having  received  a  severe  gun  shot  wound 
in  the  right  leg. 

Being  disabled  for  service  he  was  granted  forty  days  leave  of  absence,  which  was 
afterward  extended  to  sixty  days.  He  was  ordered  to  the  officer's  hospital  at 
Annapolis,  Marj-land,  where  he  remained  one  month,  when  he  was  onlered  on  the 
recruiting  service  and  sent  to  Hart's  Island,  New  York  Harbor.  WTiile  engaged  in 
this  service  he  took  1 ,000  recruits  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  at  City  Point, 
Virginia,  made  two  trips  to  Fort  Federal  Hill,  Baltimore,  Maryland,  with  1,4-00 
recruits,  and  had  charge  of  200  recruits  while  transporting  them  to  tlie  Army  of  the 
James.  From  Noveml>er  1,  1864-,  to  June  30,  1865,  he  had  command  of  Company 
A,  pennanent  party  at  Hart's  Island,  after  which  he  rejoined  his  old  regiment  in 
Virginia,  where  he  was  entrusted  with  condu<5ling  one  hundred  men  who  had  been  dis- 
charged from  the  United  States  service,  July  15,  1865,  to  Hart's  Island,  where  they 
were  mustered  out  in  August,  1856. 

Captain  Jones  was  a  brave  and  efficient  soldier,  and  in  recognition  of  his  faithful 
and  meritorious  services  was  commissioned  by  the  President  of  the  United  States 
Brevet-Major  of  United  States  Volunteers.  He  took  a  genuine  pride  and  interest 
in  the  service;  thoroughly  equipped  himself  for  every  duty,  and  on  all  occ<isions 
proved  himself  a  true  soldier  and  a  capable  officer.  His  interest  in  a  military*  life 
awakened  amid  the  throes  of  war  and  stimulated  by  the  excitement  and  dangers  of 
many  battlefields,  still  abides  with  him,  and  he  continues  to  take  a  lively  interest  in 
military  matters  and  is  uimsually  well  informed  as  to  the  methods  and  plans  of 
modern  warfare. 

The  three  years  he  had  spent  in  the  service  of  his  country*  seriously  interfered 
with  his  plans  for  acquiring  an  education,  but  he  had  no  sooner  abandoned  the  life 
of  a  soldier  than  we  find  him  in  August,  1865,  equiping  himself  for  an  honorable 
profes.sion  by  reading  medicine  in  the  office  of  Dr.  C.  C.  Reed,  of  Oneida  county. 
New  York.  At  the  end  of  a  few  months  he  went  to  New  York  City  to  continue  liLs 
study  under  the  dire<5lion  of  the  celebrated  surgeon,  Dr.  Stephen  Smith,  and  to  attend 
Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College.  After  completing  two  courses  of  le<5lures  at  this 
institution  he  was  appointed  Acling  Assisting  Surgeon  in  the  United  States  Army, 
and  ordered  to  the  Department  of  the  Gulf,  at  New  Orleans,  where  he  served  with 
great  success  through  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  that  year.     He  remained  in  tlie 


Biographical.  605 


Department  of  the  Gulf  until  Odlober,  1868,  most  of  the  time  serving  as  post 
surgeon  of  Troop  M,  4th  U.  S.  Cavalry,  at  different  times  being  stationed  at  New 
Orleans,  Opelousis  and  Monroe,  Louisiana.  At  the  latter  place  in  addition  to  his 
duties  as  post  surgeon  he  had  charge  of  the  Freedman's  Dispensary  for  four  months, 
where  he  had  an  extensive  practice  and  gained  a  valuable  experience. 

From  the  Department  of  the  Gulf  he  was  transferred  to  New  York,  where  he 
attended  another  course  of  le<5lures  at  Belle vue,  graduating  from  this  college  in 
February,  1869.  He  remained  in  New  York  City,  pra<5licing  his  profession,  until 
March,  1871,  in  the  meantime  besides  having  charge  of  a  class  in  Orthopedic  Sur- 
gery' in  the  26th  Street  Dispensary,  conducted  by  the  Bellevue  College  faculty,  he 
made  two  trips  with  United  States  troops  as  A<5ling  Assistant  Surgeon,  one  to  Fort 
McKavitt,  Texas,  and  the  other  to  San  Francisco,  California.  In  March,  1871,  he 
was  ordered  to  the  Department  of  the  Columbia,  his  first  duty  being  to  accompany  as 
Surgeon  recruits  to  Camp  Warner  and  to  return  with  two  companies  of  the  23d  U.  S. 
Infantry  from  Camps  Warner  and  Hamie  to  Fort  Vancouver.  On  the  completion  of 
this  duty  he  was  stationed  at  Fort  Stephens  as  Post  Surgeon.  In  0<5lober,  1872,  he 
accompanied  the  2d  U.  S.  Cavalry  to  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  after  which  he  returned 
to  New  York  and  while  awaiting  orders  took  special  courses  of  instnidlion  in  the 
throat,  ear  and  general  pathology.  In  1873,  he  again  accompanied  a  detachment  of 
troops  to  San  Francisco,  when  he  was  ordered  to  the  Department  of  the  Columbia 
and  put  on  duty  at  Fort  Stephens,  where  he  remained  until  September,  1873,  when  he 
resigned  from  the  service  and  began  tlie  pra<5lice  of  his  profession  in  Portland. 

His  course  from  that  time  to  the  present  is  well  known  to  the  citizens  of  Portland. 
Thoroughly  prepared  for  his  work  by  painstaking,  careful  study  and  an  extended 
experience,  he  at  once  took  high  rank  in  his  profession.  His -success  from  the  first 
was  marked  and  his  reputation,  both  in  and  out  of  the  profession,  has  grown  from 
year  to  year  until  at  the  present  time  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  holds  a 
conspicuous  place  among  the  most  successful  medical  men  of  Oregon.  His  pra<5lice 
has  been  general  in  chara<5ler,  but  has  largely  pertained  to  surgery,  in  which  his 
success  has  been  particularly  noteworthy,  having  successfully  performed  nearly  all  of 
the  capital  operations.  He  is  a  bold  operator,  but  it  is  the  boldness  which  comes  from 
conscious  skill,  trained  knowledge,  and  experience.  Never  rash,  he  aims  to  leave 
nothing  in  the  simplest  surgical  operations  to  chance  or  accident,  still  he  has  that 
faith  and  confidence  in  himself  so  essential  to  the  highest  success  in  surgery,  and  has 
never  shirked  an  operation,  however  difficult  or  hazardous,  which  he  believed  it  was 
his  duty  to  perform.  While  he  is  a  positive  character  he  is  not  dogmatic  in  his  views. 
He  is  willing  to  learn  from  those  even  many  years  his  junior;  is  wedded  to  no  out- 
grown theories  and  has  ever  been  ready  to  adopt  new  methods  which  have  been  found 
superior  to  the  old.  He  is  not  self  assertive;  has  little  self  appreciation;  is  noted  for 
extreme  simplicity  and  modesty  of  chara<5ler,  and  few  physicians  are  so  free  from 
personal  jealousies  or  so  just  in  estimating  the  attainments  of  their  brother  practition- 
ers. Dr.  Jones  assisted  in  the  organization  of  St.  Vincent's  Hospital  and  his  best 
energies  were  dire<5led  to  its  establishment  on  a  firm  and  permanent  basis.  From 
1877  until  1885,  he  was  surgeon  in  charge,  and  the  claims  of  this  institution  received 
at  his  hands  all  that  his  time  and  talents  could  do  for  it,  counting  even  the  claims  of 
his  large  and  important  private  pra<5lice  as  secondary  to  those  of  the  hospital.     Those 


606  History  of'  Portland. 


familiar  with  the  historv*  of  the  hospital  during  the  period  named  bear  willing  testi- 
mony to  the  self  sacraficing  spirit  he  at  all  times  evinced  to  make  it  a  worthy 
institution  for  the  alleviation  of  human  suffering.  He  is  still  connected  with  the 
hospital  as  consulting  surgeon  and  cheerfully  and  readily  meets  all  the  drains  it 
makes  upon  his  time  and  cngergies.  He  has  also  held  for  several  years  the  chair  of 
clinical  and  operative  surgery  in  the  medical  department  of  the  Oregon  State 
ITniversity. 

In  1879,  Dr.  Jones  made  an  extended  tour  of  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  relaxation 
from  professional  cares,  and  largely  that  he  might  add  to  his  knowledge  of  his 
profession.  With  the  prestige  of  having  studied  under  Dr.  Stephen  Smith  and  the 
friendship  of  Dr.  Marion  Sims  and  Dr.  Addis  Emmet,  he  was  treated  with  great  cor- 
diality and  shown  much  attention  by  Sir  Spencer  Wells,  Sir  Morrell  Mackenzie  and 
Dr.  Thornton,  of  England,  Dr.  Schwartzc,  of  Halle,  Germany,  and  other  distinguished 
physicians  of  the  Old  World. 

Personally  Dr.  Jones  is  a  man  of  kindly  feeling  and  of  strongly  sympathetic 
nature.  Familiarity  and  constant  conta<5l  with  physical  pain  has  rather  intensified 
than  dulled  his  feelings,  and  as  a  physician  he  is  as  gentle  and  tender  as  a  woman, 
while  a  certain  magnetism  of  manner  and  genuine  solicitation  for  his  patients  beget 
in  return  a  degree  of  confidence  and  love  such  as  is  gained  by  few  physicians.  Out- 
side of  his  profession  he  has  been  a  great  reader,  and  despite  the  onerous  duties  of  a 
large  pra<5lice  has  managed  to  keep  unusually  well  informed  as  to  the  wonderful 
progress  made  in  recent  years  in  everj^  branch  of  knowledge.  His  knowledge  of  men, 
the  rebuffs  of  fortune  and  the  asperities  of  life  have  not  soured  his  nature,  but  have 
broadened  his  views  and  sympathies  and  made  more  enthusiastic  his  faith  in  finding 
some  good  in  everyone.  He  takes  a  philosophical  view  of  things  and  is  the  broadest 
and  most  cheerful  of  optimists.  His  nature  is  mirthful  and  he  believes  in  getting  and 
giving  good  as  he  goes  along.  For  his  friends  and  intimates  he  has  a  frank,  warm 
and  loyal  attachment— as  warmly  and  loyally  reciprocated.  Such,  in  brief,  are  some 
of  the  prominent  chara<5leristics  of  this  earnest,  skillful  physician,  whose  career  has 
been  one  of  constant  and  unflagging  devotion  to  duty,  of  many  generous  deeds  and 
of  acflive  usefulness. 

He  was  married  in  February,  1879,  to  Miss  Mary  H.  Savin,  of  Portland,  a  lady  of 
culture  and  refinement,  and  their  union  from  nmtual  tastes  and  devotion  has  been 
one  of  singular  congeniality  and  happiness. 


MALLORY,  RuFUS,  is  of  New  England  ancestrA',  and  descended  from  a  strong 
and  hardy  stock,  well  fitted  for  the  furnishing  of  such  elements  as  are  needed  to 
command  success  and  produce  laudable  results  in  the  new  but  rapidly  growiug  country 
in  which  his  lot  was  cast  and  where  modem  civilization  has  come  witli  such  splendid 
strides. 

About  1816  his  parents  lefl  their  home  in  Connecticut  for  the  West,  as  New  York 
State  was  then  called,  and  settled  in  the  town  of  Coventry  in  Chenango  County,  at 
which  place  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  nine  children,  was 
bom,  June  10,  1831. 


Biographical.  607 


Five  or  six  months  after  his  birth  the  family  removed  to  Steuben  county.  This 
county  at  that  time  was  new  and  thinly  settled,  and  the  disadvantages  that  existed 
were  almost  as  great  as  a  few  years  later  confronted  the  pioneers  in  opening  up  the 
country  of  the  far  West.  Railroads  had  not  reached  this  part  of  the  country,  and 
communication  with  the  outside  world  was  extremely  difficult.  School  houses  had 
been  built,  but  instruction  was  limited  to  the  common  branches,  and  often  entrusted 
to  unqualified  persons. 

It  was  amid  these  surroundings  that  the  youth  of  our  subject  was  passed.  Being 
the  youngest  of  the  family  his  labors  on  the  farm  were  less  demanded  than  that  of  the 
older  boys,  and  when  school  was  in  session  he  usually  attended,  but  considering  the 
character  of  the  school  this  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  much  of  an  advantage. 
When  he  had  grown  old  enough  for  his  labor  to  be  of  value  on  the  farm,  this  condition 
of  things  was  changed,  and  he  was  obliged  to  work  during  the  summer,  and  his  school 
privileges  were  confined  to  the  winter  mouths.  Even  at  this  period,  and  with  his 
indifferent  surroundings  and  opportunities,  he  made  some  progress  and  showed  a 
decided  aptitude  for  acquiring  knowledge,  taking  rank  among  the  first  at  school.  At 
Alfred  Center,  eleven  miles  from  his  father's  farm,  was  an  institution  known  as  Alfred 
Academy.  To  attend  that  school  was  the  especial  ambition  of  every  youth  in  the 
vicinity  who  desired  to  gain  an  education.  The  winter  that  young  Mallory  became 
fourteen  years  of  age,  he  was  sent  to  this  Academy  and  remained  during  a  term  of 
thirteen  weeks,  which  constituted  the  first  real  systematic  course  of  instruction  he 
had  ever  received.  This  was  supplemented  by  two  more  terms  during  the  following 
two  winters,  which  completed  all  the  educational  advantages  he  ever  enjoyed.  He 
however  made  good  use  of  his  opportunities  and  obtained  'a  fair  English  education, 
taking  advantage  of  which,  like  so  many  country-bred  American  boys,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  obtained  a  position  as  teacher,  and  was  thus  employed  for  several  winters, 
working  on  the  farm  during  the  other  months  of  the  year. 

Although  there  was  little  in  his  surroundings  to  stimulate  his  desire  to  enter  the 
legal  profession,  young  Mallory  had  an  ambition  to  become  a  lawyer.  He  had  not 
the  means  necessary  to  permit  him  to  pursue  the  required  study,  and  his  parents  were 
not  only  financially  unable  to  assist  him,  but  v^ere  not  disposed  to  encourage  what 
they  deemed  an  unworthy  ambition.  Both  al'  his  parents  had  been  reared  under  the 
old  Puritanical  theories  respecting  religioWand  secular  affairs,  and  they  were  firmly 
convinced  that  a  lawyer's  chance  for  hoiwSr  was  small  indeed. 

These  discouragements  and  difficulUfes,  however,  did  not  cause  young  Mallory  to 
abandon  his  cherished  desire  to  becoDfie  a  lawyer,  and  an  opportunity  to  make  a  start 
towards  this  end  soon  presented  itseif.  In  1851  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  store  in  the 
small  town  of  Andover,  about  fouj?' miles  from  his  home.  One  of  the  partners  in  the 
firm  was  an  old  gentleman  namfed  Jonathan  Everett.  He  was  an  excellent  scholar 
and  a  well  read  lawyer,  and  bjifcl  been  a  practitioner  in  New  Hampshire  at  the  same 
bar  with  Daniel  Webster ,  on  several  occasions  having  been  associated  witli  him  in  the 
trial  of  cases.  He  hf^icl  quite  a  number  of  law  books,  the  use  of  which  he  kindly 
loaned  to  Mr.  Mallov^'.  Here  our  young  clerk  began  the  study  of  Blackstone  during 
the  leisure  momeiy^  when  not  employed  at  his  duties  about  the  store.  Mr.  Everett 
was  of  great  asf^f^nce  to  him,  and  did  much  to  properly  direct  his  studies. 

[39] 


608  History  of  Portland. 

Mr.  Mallor>'  remained  at  Andover,  spending  the  little  time  he  could  spare  from  his 
work  in  reading  law,  until  the  spring  of  1855,  when  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  three 
flat  boats,  loaded  with  sash,  doors  and  blinds,  and  proceeded  with  them  down  the  Alle- 
ghany and  Ohio  rivers,  selling  them  to  the  towns  on  the  way  until  he  reached  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio  river.  Returning  home  he  came  by  railroad  from  Cairo  to  Chicago, 
and  thus  had  an  excellent  chance  to  see  the  West  This  trip  determined  him  to  set- 
tle in  the  West,  and  in  the  fall  of  1855  he  located  in  Henry  county,  Iowa,  where  he 
taught  school  and  read  law  until  1858,  when  he  started  for  Oregon,  reaching  Jackson- 
ville on  the  1st  day  of  January*,  1859,  a  few  weeks  before  the  bill  admitting  the  State 
into  the  Union  was  signed  by  the  President.  He  first  located  in  Roseburg.  Douglas 
county,  where  he  engaged  in  teaching,  and  continued  his  law  studies  in  the  office  of 
Ex-Governor  S.  F.  Chad  wick,  who  was  then  practicing  law  at  that  place.  In  the 
spring  of  1860  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Circuit  Court,  and  in  June  of  the 
same  year  was  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years  Prosecuting  Attorney  for  the  first  judic- 
ial district,  composed  of  the  counties  of  Douglas,  Jackson  and  Josephine,  and  during 
his  administration  of  the  duties  of  this  office,  established  a  reputation  as  an  attorney 
and  counsellor  which  was  highly  creditable,  and  to  which  succeeding  years  and  exper- 
ience have  constantlv  added  new  laurels. 

In  1862  he  was  elected  a  meml>er  of  the  legislature  from  Douglas  county,  and  in 
the  fall  of  the  same  year  removed  to  Salem,  where  he  was  appointed  by  the  Governor 
Prosecuting  Attorney  of  the  Third  District,  comprising  the  counties  of  Marion,  Linn, 
Polk  and  Yamhill.  Yice  Hon.  J.  G.  Wilson,  who  was  appointed  first  Circuit  Judge  of 
the  Fifth  Judicial  District.  So  satisfactorily  did  Mr.  Mallor>-  discharge  the  duties  of 
this  office,  that  in  186+  he  was  elected  to  succeed  himself  for  a  full  term  of  two  years. 

-\t  the  general  election  in  1866  Mr.  Mallory  was  elected  Congressman  from  Ore- 
gon, and  for  two  years  worthily  represented  his  State  at  the  National  Capital.  At  the 
end  of  his  term  he  returned  to  5>alem  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  In  1872  he 
represented  Marion  county  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  was  elected  Speaker  of  the 
House,  in  which  position  he  was  noted  for  the  fairness  of  his  rulings,  and  displayed  a 
high  order  of  executive  and  parliamentary'  ability. 

In  1874-  he  was  appointed  United  v^tates  District  Attorney  for  Oregon  by  President 
Crrant,  and  reappointed  in  1878  by  President  Hayes.  In  1882  he  was  appointed 
Special  Agent  of  the  Treasury  Department  to  go  to  Sangapore,  India,  on  business  con- 
nected with  that  department.  On  completion  of  his  business  at  Sangapore,  he  re- 
turned home  by  continuing  his  journey  wtstward,  and  thus  circumnaWgated  the 
globe,  his  actual  travelling  time  l>eing  seventy-eight  days. 

On  his  return  to  Portland  Mr.  Mallory  resu.ned  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
remaining  alone  until  the  fall  of  1883,  when  he  ertered  into  partnership  with  C.  A. 
Dolph,  Ex-Judge  C.  B.  Bellinger  and  Joseph  Simon,  .;  legal  firm  which  from  that  time 
to  the  present  has  commanded  a  large  and  most  lucrati-e  practice. 

Mr.  Mallor\'  was  originally  a  Whig  in  politics,  but  since  the  overthrow  of  that  party 
he  has  acted  with  the  Republican  party. 

.\s  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Mallorj-  ranks  among  the  best  in  the  State.  His  legal  abilities 
have  been  teste<l  in  many  important  cases  which  have  attracted  \%'ide  attention  because 
of  new  and  novel  questions  involved,  and  on  no  occasion  has  he  failed  to  acquit  him- 
self admirably.     His  painstaking  industry,  his  power  of  incisive  anai^-sis,  his  large 


Biographical.  609 


knowledge  of  the  principles  and  precedents  of  the  law  are  conspicuous  in  all  the  fields 
of  litigation,  but  appear  to  bast  advantage  in  the  trial  of  cases.  As  a  pleader,  he 
particularly  excels,  his  style  of  speaking  being  always  clear,  pointed  and  forcible.  He 
has  always  been  a  hard  worker  in  his  profession,  thoroughly  knowing  that  the  lawyer 
who  fails  by  severe  application  to  keep  abreast  of  the  constantly  changing  conditions 
pertaining  to  the  practice  of  the  law  must  be  content  to  occupy  a  secondary  position. 
It  has  been  mainly  through  this  element  of  his  character,  with  unlimited  love  for  his 
calling,  and  a  worthy  ambition  to  excel,  that  his  high  position  in  his  profession  has 
been  obtained. 

Mr.  Mallory  was  married  June  24,  1860,  to  Miss  Lucy  A.  Rose,  daughter  of  Aaron 
Rose,  of  Roseburg,  Oregon.     They  have  one  child,  a  son. 


STEEL,  James,  banker  of  Portland,  was  born  in  Woodsfield,  Monroe  county,  Ohio, 
on  September  20,  1834,  and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Elisabeth  (Lawrie)  Steel. 
His  father  was  bom  in  Scotland,  but  came  to  America  when  nine  years  of  age,  and 
was  engaged  in  merchandising  nearly  all  of  his  active  life.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
character,  and  every  action  in  business  and  private  life  was  governed  by  the  most  rigid 
adherence  to  a  lofty  conception  of  right  and  justice.  He  was  strongly  opposed  to 
human  slavery,  and  was  very  active  for  more  than  twenty  years  prior  to  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion  in  the  efforts  made  by  leading  abolitionists  toward  liberating  the  bond- 
men of  the  South  by  means  of  what  at  the  time  was  termed  the  "underground  railway 
scheme."  He  died  in  Portland  in  1881,  after  which  his  wife  lived  with  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  until  her  death  in  188.7. 

The  boyhood  of  James  Steel  was  passed  at  Woodsfield  and  Stafford,  Ohio,  the 
family  removing  to  the  latter  place  iu  1844.  His  education  was  limited  to  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  began  his  business  career  in  his  father's 
store.  Two  year's  later  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his  father,  continuing  in 
such  relations  for  three  years.  He  then  made  a  limited  tour  of  the  West,  visiting  Iowa 
and  Kansas,  and  in  the  spring  of  1856  located  at  Dubuque,  Iowa,  where  he  secured  a 
position  as  clerk  and  finally  as  book  keeper  in  a  wholesale  dry  goods  house.  Here  he 
remained  until  February,  1857,  when,  after  a  short  visit  home,  he  returned  to  Dubuque 
and  became  book  keeper  and  general  manager  of  a  hardware  house,  remaining  until 
1859.  This  service  was  followed  by  engaging  for  a  short  time  in  the  crockery  busi- 
ness, which  proved  unprofitable  and  was  given  up. 

Dming  the  memorable  political  campaign  of  I860  he  took  an  active  part.  After 
the  contest  was  over  he  left  Dubuque,  and  being  out  of  employment  at  the  time,  the 
Member  of  Congress  then  elect  from  the  Dubuque  district  proposed  to  secure  him  some 
political  appointment,  which  he  declined.  During  these  later  years  his  father  had, 
through  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  been  induced  to  lend  his  name  to  some  friends  by 
endorsing  notes,  which  led  to  the  loss  of  all  his  property,  and  while  under  the  laws  of 
Ohio  he  could  have  retained  his  homestead,  yet  he  gave  up  everything  to  his  credit- 
ors, but  pricipally  to  pay  the  debts  of  others.  This  broke  up  the  family  and  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  then  came  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  hoping  thereby  to  advance  his  for- 
tunes and  thus  be  able  to  assist  his  father  and  family. 

In  the  summer  of  1862  he  came  to  Portland,  and  being  without  means,  he  for  a 
time  worked  for  his  board.     He  then  became  clerk  in  the  grocery  house  of  Robert 


610  History  of  Portland. 


Pittock,  where  he  remained  until  January,  1864,  when  he  took  the  position  of  book- 
keeper and  cashier  in  the  dry  goods  and  grocery  house  of  Marker  Bros.  At  the  end 
of  two  years  this  firm  retired  from  business,  and  for  a  short  time  thereafter  Mr.  Steel  was 
located  in  Oregon  City,  straightening  up  the  affiiirs  of  the  Oregon  City  Woolen  Mills. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Portland  in  1866,  Mr.  Steel 
became  its  Cashier.  Banking  business  at  this  date  in  Portland  had  not  reached  much 
magnitude,  and  for  some  years  all  of  the  practical  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  bank 
devolved  upon  Mr.  Steel.  It  was  in  this  position  that  his  natural  talent  for  financiering 
found  a  congenial  scope,  and  during  the  sixteen  years  he  was  connected  with  this 
institution  he  gained  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  careful  business  man.  He  saw  this 
bank  grow  from  a  small  beginning  until  it  became  one  of  the  largest  banking  institu- 
tions on  the  North  Pacific  Coast,  and  during  this  period  his  labors  were  most  highly 
appreciated  by  those  associated  with  him. 

In  July,  1882.  Mr.  Steel  resigneci  his  position  in  the  bank,  to  engage  in  a  general 
warehouse  and  grain  business  on  the  line  of  the  Oregonian  Railway  Company,  having 
leased  from  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company  all  of  the  warehouses  owned 
by  this  corporation.  He  had  hardly  gotten  his  new  business  under  way  when  unfor- 
seen  and  unfortunate  railway  complications  put  a  sudden  end  to  the  establishment  of 
any  well  regulated  or  profitable  business  in  this  direction,  and  he  was  forced  to  aban- 
don the  enterprise. 

In  1883  Mr.  Steel  l>ecame  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Willamette  Savings  Bank, 
and  was  elected  its  first  President.  The  depressed  condition  of  affairs  which  came 
upon  the  country-  soon  after  this  bank  was  organized,  left  little  for  savings  banks  to 
do,  and  it  was  determined  to  change  the  institution  into  an  active  commercial  bank, 
and  in  1886  the  present  Merchants'  National  Bank  was  formed,  of  which  Mr.  Steel 
has  since  been  president.  His  labors  in  behalf  of  this  institution  have  been  marked  by 
rare  success;  and  to-day  it  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous  banking  houses  of  the  State. 

Besides  the  business  enterprises  enumerated,  Mr.  Steel  has  been  prominently  ident- 
ified with  the  Oregon  Construction  Company,  which  built  the  Oregon  Railway  and 
Navigation  line  from  Pendleton  to  Huntington,  and  the  Palouse  branch  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Railroad,  and  had  personal  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  road  from 
Colfax  to  Moscow.  He  was  one  of  the  promoters  of  and  is  largely  interested  in  the 
Klamath  River  Lumber  and  Improvement  Company,  a  corporation  formed  with  a  cap- 
ital stock  of  $500,000.  This  company  owns  a  large  body  of  timber  land  in  Klamath 
county:  owns  the  town  site  of  Klamath  City;  has  a  twenty  years  franchise  for  floating 
logs  and  timber  down  the  Klamath  river,  and  at  the  present  time  is  building  at  Klam- 
ath City  one  of  the  finest  saw  mills  on  the  Pacific  coa.st.  He  is  also  half  owner  in  the 
Oregon  Pottery  Company,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  incorporators  in  1884,  and  is 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Company,  and  is  also  president  of  the  Portland 
Trust  Company,  a  financial  corporation  of  $160,000  capital,  and  doing  a  large 
business. 

Mr.  Steel  is  associated  with  his  brother,  George  A.,  under  the  firm 
name  of  G.  A.  Steel  &  Co.,  in  the  insurance  and  real  estate  business.  They, 
together  with  a  few  other  leading  business  men,  purchased  about  400  acres 
of  land,  some  two  miles  south  of  Portland  which  was  divided  up  into  blocks  and  lots 
and  is  known  as  Fulton  Park.     In  order  to  bring  this  property  into  ready  market,  the 


blOGRAPHICAL.  61 1 


two  brothers  proposed  to  their  associates  to  build  an  eleAric  motor  road  from  the  city 
to  the  land.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  building  of  such  a  road  would  involve  the 
expenditure  of  a  large  amount  of  money  none  of  their  associates  in  the  Fulton  Park 
scheme  could  be  induced  to  invest  their  funds  in  an  eledlric  road  enterprise.  Know- 
ing, however,  that  if  the  property  was  to  be  made  valuable,  some  quick  and 
inexpensive  means  of  access  should  be  had  to  it,  a  proposition  was  made  by  Mr.  Steel 
and  his  brother  to  their  associates  that  they  would  build  the  road  themselves  in 
consideration  of  the  company  guaranteeing  them  a  subsidy,  which,  considering  the 
benefits  to  be  derived  by  the  company,  and  the  increased  value  that  would  be  given  to 
their  property,  was  very  small.  Their  proposition  was  accepted  and  the  two  brothers 
proceeded  immediately  to  the  formation  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway  Company, 
incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Oregon,  with  a  capital  stock  of  |200,000,  which  was 
subsequently  increased  to  1400,000.  Up  to  this  time  eledlric  roads  were  in  an 
experimental  stage,  and  particularly  so  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Two  or  three  such 
roads  had  been  attempted  in  California,  all  of  which  had  proved  disastrous  failures. 
One  road,  however,  was  then  being  operated  successfully  in  Seattle,  Washington. 
After  examining  the  matter  as  carefully  as  they  could  they  were  satisfied  that  such  a 
system  of  operating  a  road  would  be  especially  adapted  for  a  suburban  road.  They 
finally  entered  into  a  contra<5l  with  parties,  representing  the  Sprague  Electric  Co.,  to 
equip  their  road.  In  commencing  this  enterprise  the  primal  object  in  view  was  to  get 
access  from  the  southern  part  of  the  city  to  Fulton  Park.  It  was,  however,  at  once 
seen  that  in  order  to  make  their  enterprise  a  complete  success,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  have  their  line  of  road  extend  through  the  business  part  of  the  city,  and  finally  by  the 
purchase  of  a  franchise  fi-om  a  corporation  known  as  the  Traction  Co.,  and  with  some 
modification  of  the  same  from  the  city  they  secured  a  fi*anchise  which  extends  from 
G  street,  through  Second  and  other  streets,  southerly  to  the  city  limits.  When  they 
commenced  this  enterprise  they  were  unable  to  induce  any  other  parties  to  invest  their 
means  in  it,  and  therefore  had  to  carry  it  through  on  their  individual  credit.  The 
road  is  now  in  successful  operation  from  G  street  in  the  city  to  Fulton  Park,  a 
distance  of  4 1-7  miles;  is  being  operated  very  successfully,  and  is  generally  conceded 
to  be  one  of  the  best  properties  in  and  about  the  city.  They  contemplate  building  a 
branch  of  their  road  to  Riverview  and  other  cemeteries  contiguous  thereto  and 
ultimately  to  extend  their  line  to  Oswego  and  Oregon  City.  Besides  the  interests 
named  Mr.  Steel  is  financially  interested  in  various  other  minor  enterprises  while 
his  private  operations  in  real  estate  have  been  condudted  with  almost  uniform  good 
results. 

Mr.  Steel  was  married  in  November,  1866,  in  San  Francisco,  to  Miss  Mary  Ladd, 
a  sister  of  W.  S.  Ladd,  of  Portland.  They  have  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living,  one  son  and  three  daughters. 

Mr.  Steel  has  been  successful  in  business,  not  as  the  result  of  any  single  stroke, 
but  rather  as  the  result  of  patient,  persistent  and  well  dire<5led  effort.  He  possesses 
fine  business  judgment,  excellent  executive  ability  and  an  evenly  balanced  mind.  He 
is  naturally  conservative,  and  wild  speculative  methods,  with  promise  of  great  reward 
if  successful,  but  with  ruin  as  the  price  of  defeat,  have  no  charms  for  him.  No  man 
in  this  community  stands  higher  for  stridl  integrity  of  chara<5ler,  business  probity  and 
faithfulness   to  every   trust  and  obligation.     Portland  has  been  benefitted  in  many 


612  History  of  Portland. 


ways  by  his  ready  willingness  to  promote  by  his  labor  and  his  means  every  deserving 
public  enterprise,  and  according  to  his  ability  to  do  and  to  give  the  city  has  had  no 
more  helpful  and  sincere  friend.  He,  early  in  life,  became  a  convert  to  the  Christian 
faith  and  has  been  an  a<5live  member  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Portland 
ever  since  his  residence  here,  having  served  as  trustee  and  treasurer  for  the  last 
twenty  years  and  also  for  several  years  as  member  of  the  board  of  deacons  and  as  one  of 
the  committee  on  Home  Missions.  He  is  an  ardent  republican  in  political  faith  and 
takes  an  adlive  interest  in  political  afiOairs,  but  has  never  sought  or  desired  public 
office. 

He  is  generous  and  charitable,  and  although  closely  devoted  to  business  interests, 
gives  much  time  and  freely  contributes  of  his  means  to  benevolent  work.  Personally 
he  is  a  genial  and  pleasant  gentleman,  but  modest  and  retiring  in  disposition  and 
naturally  shrinks  from  anything  that  would  lead  Him  into  the  public  view.  He  is 
domestic  in  his  tastes,  loves  his  home,  and  finds  his  chief  pleasure  in  the  family  circle 
and  in  friendly  intercourse  with  intimate  friends. 


REID,  Wii*i.iAM,  capitalist  and  banker  of  Portland,  was  bom  in  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land, November  22, 1841.  His  ancestors  for  several  generations  were  residents 
of  Forfarshire,  and  the  town  of  Dundee.  David  Reid,  his  father,  was  conductor  on  the 
first  railroad  ever  operated  in  Scotland,  and  for  thirty  years  was  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  railroad  interests  of  that  country.  The  education  of  our  subject  began 
in  his  native  city  at  St.  Andrew's  Parish  School,  and  was  completed  at  the  University  of 
Glasgow  in  1865.  At  the  latter  institution,  after  finishing  his  literary  course,  he 
studied  for  the  bar  and  was  admitted  in  1867  as  an  attorney.  He  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  at  Dundee  in  partnership  with  Alexander  Douglas,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Reid  &  Douglas.  He  soon  acquired  an  extensive  practice,  and  acted  as  coun- 
sel for  the  United  States  for  several  American  claimants  under  the  Alabama  treaty. 
In  1868  he  was  employed  by  Mrs.  Mary  Lincoln,  widow  of  the  President,  to  assist  in 
the  preparation  of  the  Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  While  employed  on  this 
work  he  was  appointed  by  President  Grant  as  United  States  Consul  at  Dundee,  and 
held  the  office  at  that  port  until  his  removal  to  Oregon  in  1874.  It  was  during  the 
period  he  held  this  office  that  his  attention  was  called  to  Oregon.  From  the  official 
reports  published  on  the  State,  and  from  intercourse  with  Americans,  he  gained  much 
information  concerning  the  State.  In  1873  he  prepared  and  published  a  pamphlet 
entitled  Oregon  and  Washington  Considered  as  a  field  for  Labor  and  Capital.  30,- 
000  copies  were  circulated,  and  the  influence  they  exerted  upon  the  development  of 
this  portion  of  the  union  is  almost  beyond  calculation.  The  attention  of  capitalists 
and  immigrants  was  directed  towards  this  section,  and  one  of  the  immediate  results 
was  the  formation  of  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Trust  and  Investment  Company,  of 
Scotland,  with  a  paid  up  capital  of  {250,000.  The  Earl  oi  Airlie  was  made  president 
of  the  company,  and  Mr.  Reid  its  secretary.  lu  1874  he  was  sent  to  Oregon  to  organ- 
ize its  business  in  this  State,  and  so  highly  impressed  was  he  with  the  resources  of 
this  region  that  he  determined  to  permanently  locate  here,  and  becom6  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States. 


Biographical.  613 


In  1876  Mr.  Reid,  with  several  Scotch  capitalists,  established  at  Portland  the  Ore- 
gon and  Washington  Mortgage  Savings  Bank,  the  first  savings  bank  of  deposit  in  the 
State.  This  financial  institution,  with  its  predecessor,  made  loans  averaging  |650,000 
a  year  until  1881,  when  they  had  |3, 700, 000  at  interest,  and  not  a  dollar  had  then 
been  lost  by  bad  debts.  In  1876  Mr.  Reid's  friends  organized  the  Dundee  Mortgage 
Company  with  a  capital  of  $500,000.  For  three  years  this  company  loaned  $750- 
000  per  year.  With  it  in  1880  was  consolidated  the  Oregon  and  Washington  Trust 
Investment  Company,  the  united  capital  being  increased  to  $5,000,000.  In  1882  he 
established  the  First  National  Bank  of  Salem,  and  was  appointed  its  president.  Du- 
ring the  following  year  he  organized  the  Oregon  Mortgage  Company.  The  great  con- 
fidence reposed  in  Mr.  Reid's  sagacity  and  honesty  can  be  best  realized  from  the  fact 
that  from  May,  1874  to  June,  1885,  he  had  made  more  than  5,000  loans,  amounting 
to  $7,597,741,  of  which  $6,000,000  consisted  of  Scotch  capital.  The  losses  incurred 
in  handling  this  large  sum  were  very  small,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  in  the  financial  his- 
tory of  this  country,  any  equal  amount,  used  in  the  same  way,  was  ever  so  judiciously 
or  profitably  managed. 

In  1881  Mr.  Reid  organized  the  Salem  Mills  Company,  and  in  1882  formed  a  com- 
pany with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  called  the  City  of  Salem  Company,  which  first  intro- 
duced into  Oregon  the  gradual  reduction  system  of  milling.  This  company  erected 
at  Salem  the  largest  brick  mills  in  the  State,  having  with  the  hydraulic  use  of  the  San- 
tiam  river,  an  estimated  3,600  horse  power.  In  1884  he  organized  and  established 
the  Portland  National  Bank,  of  which  he  has  since  been  president. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Portland,  Mr.  Reid,  in  connection  with  Captain  A.  P. 
Ankeny,  organized  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Portland,  and  was  its  active  secretary  for  a 
period  of  six  years.  Shortly  after  the  creation  of  this  commercial  body  he  appeared 
before  both  houses  of  the  legislature,  and  strongly  urged  the  passage  of  the  first  Ore- 
gon Immigration  act,  and  it  was  largely  through  his  efforts  that  the  first  State  Board 
of  Immigration  was  created.  Of  this  body  he  was  also  appointed  secretary,  holding 
the  position  for  three  years.  During  this  period  he  wrote  several  pamphlets  describ- 
ing the  resources  of  Oregon,  which  were  translated  into  Flemish,  German,  French, 
and  Spanish,  many  thousands  of  them  being  circulated  at  the  Paris  and  Phila- 
delphia expositions  of  1876. 

The  present  railroad  system  of  the  Pacific  northwest  owes  much  to  Mr.  Reid's 
enterprise  and  energy.  In  1880  he  conceived  the  idea  of  constructing  a  system  of 
narraw  gauge  railroads  in  Western  Oregon  with  its  terminus  at  Portland,  and  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Oregonian  Railway  company,  of  which  the  Earl  of  Airlie 
was  made  president,  and  Mr.  Reid  local  president.  The  construction  of  this  system 
met  with  great  opposition  from  rival  railroad  companies  and  the  city  of  Portland. 
In  the  fall  of  1880,  118  miles  had  been  completed,  but  when  Mr.  Reid  proposed  to 
locate  his  terminus  on  the  public  levee  of  Portland,  the  citizens  made  a  most  vigorous 
fight  against  the  project.  The  fight  was  taken  into  the  halls  of  the  Legislature,  in  the 
session  of  1880,  where,  after  considerable  opposition,  a  bill  was  passed  by  a  two-thirds 
vote  of  the  senate  and  house,  over  the  governor's  veto,  entitling  Mr.  Reid's  company, 
which  at  that  time  was  very  popular  with  tlie  farmers  of  the  Willamette  valley  as  an 
opposition  road,  to  permanently  occupy  the  public  levee  of  Portland  for  its  terminus 
and  depot  grounds.     The  road  was  tlien  completed  for  a  distance  of  163  miles,  and 


614  iilSTORY  OF   t^ORTLANb. 


had  its  road  bed  graded  to  a  point  within  eleven  miles  of  Portland  at  a  cost  of  $2,000- 
000,  where  its  further  extension  to  the  city  was  stopped  by  the  Scotch  owners  of  the 
enterprise,  who,  despite  Mr.  Reid's  opposition,  leased  the  road  to  the  Oregon  Rail- 
way and  Navigation  Company  for  a  guarantee  rent  of  seven  per  cent,  upon  its  paid  up 
stock  for  a  period  of  ninety-six  years,  whereupon  Mr.  Reid  withdrew  from  its  man- 
agement. In  1884  the  Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company  repudiated  its  lease, 
as  Mr.  Reid  had  predicted  it  would,  upon  the  ground  that  the  Legislature  had  not 
authorized  the  lease.  Much  litigation  followed,  and  finally  the  court  appointed  a 
receiver.  In  the  meantime  the  road  had  not  been  completed,  and  the  grant  of  the 
levee  by  the  legislature  had  expired.  Residents  of  the  Willamette  valley  who  would 
be  gfreatly  benefitted  by  the  completion  of  the  road,  now  appealed  to  Mr.  Reid  to 
again  take  hold  of  the  enterprise.  At  their  urgent  solicitations  he  again  applied  to 
the  Legislature  for  another  grant  of  the  forfeited  levee,  and  undertook  to  complete 
the  road  from  the  place  abandoned  in  1881  to  Portland.  The  bill  which  was  intro- 
duced for  this  purpose  led  to  another  severe  legislative  contest,  the  City  Council  of 
Portland  and  the  Scotch  owners  of  the  former  road  being  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
scheme.  Notwithstanding  their  opposition,  however,  the  grant  was  passed  in  Febru- 
ary, 1885.  Mr.  Reid  had  previously  incorporated  the  Portland  and  Willamette  Valley 
Railway  Company,  and  at  once  commenced  the  construction  of  the  road  from  the 
uncompleted  portion  built  in  1880  and  1881,  and  had  the  entire  S3rstem  finished  to 
the  terminus  on  the  levee  in  Portland  in  November,  1887.  This  road,  in  which  Mr. 
Reid  has  been  so  largely  interested,  has  been  of  immeasurable  benefit  to  the  fanners 
residing  in  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Willamette.  Its  existence  is  almost  wholly  due 
to  his  energy  and  persistence,  and  partly  to  the  investment  of  his  own  capital.  He  is 
Vice  President  of  the  road,  and  its  successful  operation  and  its  direct  benefit  to  Port- 
land, have  vindicated  Mr.  Reid's  judgment,  and  in  a  great  measure  silenced  the  oppo- 
sition it  originally  encountered. 

Mr.  Reid's  success  in  railroad  projects  caused  the  citizens  of  Astoria  in  the  spring 
of  1889  to  solicit  his  services  to  finance  aud  build  the  Astoria  &  South  Coast  railway 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  at  Young's  Baj'  to  the  Willamette  Valley,  which  the 
Oregon  &  California  Railroad,  with  a  land  grant  since  forfeited,  had  failed  to  accom- 
plish during  the  preceding  eighteen  years.  Knowing  the  opposition  he  would  encoun- 
ter, Mr.  Reid  for  three  mouths  declined  the  task;  but  after  continued  pressure  from 
Astoria,  and  in  person  selecting  his  own  route  across  the  Coast  Range,  and  ascertain- 
ing the  location  thereon  of  valuable  beds  of  coal,  iron  stone,  cedar  and  fir  timber,  he 
in  July,  1889,  undertook  the  responsibility  of  financing  for  and  building  that  road, 
and  became  the  president  of  the  company.  In  December,  1889,  he  had  fifteen  miles 
of  track  laid,  and  twelve  more  miles  graded.  He  then  proceeded  to  New  York,  where 
he  obtained  propositions  from  railroad  capitalists  to  supply  the  necessary  capital  to 
complete  the  construction  of  the  100  miles  (including  the  Seaside  Branch)  from 
Astoria  to  the  Southern  Pacific  company's  line  in  Western  Oregon,  and  turn  the  road 
over,  when  constructed,  to  such  New  York  capitalists  in  conjunction  with  himself. 

So  much  for  a  bare  outline  of  the  career  of  Mr.  Reid.  It  leaves  untold  many,  very 
many,  of  the  directions  in  which  his  aggressive  energies  have  found  outlet;  it  gives 
only  a  few  salient  facts  in  a  life  crowded  with  events  and  crowned  with  rare  success. 
Enough  has  been  told  to  prove  that  he  is  a  man  of  undauntable  will  and  perseverance, 


felOGRAPfalCAt.  6l5 


and  a  sagacious  financier.  He  is  a  man  of  remarkable  energy,  and  his  capacity 
for  work  seems  almost  unlimited.  Always  active,  ever-on-the-move  and  apparently 
never  tired,  it  is  a  wonder  to  his  friends  when  he  finds  time  for  needed  rest. 
His  main  power  seems  to  lie  in  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  perseverance  with  which 
his  plans  are  pursued.  If  one  path  to  a  desired  end  is  closed,  he  seeks  another;  but 
the  object  on  which  he  has  fixed  his  eye  is  never  abandoned.  He  extracts  pleasure 
out  of  work  and  appears  most  happy  when  organizing  the  business  details  of  some 
great  enterprise,  really  enjoying  the  task  for  its  very  complexity. 

Mr.  Reid  was  married  in  December,  1867,  to  Agnes,  daughter  of  Alexander  Dun- 
bar, of  Nairn,  Scotland.  They  have  had  five  children,  of  whom  two  are  sons,  bom  in 
Scotland,  now  twenty  and  eighteen  years  old,  and  three  daughters,  born  in  Portland. 


MACKENZIE,  Dr.  Kenneth  A.  J.,  was  bom  in  Cumberland  House,  a  Hudson  Bay 
Company  post  in  Manitoba,  Canada,  Jan.  13,  1859,  and  is  a  son  of  Roderick 
and  JaneMackenzie.  He  is  of  Scotch  descent  and  representative  of  a  well  known 
family  of  Ross  Shire,  Scotland,  the  old  families  of  Langwell  and  Aldy,  earls  of  Cro- 
martie  and  Brahan,  being  a  branch  of  the  Mackenzies. 

Roderick  Mackenzie,  his  father,  was  for  many  years  Chief  Fa<5lor  in  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  service  and  is  now  one  of  its  retired  officers,  living  at  Melbourne  in 
Eastern  township,  Canada.  He  is  a  man  of  great  purity  and  strength  of  character, 
widely  known  and  respedled  for  his  integrity  and  who  made  a  deservedly  high 
reputation  for  rare  executive  and  business  ability.  His  wife,  Jane  Mackenzie,  is  also 
a  descendent  of  an  ancient  family  of  Ross  Shire,  and  a  woman  of  many  graces  of 
mind  and  heart. 

At  the  age  of  seven  the  subjedl  of  our  sketch  was  sent,  with  an  elder  brother,  to 
Jedburgh,  Rakbiu^hshire,  Scotland,  where  he  entered  the  Nest  Academy,  an  old  and 
celebrated  preparatory  school.  Here  he  remained  for  several  years  and  until  he  had 
completed  the  prescribed  course  of  study  necessary  for  admission  to  Edinburgh 
University,  which  renowned  institution  he  was  about  to  enter  when  the  sudden  and 
unexpedled  death  of  his  brother  caused  him  to  return  home  and  occasioned  an  entire 
change  in  his  plans.  Even  at  this  time,  however,  he  had  determined  to  enter  the 
medical  profession  and  his  subsequent  education  was  dire<5led  toward  this  end. 

After  his  retmn  home  his  preliminary  education  was  continued  at 
the  High  School,  Montreal,  and  at  the  Upper  Canada  College  of  Tor- 
onto. In  1876,  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  McGill  University, 
Montreal,  where,  after  a  course  of  four  years,  he  graduated  with  the  degree  of  M.  D., 
C.  M.  Being  at  the  time  under  age  and  desiring  to  further  prosecute  the  study 
of  medicine,  before  beginning  the  adlive  practice  of  his  profession,  he  went  to 
Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  attended  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 
After  receiving  his  degree  from  this  institution  he  was  about  to  enter  a  competitive 
medical  examination  for  admission  to  the  India  Medical  service,  but  he  was  persuaded 
to  abandon  this  course  upon  the  a  J  vies  of  Surgeon  General  Alexander  Anderson,  a 
relative,  who  had  passed  twenty  years  in  India.  At  this  time  his  father,  through 
correspondence  with  Donald  Macleay,  of  Portland,  had  obtained  information  which 
led  him  to  believe  that  this   city  offered  a  good  field  for  the  practice  of  medicine. 


616  History  of  Portland. 


This  was  impressed  upou  his  sou  and  was  the  cause  of  his  final  location  in  Portland. 
After  leaving  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Mackenzie  spent  a  year  in  serious  study  in  the 
London  Hospital  and  Medical  College,  and  University  College  Hospital,  London. 
From  there  he  went  to  Paris,  Berlin  and  Vienna  and  at  these  diflferent  cities  by  study, 
observation  and  pra<5lical  experience,  largely  added  to  his  knowledge  of  medicine 
and  surgery.  At  Vienna  he  spent  nearly  a  year  in  a  large  general  hospital  pra<?lice, 
following  the  clinics  of  the  most  eminent  specialists  in  that  renowned  medical  center. 
This  valuable  experience  was  followed  by  a  few  months  of  general  travel  in  Europe, 
when  he  returned  to  America  and  with  little  delay  came  to  Oregon,  arriving  in  Port- 
land in  the  winter  of  1882. 

Dr.  Mackenzie  at  once  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  chosen 
field  and  from  the  beginning  his  success  was  such  as  to  give  him  a  high  place  among 
the  city's  ablest  and  oldest  pra<5litioners.  His  reputation  as  a  skillful  physician  and 
surgeon  has  steadily  increased  and  at  the  present  time  he  enjoys  a  most  extensive  and 
remunerative  prac^ce.  Among  his  professional  brethren  his  talents  and  attainments 
are  universally  recognized  and  conceded  to  be  of  high  order,  their  recognition  of  his 
merit  and  ability  having  been  shown  on  many  occasions.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Oregon 
State  Medical  Association,  of  which  he  was  eledled  president  in  1887,  an  honor  never 
before  accorded  to  one  of  his  years.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Portland  MedicBl 
Society,  and,  as  far  as  his  time  and  professional  duties  would  permit,  has  sought  to 
make  it  an  instrument  to  advance  the  tone  and  character  of  the  local  profession.  For 
many  years  he  has  been  one  of  the  surgeons  of  St.  Vincent  Hospital.  He  is  consult- 
ing surgeon  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  associate  surgeon  of  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Pacific  railroads,  and  professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  in 
the  Medical  School  of  the  Oregon  State  University.  His  contributions  to  medical 
literature  have  pertained  mostly  to  surgical  subjedls.  Among  the  subjects  treated 
especially  deserving  of  mention  are  "Surgical  Treatment  of  Empyema,"  and 
"Lateral  Cur%'ature  of  the  Spine,"  which  were  published  in  the  transa<5lions  of  the 
Oregon  State  Medical  Association. 

Dr.  Mackenzie  was  married,  in  1885,  to  Cora  Scott,  a  daughter  of  Pliny  Hardy,  a 
well  known  lawyer  of  New  Orleans  and  a  comrade  of  Pierre  Soulet,  a  distinguished 
statesman  of  Louisiana.    They  have  two  children,  Ronald  and  Jean  Mackenzie. 

Few  physicians  make  such  rapid  advance  in  their  calling  as  is  illustrated  in  the 
career  of  Dr.  Mackenzie.  His  success  may  be  largely  ascribed  to  his  natural  love  for 
his  profession,  his  earnest  and  exclusive  devotion  to  his  work  and  the  most  careful 
and  thorough  preliminary  training.  Added  to  the  advantages  of  instrudtion  under 
the  best  medical  teachers  of  Europe,  he  has  been  a  close  student  and  a  hard  worker. 
When  he  entered  upon  the  pradlice  of  his  profession  he  was  thoroughly  prepared. 
There  was  nothing  superficial  about  his  knowledge,  and  when  he  began  to  treat 
diseases  and  perform  surgical  operations  his  skill  was  quickly  recognized  by  results. 
Confidence  in  him,  both  in  the  profession  and  among  his  patients,  was  thus  early 
established  and  his  subsequent  career  has  only  increased  that  confidence  and  added 
to  his  reputation. 

His  pradlice  has  been  general  in  characfler,  but  has  embraced  some  of  the  most 
difficult  cases  in  surgery-,  a  branch  of  medical  science  for  which  he  has  evinced  a 
high  order  of  skill  and  in  which  he   has  performed  some  very  successful  operations. 


Biographical.  617 


His  income  from  his  pra<5lice  is  large,  and  by  prudent  financial  management  he  has 
already  gained  a  modest  competency.  He  takes  deep  interest  in  sanitary  and 
charitable  work  and  in  many  pra<5lical  ways  has  done  much  to  advance  both.  Person- 
ally he  is  a  gentleman  of  pleasant  and  winning  manner,  has  a  wide  circle  of  close  and 
intimate  friends,  and  in  the  social  life  of  Portland  is  a  prominent  figfure.  In  a  profession 
where  distin<5lion  usually  comes  late  in  life,  Dr.  Mackenzie  has,  while  yet  young  in  years, 
attained  to  a  position  in  the  front  rank  among  the  physicians  of  Oregon — an 
achievement  which,  with  his  strong  vigorous  intelle<5l,  united  to  a  rugged  constitution, 
permitting  an  unusual  degree  of  mental  and  physical  exertion,  gives  abundant  reason 
to  believe  that  a  career  of  still  greater  usefulness  and  still  higher  honor  await  him  in 
the  years  to  come. 

0  ATM  AN,  Harrison  B.,  of  Portland,  was  born  in  Courtland  county.  New  York, 
February  25,  1826.  His  father,  Harvey  B.  Oatman,  died  one  year  after  the  birth 
of  our  subje<5l.  One  year  later  he  accompanied  his  mother  to  Bellevue,  Huron 
county,  Ohio,  where  the  family  remained  ten  years  and  then  settled  in  West  Liberty, 
Ohio.  Here  they  remained  four  years,  after  which  they  removed  to  Elgin,  Illinois, 
and  a  few  years  later  to  Ogle  county,  in  the  same  State.  The  latter  place  was  at  this 
time  a  new  country  and  here  Mr.  Oatman  commenced  life  on  his  own  account  as  a 
farmer  on  land  obtained  from  the  government.  On  December,  25, 1847,  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Lucena  K.  Ross,  a  most  estimable  lady,  who  from  that  day  to  the  present 
time  has  not  only  shared  his  fortunes,  but  has  been  a  most  excellent  wife  and  mother 
and  in  its  highest  sense  a  worthy  helpmate  and  companion. 

He  remained  at  Ogle  until  the  fall  of  1852,  when  he  removed  to  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  and  the  following  summer  (1853)  with  his  brother,  Harvey  B.  Oatman,  and 
their  families,  started  on  the  long  journey  across  the  plains  to  Oregon.  After  several 
weary  months  of  traveling  they  arrived  in  the  Rogue  River  Valley,  in  the  fall  of 
1853,  and  here  the  two  brothers  and  their  wives  took  up  a  claim  of  640  acres  to 
which  .they  were  entitled  under  the  donation  a<5l,  near  Phoenix.  The  old  wagon 
which  had  survived  the  journey  of  more  than  3,000  miles  was  placed  on  the  line 
dividing  the  respe<5live  claims  and  served  as  a  place  of  habitation  until  a  log  cabin 
could  be  ere<5led,  and  in  this  primitive  way  they  commenced  life  in  Oregon. 

For  fourteen  years  following  Mr.  Oatman  remained  in  the  Rogue  River  Valley 
engaged  in  farming,  mining  and  merchandising.  He  was  a  part  owner  of  the  mine 
of  the  "49"  Mining  Company  in  Southern  Oregon,  retaining  his  interest  until  after 
he  had  located  in  Portland.  He  also  established  the  first  store  in  Phoenix,  which  he 
successfully  condu<5led  for  some  time.  Numerous  incidents  occurred  during  the 
period  Mr.  Oatman  resided  in  Rogue  River  Valley  illustrating  the  dangers  of  pioneer 
life  in  Oregon  at  that  day.  Perhaps  the  most  thrilling  incident  in  his  experience 
occurred  on  September  25,  1855.  On  the  preceding  day  Mr.  Oatman,  \^ith  Daniel 
P.  Brittain  and  Calvin  M.  Field,  started  from  Phoenix,  each  with  ox  teams  and  a  load 
of  flour  destined  for  Yreka,  California.  Camping  the  first  night  near  the  foot  of  the 
Siskiyou  Mountains,  the  train  started  up  the  ascent  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Oatman  in 
the  lead.  When  within  300  feet  of  the  summit  the  party  was  fired  upon  by 
Indians.  Field  and  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  Cunningham,  who  was  passing  at 
the  time,  were  killed,  Mr.  Oatman  alone  escaping  of  those  attacked,  as  Mr.  Brittain, 


6l8  tilSTORY  OF   PorTLAKB. 

- — '  -  •" 

who  was  in  the  rear  of  the  party  had  not  reached  the  scene,  hot  having  heard  the 
shots  fired  in  the  vicinity  of  the  men  in  advance,  fled  down  the  moontain  to  the 
Mountain  House,  three  miles  from  the  place  of  attack.  Mr.  Oatman,  although 
within  sixty  feet  of  the  guns,  miraculously  escaped  unhurt  and  fled  to  the  Mountain 
House  for  assistance.  Before  leaving,  the  Indians  killed  thirteen  of  the  oxen,  the 
remainder  of  them  escaping.  The  attack  was  without  provocation  and  the  first  in  a 
series  of  Indian  outrages  which  led  to  the  greatest  Indian  war  known  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  which  raged  along  the  Columbia,  around  Puget  Sound  and  in  the  r^ion  of 
Rogue  River,  from  the  fall  of  1855  to  the  summer  of  1856.  No  less  than  4,000 
warriors  were  at  times  in  arms  against  the  whites,  and  only  a  lack  of  hearty  and 
intelligent  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  hostiles  saved  the  outla3ring  settlements 
from  total  annihilation,  and  the  more  populous  communities  of  the  Willamette  Valley 
from  all  the  horrors  of  barbaric  warfare. 

The  first  years  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  passed  without  far  away  Oregon 
experiencing  much  of  the  hardships  of  the  great  struggle.  But  as  it  grew  in  magni- 
tude and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  were  needed  by  the  North  to  carry  on  the 
gigantic  strife,  the  regular  troops  were  withdrawn  from  the  remote  frx>ntiers  and  sent 
to  the  firont  Oregon,  in  common  with  the  other  States  and  territories  of  the  Pacific 
Coast,  was  left  exposed  to  the  hostility  of  the  Indians  who  immediately  after  the 
departure  of  the  troops' who  had  kept  them  in  peaceful  subje<Etion,  began  to  assume  a 
warlike  attitude  and  on  several  occasions  were  guilty  of  adts  of  violence.  In  this 
emergency  the  loyal  men  of  Oregon  were  called  upon  to  defend  the  life  and  property 
of  the  people.  Mr.  Oatman  was  among  those  who  promptly  volunteered  for  this 
service  and  on  April  4,  1865,  enlisted  in  the  United  States  Army,  to  serve  during  the 
war,  being  mustered  in  at  Camp  Baker,  Rogue  River  Valley,  as  first  lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany I,  Captain  P.  B.  Sprague,  Pirst  Regiment  of  Oregon  Infantry.  The  services  of 
this  regiment  were  confined  to  the  prote<^ion  of  the  frontier  and  in  operations  against 
the  Indians,  being  actively  employed  until  mustered  out  July  19,  1867,  and  supposed 
to  be  the  last  volunteer  regiment  discharged  from  service  by  the  government. 

Mr.  Oatman  made  a  highly  commendable  record  as  a  soldier,  on  several  occasions 
being  entrusted  with  important  duties  which  he  discharged  in  such  manner  as  to 
receive  high  praise  from  his  superior  ofl&cers.  On  0(5lober  14,  1866.  he  was  ordered 
by  Capt.  Sprague,  with  twenty-two  men  from  his  command,  and  four  Klamath 
Indians,  as  scouts,  to  proceed  from  Fort  Klamath  and  to  scout  the  country  from  that 
point  east  to  Camp  Bidwell,  California.  On  the  day  following  the  order  he  started  on 
his  mission,  and  in  seven  days  arrived  at  Camp  Bidwell,  153  miles  distant.  On 
the  return  Lieut.  Oatman 's  command  was  joined  by  a  small  detatchment  of  regular 
troops,  under  Lieut.  Small,  U.  S.  Cavalry,  and  on  October  25th  an  engagement  was 
had  with  a  band  of  Snake  Indians,  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Albert  In  this  engage- 
ment, which  lasted  for  three  hours,  the  Indians  numbering  seventy  strong,  were 
completely  routed,  fourteen  were  killed,  more  than  twenty  wounded  and  fifteen 
lodges,  together  \^'ith  winter  supplies  for  a  hundred  men  were  destroyed.  For  his 
service  in  this  battle  Lieut.  Oatman's  conduct  was  highly  commended  in  general 
orders  by  Major  General  George  F.  Steele  in  command  of  the  Department  of  the 
Columbia,  while  Lieut.  Small  in  his  report  of  the  battle  stated:  "Lieut.  Oatman 
commanded  the  line  on  the  lefl  with  commendable  skill  and  energy,  and  the  troops 
acquitted  themselves  throughout  the  engagement  in  the  most  soldierly  manner. 


Biographical.  619 


In  October,  following  his  discharge  from  the  army,  Mr.  Oatman  with  his  family 
located  in  Portland  where  he  has  ever  since  resided.  He  first  embarked  in  the 
grocery  business,  in  which  he  continued  for  some  two  years  alone,  after  which 
Hon.  Van  B.  DeLashmutt  became  a  partner.  The  latter  was  succeeded  as  a  partner  by 
Frank  Hackeney,  with  whom  Mr.  Oatman  remained  in  partnership  about  two 
years.  At  this  time  he  had  become  the  0¥mer  of  considerable  real  estate,  and  he 
gave  up  the  grocery  business  that  he  might  devote  his  attention  to  land  specula- 
tion..  In  1872,  with  Mr.  DeLashmutt,  he  embarked  in  a  real  estate  and  brokerage 
business.  They  are  still  associated  in  numerous  purchases  of  real  estate  in  and 
near  the  vicinity  of  Portland,  owning  many  acres  of  very  valuable  land.  Mr.  Oatman 
has  been  very  successful  in  his  real  estate  speculations,  which  have  been  conducted 
on  a  large  scale,  and  which  already  have  realized  him  a  large  fortune.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  subscribers  to  the  stock  of  the  Metropolitan  Savings  Bank,  and  is 
also  largely  interested  in  the  Coeur  *d  Alene  mines. 

As  a  business  man  Mr.  Oatman  has  achieved  a  high  degree  of  success.  He 
started  in  life  with  very  limited  educational  advantages,  and  without  the  aid  or  assist- 
ance of  money  or  influential  friends.  All  that  he  has  he  has  acquired  by  his  own 
exertion,  and  is  a  fine  type  of  the  so  called  self-made  man,  of  whom  the  Pacific  slope 
furnishes  so  many  illustrious  examples.  He  is  a  man  of  cheerful,  jovial  nature,  who 
looks  on  the  bright  side  of  life  and  believes  in  extracting  all  the  good  out  of  existence 
possible  and  consistent  with  right  living. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oatman  have  had  four  children  all  of  whom  are  living.  The  eldest, 
James  Harvey,  is  a  very  prosperous  merchant  at  Bonanza,  in  Southern  Oregon,  while 
the  other  children,  Charles,  John  and  Lucena  are  living  at  home  with  their  parents. 


BRANDT,  John,  was  bom  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  July  4,  1828,  and  is  of 
German  descent,  his  great-grand  parents  having  emigrated  from  Germany,  and 
settled  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  early  history  of  that  State.  His  father,  John  Brandt, 
for  several  years  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  rifles  for  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment at  Lancaster,  and  was  a  man  of  great  natural  mechanical  ability.  When  the 
first  railroad  in  Pennsylvania,  known  as  the  Old  State  road,  running  from  Philadel- 
phia to  Columbia,  and  now  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad  system,  was  com- 
pleted, the  managers  secured  a  locomotive  of  English  manufacture.  This  was  in  the 
infancy  of  railroad  operations  in  America,  and  after  repeated  failures  in  putting  this 
primitive  locomotive  in  working  order,  Mr.  Brandt  was  sent  for  and  speedily  accom- 
plished the  task.  His  quick  perception  of  the  mechanical  principles  involved, 
although  in  an  entirely  new  field  of  work,  attracted  considerable  attention  and  he  was 
soon  after  appointed  master  mechanic  of  the  road,  which  at  that  time  was  operated  by 
the  State.  He  remained  in  this  position  some  eight  or  ten  years,  and  was  then  appointed 
to  a  similar  position  on  the  Cumberland  Valley  Railroad,  and  later  as  superintendent 
of  the  motor  power  and  machinery  of  the  New  York  &  Erie  Railroad.  In  1851  he 
was  made  superintendent  of  the  New  Jersey  Locomotive  Works,  at  Paterson,  New 
Jersey,  and  in  1853  assisted  in  founding  the  Lancaster  Locomotive  Works,  at  Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania,  becoming  superintendent  of  the  works.  He  served  in  this 
latter  position  for  two  years,  when  he  retired  from  active  life.     He  was  connected  with 


620  History  of  Portland. 


railroading  during  the  incipient  stages  of  its  development  in  America,  and  it 
opened  for  him  a  field  in  which  his  natural  talents  for  mechanics  became  valuable 
and  were  highly  appreciated.     He  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  1880. 

John  Brandt,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  began  his  railroad  career  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  as  fireman  on  the  old  State  Road  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1843  he  was  pro- 
moted to  locomotive  engineer,  and  so  continued  until  1846,  when  he  changed  to  the 
New  York  &  Erie  in  the  same  capacity.  In  1847  he  was  promoted  to  the  position 
of  assistant  superintendent  of  the  motor  power  on  the  latter  road,  and  stationed  at 
Susquehanna,  Pennsylvania.  He  located,  put  up  and  furnished  with  machinery  the 
first  shops  at  that  point  to  operate  the  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  division.  In 
1853  he  was  appointed  assistant  superintendent  of  the  New  Jersey  Locomotive  Works 
at  Patersou,  New  Jersey,  to  build  locomotives  for  the  Erie  and  other  roads.  In  1855 
he  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Lancaster  Locomotive  Works,  of  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  built  a  large  number  of  locomotives  for  the  Pennsylvania 
and  other  lines.  Two  years  later  he  was  appointed  general  superintendent  of  the 
Cincinnati  &  Chicago  .\ir  Line  Railroad.  He  afterwards  filled  a  similar  position 
on  the  Chicago  &  Great  Eastern  Railroad,  now  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  system. 
In  1872,  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Joseph  Hildreth,  as  general  superintendent  of 
the  Oregon  and  California  road,  he  came  to  Portland  to  assume  that  position, 
which  he  has  filled  ever  since  with  signal  ability  and  to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of 
his  employers  and  the  traveling  public. 

Mr.  Brandt's  education  as  a  railroad  man  has  been  of  logical  growth,  and  from 
early  boyhood  until  the  present  no  other  work  has  interfered  with  his  progress  in 
his  chosen  field.  He  is  a  master  of  every  detail  pertaining  to  his  position  and  its 
requirements.  So  thorough  is  his  discipline  and  so  carfully  does  he  watch  details 
that  on  no  line  of  railioad  over  which  he  has  had  charge  has  a  single  passenger  been 
killed  owing  to  mismanagement  of  those  under  his  supervision.  Since  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Oregon  and  California  road  he  has  been  hampered  by  the  fact  that  the 
road  has  been  heavily  in  debt,  and  with  an  increase  in  traffic  so  slow  that  no 
expenditure  has  been  justifiable  to  promote  its  growth.  Under  these  circumstances 
his  duties  have  been  doubly  difficult,  and  oflen  of  the  most  perplexing  nature,  but 
he  has  never  failed  to  meet  every  emergency  with  promptness  and  wisdom.  He 
has  rare  executive  ability  and  when  he  set  a  line  of  policy  in  operation  he  makes 
it  his  business  to  see  that  it  is  carried  out,  even  to  the  most  trival  detail.  He  is 
exacting  in  his  requirements  of  those  under  him,  but  is  fair  and  just  to  the 
humblest  employee.  During  his  long  railroad  experience  no  strike  has  ever 
occurred  among  the  workmen  under  him,  and  if  he  is  exacting  and  a  strict  discipli- 
narian, that  he  is  also  kind  and  considerate  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  numbers 
among  his  employes  men  who  have  worked  under  him  from  twenty  to  thirty-five  years. 

Mr.  Brandt  is  large  of  frame,  with  a  pleasant  face,  well  set  off  by  thick  grey  hair 
and  expressive  brown  eyes.  Forty  odd  years  of  very  hard  work  have  left  but  few 
marks  upon  his  features,  and  he  looks  young  enough  for  many  years  of  usefulness. 
He  is  conservative  in  his  views,  and  c  arefully  weighs  and  considers  every  railway 
question.  Hence  it  is  that  his  judgment  is  deferred  to  by  many  of  the  ablest  men  in 
the  railroad  business,  while  his  finely  balanced  sense  of  justice  renders  him  inval- 
uable as  a  referee  in  disputed  cases.  Few  men  have  had  a  more  valuable  experience 
in  railroad  management,  and  none  have  stronger  or  more  influential  friends. 


Biographical.  621 


Q^TEEL,  George  A.,  the  present  Postmaster  of  Portland,  was  bom  in  Staflford,  Ohio, 
*^  April  22,  1846,  and  is  a  younger  brother  of  James  Steel,  whose  biography  appears 
elsewhere  in  this  volume.  At  a  period  when  most  boys  have  only  fairly  began  to  lay  the 
foundation  for  their  after  career,  he  was  thrown  on  his  own  resources.  The  most  lim- 
ited opportunities  were  therefore  afforded  him  in  youth  for  acquiring  even  a  practical 
education.  The  school  of  experience  and  self  study  have  been  the  chief  means  of  pre- 
paring him  for  the  part  he  was  to  perform  in  life's  battles.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
came  to  Portland,  where  he  first  secured  employment  as  clerk  in  a  commission  house. 
In  1865  he  was  appointed  clerk  in  the  Portland  Post  office,  which  position  he  resigned 
to  accept  an  appointment  as  secretary  of  the  Oregon  Iron  Works.  He  afterwards 
secured  a  position  in  the  banking  house  of  Ladd  &  Tilton  as  accountant,  and  was 
thus  employed  for  nearly  five  years. 

In  1870  he  embarked  in  the  wholesale  and  retail  book  and  stationery  business  with 
J.  K.  Gill,  under  the  firm  name  of  Gill  &  Steel.  This  partnership  was  continued  for 
some  tmie,  but  finally  Mr.  Steel  assumed  sole  charge  of  a  portion  of  the  business. 

In  January,  1877,  he  was  appointed  Special  Agent  of  the  Post  Office  Department 
for  the  Northwest  Coast.  He  resigned  this  position  in  1879,  and  accepted  the  Deputy 
Collectorship  at  Portland,  which  he  retained  until  1880,  when  he  resigned.  In  1881 
his  name  was  sent  to  the  Senate  by  President  Garfield  for  the  position  of  Postmaster 
of  Portland.  Vexatious  delays  occuring,  he  did  not  take  charge  of  the  office  until 
July  1,  1881,  and  that  was  on  a  temporary  appointment,  made  after  the  adjournment  of 
the  Senate.  In  October  of  the  same  year,  upon  the  reassembling  of  the  Senate,  (after 
the  death  of  President  Garfield,)  his  appointment  was  made  for  four  years  by  Presi- 
dent Arthur.  His  term  of  office  expired  in  October,  1885,  at  which  time  the  Demo- 
cratic party  was  in  control  of  the  National  Goverment,  and  a  Democrat  was  selected 
as  his  successor.  During  his  administration  the  postoffice  was  admirably  conduted. 
In  the  management  of  the  most  difficult  branch  of  the  public  service,  he  succeeded  in 
conducting  the  office  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  business  public — a  task  in  a  city 
of  the  size  and  importance  of  Portland,  requiring  a  high  order  of  business  judgment 
and  rare  administrative  ability.  Prior  to  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  he  had 
embarked  with  his  brother,  James  Steel,  in  the  fire  insurance  business,  under  the  firm 
name  of  G.  A.  Steel  &  Co.  After  his  retirement  from  the  postoffice  he  largely  devoted 
his  attention  to  this  line  of  business,  and  his  efforts  in  this  direction  have  been 
rewarded  with  a  high  degree  of  success.  His  relinquishment  of  official  life  was,  how- 
ever, of  brief  duration.  In  June,  1886  he  was  nominated  and  elected  State 
Senator  for  Multnomah  County,  for  a  term  of  four  years,  a  position  for  which  he  was 
admirably  fitted,  and  where  his  services  were  highly  prized  by  his  constituents. 

In  January,  1889,  Mr.  Steel  and  his  brother  secured  the  incorporation  of  the  Metro- 
politan Railway  Company,  a  corporation  created  for  the  purpose  of  building  an  elec- 
tric motor  line  from  Portland  to  Fulton  Park.  Of  this  company  Mr.  Steel  was  elected 
President,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  he  has  largely  devoted  his  time  to  carry- 
ing out  the  object  of  the  company.  Active  work  upon  the  motor  line  was  soon  begun 
and  energetically  pro.secuted,  and  in  January,  1890,  the  line  was  completed  and  in 
operation  from  G  street,  thence  south  along  Second  street  to  P\ilton  Park  Power 
House,  a  distance  of  over  four  miles.  This  is  one  of  the  finest  equipped  motor  lines 
in  the  country,  and  has  fully  demonstrated  the  practicability  and  utility  of  electricity 


622  History  of  Portland. 


as  a  motive  power  in  the  operation  of  a  rapid  transit  city  and  suburban  railway. 
It  is  the  intention  of  the  owners  in  the  near  future  to  extend  the  line  to  the  ceme- 
teries, and  finally  to  Oregon  City.  The  building  of  this  road  has  made  easily  accesi- 
ble  some  of  the  most  desirable  residence  property  of  Portland,  which  has  thus  been 
largely  increased  in  value.  The  construction  of  this  road  was  accomplished  solely 
through  Mr.  Steel  and  brother,  who  contributed  nearly  all  the  necessary  stock,  and 
through  many  discouragements  and  difficulties,  successfuly  carried  the  project  to  com- 
pletion. To  their  enterprise  and  public  spirit,  the  city  is  indebted  for  this  valuable 
transportation  system,  which  is  destined  to  be  an  important  factor  in  the  city's  future 
development  and  prosperity. 

In  December,  1889,  Mr.  Steel  was  nominated  by  President  Harrison,  and  speedily 
confirmed  by  the  Senate,  for  another  term  as  Postmaster  of  Portland.  This  was  an 
honor  which  came  entirely  unsolicited,  he  being  in  no  sense  a  candidate  for  the  posi- 
tion. His  known  fitness  for  the  place,  and  the  enviable  reputation  he  had  made  in  the 
office  during  his  first  term,  were  the  considerations  which  induced  his  party  friends  to 
almost  unanimously  urge  his  nomination.  His  selection  was  received  by  the  citizens 
of  Portland,  without  regard  to  party  lines,  with  warm  words  of  approval,  while  the 
press  of  the  city  united  in  commending  the  appointment.  In  April,  1890,  he  entered 
upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  succeeding  Postmaster  C.  W.  Roby,  who  had  been 
appointed  as  Mr.  Steel's  successor  in  1885. 

Mr.  Steel  has  always  been  an  ardent  Republican,  and  for  many  years  has  been  a 
well  recognized  force  in  the  political  history  of  Oregon.  In  1876  he  was  elected  chair- 
man of  the  Republican  State  Committee,  and  his  able  management  of  the  hotly  con- 
tested election  of  that  year,  contributed  in  great  measure  to  the  success  of  the  Repub- 
licans— a  result  which  will  alwa^'s  have  a  national  significance,  as  Oregon's  three 
electoral  votes  decided  the  presidential  contest.  For  ten  years  following  this  memor- 
able campaign,  Mr.  Steel's  services  were  enlisted  in  nearly  every  State  campaign,  either 
as  chairman  or  secretary'  of  the  State  Committee,  his  ability  as  a  political  leader  being 
highly  valued  by  his  party. 

He  was  married  February  18,  1869,  to  Miss  Eva  Pope,  daughter  of  Charles  Pope, 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Oregon.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
and  is  a  friend  and  helper  of  every  worthy  cause.  In  the  prosperity  which  has  come 
to  Portland  during  recent  years  he  has  cheerfully  contributed  his  full  share.  He  is  a  hard 
worker,  progressive  and  public  spirited  in  his  ideas,  and  one  whose  entire  career  has 
been  synonomous  with  integrity  and  manliness.  He  possesses  in  an  eminent  degree 
the  qualities  most  needed  in  a  public  official.  He  is  naturally  courteous  in  manner, 
painstaking  in  the  performance  of  every  duty,  and  has  a  high  order  of  administrative 
and  executive  ability.  During  the  years  of  his  public  life,  he  has  so  acted  as  to  leave 
the  impression  under  all  circumstances  of  being  animated  by  a  conscientious  purpose 
to  faithfully  discharge  every  trust,  regardless  of  consequences — a  record  which  has 
firmly  established  him  in  the  confidence  and  respect  cf  the  public.  He  is  genial  and 
social  in  nature,  easily  wins  and  retains  friends,  and  is  deservedly  popular  throughout 
the  State,  while  in  the  city  of  his  home,  where  he  has  so  long  resided  and  is  so  thor- 
oughly known,  he  has  justly  earned  by  a  life  of  strict  probity  and  integrity,  the  good 
opinion  of  his  fellows. 


Biographical.  623 


DUDLEY,  William  Lincoln,  was  bom  at  Yreka,  California,  June  29,  1864.  His 
father,  John  Dudley,  for  several  years  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
goods  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts.  He  came  to  California  in  1861,  and  from  that  time 
until  1867  was  engaged  in  mining  at  Yreka.  In  1868  he  came  to  Portland,  and  has 
since  been  Superintendent  and  Manager  of  the  Portland  Gas  Company,  and  held  the 
same  position  in  the  Portland  Water  Works  Company,  until  the  property  was  sold  to 
the  City  in  1885. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the  public  schools  of  Portland,  gradu- 
ating from  the  High  School  in  1879.  In  1880  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Cashier  of 
the  Portland  Gas  Company,  serving  in  that  capacity  until  1887,  when  he  was  nomi- 
nated on  the  Republican  County  Ticket  as  candidate  for  Recorder  of  Conveyances  for 
Multnomah  County.  He  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  more  than  2,600  votes,  receiv- 
ing the  second  highest  number  of  votes  on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  has  now  nearly 
completed  his  term  as  Recorder,  his  administration  having  been  in  every  way  highly 
satisfactory  to  the  people,  irrespective  of  party  lines.  He  has  recently  been  nominated 
by  his  party  for  a  second  term,  and  as  these  sheets  go  to  press,  the  election  is  only  a 
few  weeks  distant. 

In  1886  Mr.  Dudley  was  the  leading  factor  in  the  establishment  of  the  Dudley 
Packing  Company.  This  company  manufactures  and  deals  in  packing  for  steam 
engines,  and  has  been  a  most  prosperous  enterprise.  A  branch  office  has  been  opened 
in  Chicago  to  faciliate  the  trade  of  the  Company.  Mr.  Dudley  has  been  Secretary  of 
the  Company  since  its  organization.  He  was  also,  for  some  three  years,  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  business, at  one  time  as  a  partner  with  Frank  Cartwright.and  later  with 
H.  Glenn.  His  success  in  this  line  of  business  evinced  rare  judgment,  his  specula- 
tions being  rewarded  with  uniform  good  results,  and  some  of  them  being  peculiarly 
fortunate,  netting  him  large  returns  upon  his  investments. 

Mr.  Dudley  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  military  matters.  He  has  served  one  term 
in  the  National  Guards  as  a  member  of  Company  "G,*'  and  is  now  serving  a  second 
term,  and  acting  as  Secretary  of  the  Company. 

A  deservedly  high  reputation  both  as  a  business  man  and  as  a  public  officer,  has 
been  attained  by  Mr.  Dudley  earlier  in  life  than  falls  to  the  lot  of  most  men.  At  the 
present  time  he  is  perhaps  the  youngest  official  in  the  State  occupying  a  position  of 
equal  responsibility  and  importance,  and  to  say  that  he  has  proven  himself  thoroughly 
competent,  is  not  only  the  truth,  but  surely  a  record  of  which  he  has  a  right  to  feel  a 
pardonable  pride.  At  an  age  when  most  men  have  barely  commenced  their  career,  he 
is  thoroughly  established  in  the  confidence  and  good  opinion  of  the  people,  which, 
with  his  exemplary  habits  and  character,  and  the  possession  of  unusual  good  judg- 
ment and  business  sagacity,  make  him  a  most  creditable  representative  of  the  young 
business  men  of  Portland,  and  one  whose  future,  judged  by  tlie  past,  is  bright  with 
promise. 

NORTHRUP,  Edward  James,  was  born  in  Albany,  New  York,  July  4th  1834,  and 
was  a  son  of  Nelson  Northrup,  long  known  as  a  merchant  in  old  Oregon.  He 
spent  several  years  of  his  early  life  in  school,  but  when  quite  young  began  his  bus- 
iness career  as  a  clerk  in  a  book  store  in  Boston,  where  he  remained  until  1852,  when 
he  came  to  Portland.     Here  he  entered  the  general  merchandise  store  of  Northrup  & 


624  History  of  Portland. 


Simonds,  of  which  firm  his  father  was  senior  member,  remaining  with  them  as  clerk 
until  1856,  when  associating  himself  with  James  M.  Blossom,  he  succeeded  to  the 
business  of  the  firm,  under  the  firm  name  of  Northrup  &  Blossom.  Through  several 
changes  of  partners  Mr.  Northrup  continued  as  leading  partner  until  1878,  when 
failing  health  compelled  him  for  a  time  to  retire  from  business.  The  house  was 
then  under  the  name  of  Northrup  &  Thompson.  He  then  sold  out  to  his  partner 
when  the  firm  of  Thompson,  DeHart  &  Co.  was  established  and  succeeded  to  the 
business  which  he  had  for  so  many  years  conducted,  and  which  is  still  continued 
under  the  firm  name  of  Honeyman,  De  Hart  &  Co.  A  year's  rest  fully  restored  his 
health  and  he  began  business  anew  as  a  dealer  in  hardwood,  lumber  and  wagon 
supplies,  in  which  he  continued  alone  until  a  few  weeks  before  his  death  when  he 
associated  with  him  J.  G.  Chown  and  J.  Hazeltine.  It  was  while  reorganizing  his 
business,  after  the  admission  of  the  partners  named,  and  mo\'ing  into  new  quarters 
that  Mr.  Northrup  met  with  an  accident  which  caused  his  death.  WTiile  busy  in 
arranging  his  stock,  on  April  9th,  1883,  he  accidentally  fell  through  a  trap-door, 
which  had  been  recently  cut  through  the  floor,  falling  a  distance  of  twenty  feet  and 
sustaining  injuries  from  which  he  died  a  few  hours  later.  The  entire  community  in 
which  he  was  so  well  and  favorably  known  was  shocked  by  his  sudden  death,  and  the 
expressions  of  grief  and  sympathy  were  sincere  and  profound.  The  public  press  of 
the  city  voiced  the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  all  who  knew  the  sterling  worth  of  his 
character  when  it  said:  **  He  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  our  citizens.  He  was 
actuated  by  a  high  public  spirit,  was  noted  for  conscientious  devotion  to  duty  in  all 
relations  of  life,  and  always  bore  a  part  in  every  movement  for  promotion  of  the 
interest  of  the  community  both  in  a  moral  and  material  way.  He  was  one  of  the  men 
whom  the  community,  which  is  fortunate  to  possess  them,  can  least  afford  to  spare." 

Mr.  Northrup  died  in  the  prime  of  life  and  at  the  inception  of  the  grand  results 
of  a  noble  and  useful  career.  As  a  business  man  he  was  noted  for  a  high  order  of 
ability,  uuite<l  to  energy  and  strict  integrity  which  made  his  name  stand  as  the  syn- 
onym for  commercial  honor.  He  was  modest  and  retiring  in  disposition  and  had  no 
ta.ste  for  public  life,  and  although  often  importuned  by  his  fellow  citizens  to  occupy 
public  positions,  he  always  declined.  He,  however;  was  a  man  of  great  public  spirit, 
and  took  deep  interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  best  interests  of  the  citv 
materially  or  morally.  The  only  political  office,  we  believe,  he  ever  accepted  was  that 
of  delegate  to  the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1880.  which  nominated  tlie 
lamented  Garfield. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Northup  was  a  consistent  and  leading  member  of  the  Meth- 
dist  church,  l>elonging  to  the  Taylor  street  church,  where  for  several  years  he  held 
the  position  of  trustee.  In  deeds  of  charity,  cause  of  temperance  and  promotion  of 
Christianity,  he  was  a  quiet,  but  earnest  and  faithful  worker.  He  took  a  deep  inter- 
est in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  for  a  long  time  was  one  of  its 
active  managers.  He  was  long  one  of  the  publishing  committee  of  the  PaciBc 
Christian  Advocate,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  member  of  the  Pacific  Advocate 
Publishing  Company. 

Mr.  Northrup  was  married  in  1856,  to  Miss  Frances  C.  McNamee,  who  with  five 
children  survive  her  husband.  The  children  in  order  of  birth  are:  Ada  F.,  wife  of  C. 
.\.  Morden;  Clara  E.,  Frank  O.,  Edwin  P.,  and  Ellen  A.  w4fe  of  J.  Millard  Johnson. 


Biographical  625 


Among  the  a<5live  and  enterprising  men,  who  in  the  early  history  of  our  city 
organized  its  institutions  and  gave  characfler  to  its  government  and  commercial 
affairs,  none  are  entitled  to  more  of  honor  than  Mr.  Northrup.  Unpretentious,  a 
practical  business  man,his  whole  life  was  passed  on  a  high  plane,  and  the  influence  he 
exerted  was  such  as  flows  from  a  symmetrical,  wholesome  and  Christian  charadler. 


GILL,  Joseph  K,  one  of  Portland's  well  known  business  men,  was  bom  in  York- 
shire, England,  in  1841,  and  is  the  eldest  of  eleven  children  of  Mark  and  Amelia 
Gill.  In  1854  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  America,  locating  in  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusets,  where  he  attended  the  city  schools  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  eighteen, 
when  he  entered  Worcester  Academy,  continuing  at  this  institution  but  spending 
most  of  his  time  at  work  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the  family,  until  he  had  attained 
his  majority.  He  then  entered  Wesleyan  •  Academy  at  Wilbraham,  a  preparatory 
school,  with  the  idea  of  fitting  himself  for  a  collegiate  course.  While  pursuing  his 
studies,  however,  his  eyes  failed  him,  and  he  was  forced  for  a  time  to  abandon  his 
plan.  At  Wilbraham  he  boarded  with  the  wife  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Wilson,  one  of  the  earlier 
missionaries  in  Oregon.  From  her,  and  also  from  J.  S.  Smith  and  Joseph  Hol- 
man,  of  Oregon,  whom  he  met  at  her  home,  he  learned  much  of  our  then  young  State, 
which  fact  added  to  his  having  been  advised  by  his  physician  that  a  sea  voyage  might 
be  beneficial  to  his  eyes,  led  him  in  1864,  to  come  to  Oregon  by  steamer.  He  located 
at  Salem,  where  he  continued  his  studies  at  the  Willamette  University,  and  also  acted 
as  assistant  teacher,  under  Prof.  Gatch,  then  President  of  that  institution.  At  the  end 
of  a  year  his  eyes  had  become  so  much  improved  that  he  returned  to  Wilbraham  and 
resumed  his  studies  at  Wesleyan  Academy.  His  eyes,  however,  soon  after  again  failed 
him,  and  he  was  advised  by  his  physician  that  he  must  abandon  the  idea  of  completing 
a  classical  education.  Having  already  become  far  advanced  in  the  English  and  scientific 
courses,  he  thereu|x)u  graduated  in  these  branches  in  June,  1866,  being  in  the  same 
class  with  Prof.  E.  B.  Andrews,  who  recently  was  elected  President  of  Brown  Uni- 
versity. 

After  graduating,  Mr.  Gill  returned  to  Oregon,  where  in  August  following,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Frances  A.  Wilson,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  W.  H.  Wilson. 
At  this  time  he  had  no  intention  of  remaining  in  the  State,  but  was  induced  to  take 
temporary  charge  of  a  book  store  at  Salem,  owned  by  Mrs.  Wilson.  This  he  did 
so  successfully  that  he  was  finally  persuaded  to  embark  in  business  for  himself,  buy- 
ing a  lot  and  building  a  store.  He  did  a  prosperous  business,  but  desiring  a  larger 
field,  he,  in  1870,  sold  out  and  came  to  Portland,  and  in  partnership  with  George  A. 
Steel,  bought  out  the  firm  of  Harris  &  Holman,  and  started  a  wholesale  and  retail  book 
and  stationery  business.  They  remained  together  as  Gill  &  Steel  until  1878,  when  Mr. 
Steel  retired  and  Mr.  Gill  assumed  sole  control.  Since  that  time  Mr.  Gill  had  for  one  year 
another  partner,  and  since  1879  his  brother,  John  Gill,  has  had  a  partnership  interest 
in  the  business,  the  firm  being  kno'wn  as  J.  K.  Gill  &  Co.  From  the  start  this  house 
took  a  prominent  place  in  the  commercial  affairs  of  the  Northwest,  which  succeeding 
years  have  only  made  more  conspicuous  and  now  thoroughly  recognized.  From  a  trade 
at  first  principally  retail,  it  has  grown  to  a  wholesale  and  jobbing  trade  not  exceeded  by 
any  like  establishment  on  the  Pacific  Coast  north  of  San  Francisco.  Mr.  Gill  was  among 


626  History  of  Portland. 


the  first  to  recognize  Portland's  advantages  as  a  distributing  point,  and  during  his  busi- 
ness career  he  has  contributed  his  full  share  towards  establishing  the  present  position 
the  city  holds  as  a  supply  depot  for  a  large  extent  of  country.  He  was  among  the  first  to 
emancipate  the  city  from  its  dependence  upon  San  Francisco  dealers.  He  established 
direct  business  connection  with  the  largest  eastern  houses  at  a  time  when  our  mer- 
chants almost  without  exception  were  being  supplied  from  San  Francisco;  and  from  that 
time  to  the  present  has  been  enabled  to  successfully  compete  with  San  Francisco  deal- 
ers, making  Portland  in  his  line,  a  depot  of  supply  equal  to  any  point  on  the  coast.  Few 
men  in  his  line  of  trade  are  better  known  or  held  in  higher  esteem  than  Mr.  Gill.  He 
has  applied  himself  to  his  business  with  a  persistency  and  thoroughness  rarelj' 
exhibited,  and  few  men  in  our  busy  city  during  the  past  twenty  years  have  worked 
with  greater  industry  or  more  conscientiously.  He  is  methodical  to  a  degree  rarely 
seen  in  men  at  the  head  of  an  extensive  business.  He  personally  attends  to  every 
detail,  exercising  a  supervision  over  every  branch  of  his  business,  w^hich  would  be 
imp>ossible  to  one  witliout  great  mental  and  physical  endurance.  The  business  which 
his  industry  and  sagacity  have  built  up,  therefore,  represent  perhaps  more  clearly  the 
individual  work  of  one  man  than  any  in  Portland. 

Although  he  has  almost  exclusively  devoted  his  time  and  attention  to  his  business, 
he  has  not  failed  to  take  a  helping  part  in  public  enterprises  or  such  undertakings 
which  seemed  likely  to  advance  the  material  interest  of  the  city.  He  was  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  Columbia  River  Paper  Company,  organized  in  1884,  of  which  he 
has  ever  since  been  President.  He  was  also  one  of  tlie  incorporators  of  the  Merchants* 
National  Bank,  in  which  he  has  since  been  a  director,  and  is  also  a  director  in  the 
Oregon  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance,  and  the  Northwest  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance 
Companies. 

Mr.  Gill  for  many  years  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  ever 
since  his  residence  in  Portland,  has  been  one  of  the  most  zealous  church  workers.  He 
was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  Grace  Methodist  Church,  and  has  since  served  as 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  as  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  School. 

The  domestic  life  of  Mr.  Gill  has  been  most  congenial  and  happy.  He  has  a  fam- 
ily of  six  children — one  son  and  five  daughters.  His  son,  Mark  Wilson  Gill,  is  a  grad- 
uate of  Wesley  an  University,  and  is  now  associated  with  his  father  in  business. 

Mr.  Gill  is  indeed  a  most  worthy  representative  of  Portland's  business  community, 
and  is  recognized  as  one  of  our  most  valuable  citizens.  He  has  won  an  honorable 
name  for  energy,  reliability  and  integrity,  while  his  efforts  have  largely  contributed 
to  the  prosperity  of  his  city  and  State. 


MULKEY,  Marion  Francis,  was  bom  in  Johnson  county,  Missouri,  November 
14,  1836,  and  was  a  son  of  Johnson  Mulkey.  At  the  age  of  ten  years  he 
accompanied  his  parents  across  the  plains  to  Oregon.  The  family  settled  on  a  dona- 
tion claim  in  Benton  county  and  here  amid  the  scenes  of  the  frontier  the  boyhood  of 
our  subject  was  passed.  From  his  parents  was  instilled  jn  him  a  desire  for  an  education 
and  afler  a  brief  experience  in  the  log  school  house,  under  the  tuition  of  such  men  as 
Senator  J.  H.  Slater  and  Hon.  Philip  Ritz,  he  pursued  higher  studies  at  Forest  Grove, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  late  Doctor  S.  H.  Marsh.  This  assistance  he  supplemented 
by  labors  of  his  own,  teaching  school  during  vacations.     It  was  while  at  school  that 


Biographical.  627 

the  Indian  war  of  1856  broke  out;  and  although  then  but  a  boy  of  eighteen  he 
ioined  one  of  the  military  companies  and  remained  in  service  until  the  Indians  were 
subdued  and  peace  was  secured.  In  1858,  he  entered  Yale  College,  having  as  a 
companion  J.  W.  Johnson,  now  president  of  the  University  of  Oregon.  Graduating 
in  1862,  he  returned  to  Portland  and  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Judge  E.  D. 
Shattuck.  While  pursuing  his  legal  studies,  in  1863,  he  acted  as  assistant  provost 
marshal  and  aided  in  making  the  enrollment  of  that  year. 

In  1864,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  for  some  years  thereafter  was  associated 
as  partner  with  W.  Lair  Hill,  under  the  firm  name  of  Hill  &  Mulkey.  For  his  pro- 
fession he  was  well  equipped,  both  by  thorough  preliminary  study  and  a  naturally 
logical  and  accurate  mind,  and  he  at  once  took  rank  among  the  old  and  leading 
attorneys  of  the  city.     So  soon  did  he  acquire  a  reputation  in  his  profession  that  in 

1866  he  was  elected  as  prosecuting  attorney  of  the  Fourth  Judicial  District,  while 
confidence   in  his  fitness   for  public  duties  was  early  manifested  by  his  election  in 

1867  to  represent  the  third  ward  in  the  city  council.  In  1872,  he  was  elected  city 
attorney  for  Portland  and  was  re-elected  in  1873.  Upon  retirement  from  the  latter 
office  he  became  associated  with  Hon.  J.  F.  Caples  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  filling 
the  position  of  deputy  during  the  three  successive  terms  of  his  partner's  service  as 
attorney  for  the  district. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Mulkey's  reputation  steadily  advanced,  and  but  a  short  time 
elapsed  afler  he  began  practice  until  he  occupied  a  place  among  the  ablest  men  of  his 
profession  in  the  State.  Not  only  was  he  well  versed  in  the  law  and  possessed  a  mind 
broad  and  quick  in  its  grasp  of  difficult  legal  problems,  but  as  a  speaker  his  talents 
were  of  a  high  order  compelling  the  attention  of  the  jury  by  his  earnestness,  perspec- 
uity  and  graceful  diction.  A  legal  friend  of  many  years  has  left  the  following  tribute 
to  his  memory  which  in  a  measure  reveals  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his 
professional  brethren  of  the  bar:  "He  was  a  plan  of  tireless  energy  and  perseverance, 
resolutely  and  patiently  working  until  his  object  was  attained.  He  had  consistency 
of  purpose,  prudence  and  common  sense  to  balance  and  guide  the  energy  that 
impelled  him.  There  was  no  frittering  away  of  his  powers  upon  alien  pleasures  or 
pursuits.  In  court  he  was  a  troublesome  antagonist,  and  one  to  be  feared;  for  if  there 
was  a  weak  point  in  the  case  or  a  flaw  in  the  logic  he  would  mercilessly  expose  it.  I 
cannot  recollect  any  act  of  discourtesy  on  his  part,  or  any  word  spoken,  even  in  the 
heat  of  conflict  that  left  aught  of  bitterness  behind." 

Coming  to  Portland  before  it  had  outgrown  tlie  proportions  of  a  good  sized  hamlet 
he  had  the  business  sagacity  to  foresee  that  its  geographical  position  and  natural 
advantages  would  ultimately  cause  it  to  become  a  great  and  populous  commercial 
centre.  His  faith  in  tlie  place  induced  him  at  an  early  day  to  make  acquisitions  of 
property  in  and  about  the  city,  which  he  subsequently  improved  with  substantial 
edifices.  These  improvements  added  not  a  little  to  the  development  of  the  city  and 
have  since  largely  increased  in  value.  They  show  the  practical  side  of  Mr.  Mulkey's 
nature  and  the  soundness  of  his  business  judgment. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Mulkey  occurred  February  25,  1889,  at  a  time  when  he  was  in 
the  full  meridian  of  his  powers  and  usefulness  and  at  the  height  of  his  successes 
both  in  his  professional  and  business  career.  Throughout  the  State  and  the  Pacific 
Northwest,  where  he  was  well  and  so  favorably  known,  his  death  was  indeed  lamented. 


628  History  of  Portland. 

His  life  had  been  marked  by  unswerving  rectitude  in  every  position  he  had  ever  filled 
in  public  and  private  and  the  public  press  and  the  bar  of  which  he  had  so  long  been 
an  honored  member,  expressed  in  feeling  terms  the  loss  of  this  high  minded,  public 
spirited  citizen. 

He  was  married  in  1862  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Porter,  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  who 
still  resides  in  Portland.  They  had  two  sons,  Frank,  the  elder,  is  an  alumnus  of  the 
State  University  and  has  finished  the  first  year  at  the  law  school  connected  with  the 
University;  while  the  younger,  Fred,  is  being  prepared  to  enter  college. 


S PAULDING,  William  Wallace,  was  bom  at  Chalmsford,  Massachusetts,  near 
the  city  of  Lowell,  in  1839.  He  is  of  English  descent,  his  ancestors  having 
emigrated  from  England  and  settled  in  Chalmsford  several  generations  ago.  His 
early  life  was  spent  at  home  on  a  farm,  during  which  period  he  received  a  good  com- 
mon school  education  which  was  supplemented  by  one  year's  course  of  instru<Slion  at 
an  academy  in  Mount  Vernon,  N«w  Hampshire.  After  leaving  school  he  went  to 
Boston,  where  for  four  years  he  was  employed  in  a  butcher  shop.  He  then  purchased 
his  employer's  business  and  conduced  it  for  a  year,  when,  his  health  failing,  he  was 
forced  to  abandon  it.  With  the  hope  of  finding  a  climate  more  congenial  to  his 
health  and  where  he  might  better  his  worldly  fortune,  he  and  his  wife  started  for  the 
Pacific  slope  by  the  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  arriving  in  San  Franscico  in  the 
spring  of  1862.  In  the  following  fall  he  came  to  Portland,  at  the  time  of  his  arrival 
not  possessing  a  dollar  in  the  w^orld.  Among  strangers  and  without  money,  with 
himself  and  wife  to  support,  his  prospedls  were  anything  but  encouraging,  but  with  a 
disposition  not  easily  discouraged  and  a  willingness  to  labor  at  any  honest  work 
which  would  promise  a  livelihood,  he  soon  found  employment  For  one  year  he  was 
employed  by  the  firm  of  Allen  &  Lewis.  He  then  secured  a  situation  in  the  meat 
store  of  A.  H.  Johnson  and  at  the  end  of  a  few  years  became  a  partner  in  the  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Johnson  &  Spaulding.  At  the  end  of  six  very  prosperous 
years  Mr.  Spaulding  retired  and  for  the  succeeding  fourteen  years  was  engaged  in 
dealing  in  cattle  and  pork  packing.  In  these  lines  he  built  up  a  verj*  large  business 
which  he  condu(5led  >*'ith  a  high  degree  of  success  and  accumulated  a  considerable 
fortune.  In  1886,  he  embarked  in  a  wholesale  and  retail  butchering  business  which 
has  steadily  grown  in  magnitude  until  at  the  present  time  his  annual  trade  reaches  a 
sum  of  1100,000. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Spalding  has  been  largely  interested  in  farming  and  stock 
raising,  owning  a  farm  of  1,200  acres  in  Asotin  county,  Washington.  He  is  now 
engaged  in  raising  and  breeding  horses,  at  the  present  time  having  one  hundred  head 
of  horses  on  his  farm,  but  in  former  years  the  raising  of  cattle  was  extensively  carried 
on,  2,000  being  sold  from  the  farm  in  1887. 

Mr.  Spaulding  is  a  dire(5lor  in  the  Portland  Trust  Company,  and  the  Pacific  Fire 
Insurance  Company;  owns  one-third  interest  in  the  Seventh  Street  Terrace  tra<5l;  is  a 
stock -holder  in  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company  and  in  several  real  estate  com- 
panies, besides  being  financially  interested  in  numerous  minor  business  enterprises.  He 
is  also  a  large  land  owner  in  Oregon  and  Washington,  and  in  the  city  of  Portland  and 
vicinity  possesses  several  valuable  tra<5ls,  while  in  the  city  proper  he  owns  a  number 
of  business  blocks.  His  real  estate  operations  have  been  condu<5led  on  a  large  scale 
and  with  marked  success. 


Biographical.  629 


Mr.  Spaulding  has  always  been  a  hard  worker  and  a  man  of  the  most  industrious 
habits.  He  has,  in  truth,  been  the  archite<5l  of  his  own  fortune.  From  the  most 
humble  financial  circumstances,  by  diligent  work,  by  making  right  uses  of  his 
opportunities  and  by  honorable  business  methods,  he  has  risen  step  by  step  until 
to-day  he  is  regarded  as  one  of  Portland's  most  successful  business  men. 

He  was  married  on  June  2,  1861,  to  Miss  Heppie  h.  Ford,  daughter  of  Simeon 
Ford,  an  old  and  highly  respe<5led  citizen  of  Boston.  Their  married  life  has  been  one 
of  marked  congeniality  and  happiness.  To  the  devotion,  counsel  and  encouragement 
of  his  wife  when  the  w^ay  was  dark,  Mr.  Spaulding  ascribes  the  highest  praise  and  to 
her  gives  much  of  the  credit  for  the  success  he  has  attained.  Uncomplainingly  she 
bore  all  the  hardships  of  his  early  struggles  and  in  its  highest  sense  has  been  a  help- 
mate and  companion.  They  have  had  but  one  child,  a  bright  and  promising  boy 
named  after  his  father,  who  was  bom  in  1865,  and  died  in  1877. 


MARKLE,  George  B.  Among  the  young  business  men  of  Portland  none  have 
exerted  a  more  powerful  influence  toward  advancing  the  material  progress  of 
the  city  during  the  past  few  years  than  George  B.  Markle.  The  various  projects  he 
has  been  largely  instrumental  in  creating  and  successfully  carrying  out,  have  been 
far  reaching  in  thir  wholesome  effect  upon  the  prosperitv  of  Portland,  and  justly 
entitle  him  to  a  prominent  place  in  the  commercial  and  financial  history  of  the  city. 

He  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  bom  in  Hazleton,  Lucerne  county, 
on  the  7th  of  0<5lober,  1857.  Until  the  age  of  twelve  he  received  the  educational 
advantages  of  the  private  and  public  schools  of  Hazelton.  He  then  passed  four  years 
in  a  boarding  school  at  White  Plains,  New  York.  His  parents  removed  to  Philadel- 
phia, in  1874,  and  afler  one  year's  attendance  in  a  preparatory  school  in  this  city  he 
entered  Lafayette  college,  graduating  from  this  institution  in  1878.  After  graduation 
he  was  employed  in  the  Anthracite  coal  mines  at  Geddo,  Pennsylvania,  which  were 
owned  by  the  firm  of  G.  B.  Markle  &  Co.,  his  father  being  the  senior  member  of  the 
firm.  In  1880,  his  father's  health  having  failed,  young  Markle  entered  the  employ 
of  the  banking  house  of  Pardee,  Markle  &  Grier,  of  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  and  also 
continued  with  their  successors,  Pardee  &  Markle,  as  representative  of  his  father's 
interests.  In  1882,  the  older  members  of  the  firm  retired  and  the  firm  of  Markle 
Bros.  &  Co.  was  formed,  of  which  Mr.  Markle  was  the  managing  partner  until  1886. 

Mr.  Markle's  desire  to  locate  in  the  west  led  him,  in  the  spring  of  1886.  to  make 
a  tour  of  inspection,  which  embraced  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  Utah.  California, 
Oregon  and  Washington.  A  careful  examination  of  all  this  region  convinced  him 
that  Portland  offered  the  best  inducements  as  a  business  point,  combined  with  all  the 
advantages  of  an  old  settle<l  community,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  permanently 
located  in  this  city.  He  immediately  became  a  factor  in  the  busy  life  around  him, 
and  displayed  a  business  generalship  which  marked  him  as  a  man  of  unusual  power, 
and  gave  him  a  place  among  the  foremost  business  men  of  the  city  seldom  accorded 
in  any  community  to  one  of  his  years.  A  bare  mention  of  the  enterprises  in  which 
he  is  interested  and  largely  assisted  to  organize  and  place  upon  a  prosperous  basis  will 
give  an  idea  of  his  energy-  and  clear  business  foresight.  With  others  he  organized 
the  Oregon  National  Bank,  of  which  he  is  vice  president;  also  the  Ellensburgh  National 
Bank,  the  Northwest  Loan  and  Trust  Company  and  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Van- 
couver, being  president  of  the  last  three  corporations  named.     He  was  one  of  the 


630  History  of  Portland. 

purchasers  of  the  Multnotnah  Street  Railway;  reorganized  the  company  and  ever 
since  has  been  its  president.  This  company  owns  the  extensive  sjrstem  of  street  rail- 
ways on  Washington,  B,  Eleventh  and  Fifteenth  streets.  He  is  also  president  of  the 
Portland  Mining  Company,  owning  the  Sunset  group  of  mines  in  the  famous  Cceur  d* 
Alene  district.  He  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  organizing  the  great  enterprise 
of  the  North  Pacific  Industrial  Association;  purchased  the  land  upon  which  to  ere^ 
the  necessary  building  and  secured  a  large  number  of  subscriptions  to  its  capital 

stock. 

One  of  the  most  important  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Markle  was  the  part  he  bore 

in  the  organization  of  the  Portland  Hotel  Company.  Mr.  Henry  Villard,  then  presi- 
dent of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  began  the  erection  of  a  hotel  in  Portland,  in 
1883,  such  as  the  importance  of  the  city  demanded.  His  financial  embarassment, 
which  occured  soon  after,  put  a  stop  to  the  work,  and  for  years  thereafter,  although 
the  lack  of  a  hotel,  such  as  Mr.  Villard  proposed  to  erect,  was  one  of  the  greatest 
needs  of  the  city,  no  one  seemed  to  have  sufficient  courage  to  undertake  the  enter- 
prise. It  was  left  to  Mr.  Markle  to  take  hold  of  the  matter,  and  in  his  energetic  and 
practical  manner,  in  a  few  days  a  large  number  of  subscriptions  to  the  capital  stock 
of  the  Portland  Hotel  Company  was  secured.  The  company  was  soon  after  incorpor- 
ated and  work  began  upon  the  building,  which  has  since  been  completed,  giving  to 
Portland  one  of  the  finest  hotels  on  the  Pacific  slope. 

Mr.  Markle  is  also  a  stockholder  and  dire<5lor  in  the  Columbia  Fire  and  Marine  Ins. 
Company,  and  has  extensive  real  estate  interests,  including  a  share  in  various  tracts 
,  near  the  city,  aggregating  several  hundred  acres,  and  in  the  Portland  Addition  to  the 
city  of  Vancouver,  Washington. 

At  an  age  when  most  men  are  only  beginning  to  see  their  way  clear  toward  the 
substantial  things  of  life,  Mr.  Markle  has  already  achieved  a  well  earned  success. 
He  not  only  has  the  ability  to  proje<5l  great  schemes,  but  what  is  more  essential  the 
nerve  and  energj*,  the  courage  and  financial  skill  to  carr>'  them  to  a  successful  issue. 
Young  in  years,  strong  in  intelle<5l,  in  the  full  vigor  of  life,  and  buoyant  in  hope  and 
aspiration  there  can  be  but  a  career  of  usefulness  and  prosperity  before  this  gentle- 
man, especially  in  a  region  where  the  greatest  scope  is  open  to  one  possessing  the 
prescience  to  perceive,  and  the  talent  to  improve  the  great  opportunities  the  future 
so  abundantly  promises. 

Mr.  Markle  is  of  ordinary  height,  heavj'  built  with  a  full  ruddy  face  indicative  of 
good  health,  and  a  hearty,  robust  constitution.  He  is  mature  in  appearance  and 
gives  the  impression  of  being  older  than  his  years.  He  is  cool  and  deliberate  in 
manner,  and  under  the  most  exciting  circumstances  would  not  be  apt  to  lose  his 
equilibrium.  He  is  a  man  of  positive  convictions  and  is  not  easily  turned  aside  fix>m 
an  undertaking  his  judgment  approves,  no  matter  how  difficult  the  consummation  of 
his  scheme  may  at  times  appear.  It  is  this  quality  of  persistance,  added  to  the 
ability  of  being  able  to  promptly  provide  means  to  meet  emergencies,  which  is  the 
strongest  element  in  his  charadler,  and  to  which  more  than  all  else  is  due  his  success 
in  life. 

Mr.  Markle  was  married  on  June  4,  1889,  to  Miss  Kate  Goodwin,  daughter  of 
Lieutenant  W.  P.  Goodwin,  of  the  United  States  Army.  They  have  a  fine  residence 
on  Portland  Heights,  which  commands  a  magnificent  view  of  a  wide  extent  of  country 
unsurpassed  for  great  natural  beauty. 


Biographical.  631 


MOREY,  Parker  FarnsworTh,  without  great  wealth,  is  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful men  of  Portland.  As  an  organizer  and  condu<5lor  of  successful  enterprises 
he  has  no  superior  in  this  busy  city.  A  man  of  untiring  energy  he  possesses  the 
patience  to  attend  to  the  smallest  details  provided  success  depends  on  them.  He  has 
the  ability  and  the  courage  to  make  successful  those  undertakings  which  a  timid,  a 
less  confident  or  a  richer  man  might  not  dare  attempt.  He  has  a  genius  for  inventing. 
As  a  manager  of  men  he  has  few  superiors. 

Mr.  Morey  comes  of  old  New  England  stock.  The  energy  repressed  through 
several  generations  by  the  severe  quiet  of  Maine  has  appeared  in  all  the  greater  force 
in  this  later  son.     He  was  boni  0<5lober  16,  1847,  at  Calais,  Maine. 

While  yet  a  child  his  parents  moved  to  Machias,  Maine,  where  his  early  boyhood 
was  passed.  At  an  early  age  he  began  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  machinist.  He  worked 
at  Bangor  and  Portland,  Maine,  and  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  until  he  was  a  compe- 
tent machinist  and  mechanical  engineer. 

In  1866,  he  moved  to  Placerville,  California,  where  he  lived  until  1870,  being 
employed  most  of  the  time  as  mechanical  engineer.  Bnt  Placerville  was  too  small 
a  place  for  such  an  energetic  nature  as  Mr.  Morey 's,  so  in  1870  he  moved  to  Sacra- 
mento and  obtained  employment  there   in  the  shops  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad. 

There  is  no  better  illustration  of  his  inventive  genius,  and  his  ability  to  meet 
emergencies  than  his  short  experience  at  these  railroad  shops.  In  the  year  1870 
the  C.  P.  R.  R.  Co.  was  confronted  with  the  problem  of  a  large  surplus  wheat  crop 
to  move  and  with  but  few  freight  cars  with  which  to  carry  this  crop  to  tide  water.  A 
machinist  and  a  helper  at  these  shops  were  able  to  turn  out  but  nine  car  wheels  a  day. 
Mr.  Morey,  seeing  the  difficulty  very  soon  made  a  machine  fitted  with  appliances 
by  which  with  a  helper  he,  at  first,  turned  out  thirty -two  car  wheels  a  day.  He  con- 
tinued to  improve  his  apparatus  until  in  a  very  few  days  he  alone,  having  no  need  for 
a  helper,  turned  out  eighty  car  wheels  each  day.  Still  further  improving  his  apparatus 
he,  without  assistance,  turned  out  one  hundred  and  nine  car  wheels  each  working 
day. 

On  leaving  the  service  of  the  Central  Pacific,  Mr.  Morey  invented  and  patented  an 
anti-fri<5lion  journal  bearing.  He  moved  to  Chicago  and  became  a  partner  with  A.  V. 
Pitts,  under  the  name  of  A.  V.  Pitts  &  Co.,  whose  business  was  manufadluring  these 
journal  bearings.  This  invention  is  now  used  by  the  Pullman  Car  Company,  in  its 
palace  cars.  In  the  year  1876,  Mr.  Morey  sold  out  his  interest  in  A.  V.  Pitts  &  Co., 
and  bought  a  number  of  patents  which  he  took  to  California.  These  patents  he 
improved.  A  steam  pump  served  as  a  model  which  he  converted  into  a  dredging  pump. 
It  was  the  first  dredging  pump  ever  made.  With  this  pump  he  was  preparing  to  do 
extensive  work  in  the  mines  of  California,  but  the  failure  of  W.  C.  Ralston  aud  the 
Bank  of  California  bankrupted  Mr.  Morey 's  backers  in  this  enterprise  and  he  sold  out. 

He  moved  to  Oakland  and  went  into  the  employ  of  H.  P.  Gregory  &  Co.,  dealers 
in  machinery.  While  in  their  employ  he  came  to  Portland  on  business  for  the  firm. 
At  Portland  he  entered  into  a  contract  to  put  in  a  hydraulic  ram  elevator.  A  large 
amount  of  money  had  been  spent  in  a  previous  attempt  to  put  in  such  an  elevator, 
but  without  success  owing  to  beds  of  gravel  below  the  surface.  After  great  difficulty 
Mr.  Morey  was  successful  on  his  contra<5l,  although  the  whole  community  had 
predi<5led  failure.  Seeing  that  Portland  w^as  not  supplied  with  elevators  and  that  he 
could  be  sucessful  in  such  a  business,  he  obtained  sufficient  backing  and  organized  the 


632  History  of  Portland. 

Portland  Hydraulic  Elevator  Company,  for  the  particular  purpose  of  supplying  freight 
elevators.  Mr.  Morey  has  been,  since  the  formation  of  this  company,  and  is  now  its 
vice-president  and  manager.  The  success  of  this  company  is  due  almost  wholly  to 
inventions  of  Mr.  Morey,  making  a  now  perfe<5l  hydraulic  telescope  ram  elevator. 
This  telescope  elevator  is  necessary  at  Portland,  owing  to  the  facl  that  there  are 
several  successive  layers  of  boulders  and  gravel  lying  beneath  the  surface.  These 
layers  of  gravel  make  it  extremely  difficult  to  put  in  a  hydraulic  ram  elevator  unless 
it  be  of  a  telescope  pattern. 

Mr.  Morey  has  at  various  times  made  man}'  valuable  inventions.  Among  his 
inventions  is  one  for  purifying  coal  screenings,  which  is  completely  successful.  He 
and  Bessemer,  the  inventor  of  the  Bessemer  steel  process,  filetl  caveats  in  the  Patent 
Office  at  Washington  about  the  same  time.  But  Bessemer's  plan  was  not  feasible  and 
he  abandoned  it.  Mr.  Morey  secured  the  patent  which  he  now  owns.  He  has  also 
invented  and  patented  a  successful  water  engine,  and  a  hydraulic  pressure  valve. 
The  latter  is  the  simplest  and  probably  the  most  valuable  of  his  inventions.  Without 
springs,  adjusted  by  a  set  screw,  it  is  invaluable  in  a  waterworks  system  for  the  reason 
that  it  a<5ls  automatically  and  allows  a  large  pressure  on  one  side  witli  a  smaller 
pressure  on  the  other.  This  pressure  valve  was  invented  to  enable  Mr.  Morey  to 
operate  successfully  high  pressure  water  works  of  which  more  is  said  further  on. 

Mr.  Morey  has  much  of  the  rare  quality  of  inventive  genius  which  has  made 
famous  Ericcson,  Bessemer  and  Hoe.  He  seems  to  need  only  the  difficulty  to  sur- 
mount it  by  his  invention.  Living  at  Portland  his  patents  have  not  obtained  universal 
use,  as  they  undoubtedly  would  had  not  other  matters  engaged  his  attention. 

It  is  these  other  matters  which  have  made  Mr.  Morey  so  well  known  at  Portland 
and  its  vicinity. 

In  1883,  through  Mr.  Morey's  efforts,  after  considerable  opposition,  Portland 
entered  into  a  contra<5l  with  the  Elevator  Company  to  furnish  high  pressure  hydrants 
for  the  extinguishment  of  fires.  It  was  these  hydrants  which  saved  Portland  twice  in 
one  week  from  the  fires  at  the  Esmond  Hotel  and  Coloma  Dock.  These  fires  were  both 
of  incendiar>'  origin.  But  for  the  elevator  hydrants  either  of  these  fires  would  undoubt- 
edly have  been  more  disastrous  than  the  Seattle  or  Spokane  Falls  fires.  The  hydrants 
in  extinguishing  these  fires  more  than  paid  the  contract  price  for  the  whole  term  of 
ten  years  for  which  they  were  put  in. 

The  success  of  the  Portland  Hydraulic  Elevator  Company,  under  Mr.  Morey's 
management,  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  Portland  Water  Company.  This  water 
company  with  its  inefficient  service  and  high  rates  are  now  merely  matters  of  the 
past.  For  years  it  had  defied  public  opinion  and  had  escaped  legislative  and  munici- 
pal control.     It  then  determined  to  crush  out  the  Elevator  Company. 

In  1885,  learning  of  the  plans  of  the  Portland  W'ater  Co.,  Mr.  Morey  determined 
to  carr}'  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country.  Within  a  very  short  period  he  had  made 
a  personal  examination  of  the  plan  of  bringing  the  waters  of  Bull  Run  river  into 
Portland.  He  made  his  estimates  and  plans  and  proposed  to  the  city  of  Portland 
for  annual  payments  for  twenty  years  to  supply  all  water,  at  sufficient  pressure  to 
do   away   with   fire   engines,  and  for  all  municipal  needs. 

Immediately  after  the  ordinance  authorizing  this  contract  had  been  duly  passed 
and  approved,  the  water  company  obtained  a  preliminary  injunction  from  the  United 
States  Court  restraining  the  city  from  entering  into  such  a   contract.     Pending  these 


Biographical.  633 


legal  proceedings  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  was  called  to  elect  a  United 
States  senator.  Fifteen  citizens  of  Portland,  seeing  the  feasibility  of  Mr.  Morey's 
plan  and  that  the  water  company  had  received  its  death  blow  frpm  Mr.  Morey, 
organized  themselves  into  a  water  committee  and  obtained  the  necessary  legislation 
to  furnish  Portland  with  water,  as  a  part  of  the  municipal  authority  of  the  city.  The 
bill  confirming  this  authority  made  it  impossible  for  Mr.  Morey's  plan  to  be  carried 
out. 

Mr.  Morey's  plan  was  that  the  city  should  pay  him  J40,000  a  year  for  twenty 
years.  In  return  he  was  to  furnish  the  city  with  water  at  sufficient  pressure  so  that 
the  fire  engines  would  have  been  discarded  and  their  places  would  have  been  taken 
by  hose  carriages.  In  addition  the  city  was  to  have  for  twenty  years,  without 
extra  compensation  all  the  water  necessary  for  all  other  purposes— sprinkling 
streets,  flushing  sewers,  etc.  At  the  end  of  twenty  years  all  water  for  said 
municipal  purposes  was  to  be  furnished  free  forever.  The  price  of  water  to 
private  consumers  was  made  about  half  of  the  rates  charged  by  the  water 
company  and  the  common  council  were  given  authority  to  reduce  all  rates  so 
established.  In  addition  the  city  was  given  the  right  to  purchase,  within  five 
years  from  the  date  of  the  contract,  all  of  the  Morey  Water  Works  by  paying  there- 
for the  actual  cost,  together  with  an  advance  of  but  six  per  centum  on  such  cost. 

Had  Mr.  Morey's  plan  been  carried  out  Portland  would  now  be  supplied  with  water 
from  Bull  Run  river.  The  water  committee  has  done  better  than  was  thought 
it  would  or  could  do.  Without  disparagement  to  its  management,  which  has  been 
remarkably  economical  and  efficient,  still  the  fact  remains  that  sufficient  time  has 
elapsed  to  prove  that  Mr.  Morey's  plan,  under  his  management  would  have  been  far 
cheaper  and  efficient  for  the  city  and  its  inhabitants  than  the  water  committee's  will 
be  even   when   Bull  Run  water  is  brought  to  Portland. 

Without  detracting  from  the  praise  due  to  the  water  committee  it  is  but  fair  to  say 
that  undoubtedly  but  for  Mr.  Morey  the  Portland  Water  Company  would  still  be  the 
only  means  by  which  Portland  would  be  supplied  with  water,  and  that  the  present 
abundant  supply  and  low  rates  would  not  be  in  existence. 

In  1883,  Mr.  Morey  and  others  organized  the  U.  S.  Electric  Lighting  and  Power 
Company  of  Portland,  Oregon.  With  his  indomitable  energy  he  made  this 
company  successful  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances.  With  a  foresight,  which 
is  one  of  his  strong  characteristics,  he  saw  the  great  future  for  electric  lighting  which 
even  now  is  coming  to  pass.  Stockholders  might  be  discouraged  and  his  financial 
backers  despair  of  success;  Mr.  Morey  neither  became  discouraged  nor  despaired — 
he  succeeded.  When  the  ele<5lric  light  company  had  become  one  of  the  best  divi- 
dend paying  corporations  for  its  capital  in  the  State,  Mr.  Morey  saw  that  its  success 
could  not  be  continuous  with  the  great  Willamette  Falls,  distant  twelve  miles  only 
from  Portland.  Finding  his  opportunity,  he  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
syndicate  controlling  the  water  power  at  the  falls.  Getting  the  unanimous  consent 
of  the  stockholders  of  the  Electric  Light  Company  to  the  measure,  that  company  was 
merged  into  the  Willamette  Falls  Electric  Company,  a  uew  corporation  which  he 
assisted  in  organizing.  This  latter  company,  in  addition  to  furnishing  electric  lights  for 
lighting  the  streets  of  the  city  of  Portland  and  for  private  purposes,  controls  the 
immense  water  ppwer  of  the  Willamette  Falls,  at  Oregon  City.  Mr.  Morey  is  the 
manager  and  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Willamette  Falls  Electric  Company. 


634  History  of  Portland. 


It  is  this  company  which  will  largely  assist  in  making  Portland  a  great  and  pros- 
perous city.  Its  wires  annihilate  distance.  It  makes  the  power  of  the  Willamette 
Falls  at  Portland  as  well  as  at  Oregon  City.  Up  to  the  present  time  the  foundation 
and  operations  of  this  company  are  Mr.  Morey's  greatest  successes. 

Mr.  Morey  is  yet  young.  His  successes  are,  it  is  believed,  merely  an  earnest  of 
what  he  will  accomplish  in  the  future.  To  a  somewhat  over  cautious  community  he 
has  shown  what  ability  and  energy*  can  accomplish.  Capital  is  often  timid  in  carry- 
ing out  the  plans  of  such  a  man.  Capital  has  sometimes  given  but  half-hearted 
support  to  such  an  one — it  hsTs  sometimes  abandoned  such  a  man  after  having  prom- 
ised full  support  to  the  end.  But  ability  and  energy — what  in  the  West  we  call  **push** 
— 'will  succeed  and  does  succeed  in  spite  of  the  timidity  and  sometimes  the  greed  of 
mere  money.  Such  men  as  Mr.  Morey  are  the  capital,  the  wealth  of  a  community 
whether  it  be  rich  or  poor.  To  the  rich  they  mean  a  greater  abundance,  to  the  poor 
continuous  prosperity. 

STAVER,  George  W.,  president  and  founder  of  one  of  the  largest  mercantile 
corporations  on  the  Pacific  Coast  was  bom  in  Brush  Valley,  Center  county, 
Pennsylvania,  November  18,  1836.  He  is  of  German  and  Scotch-Irish  ancestry  and 
was  reared  upon  a  farm.  Soon  after  his  birth  his  parents  moved  to  Sugar  Valley, 
Clinton  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  remained  on  the  same  farm  until  1854,  when  they 
came  to  Illinois,  but  a  year  later  settled  near  Monroe,  Green  county,  Wisconsin.  Here 
his  father,  Frederick  Staver,  still  resides,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one  years. 

Our  subje<5l  received  from  his  father  a  most  thorough  knowledge  of  farming  in  all 
its  branches,  long  before  the  era  of  the  present  improved  farming  implements.  His 
education  was  such  as  was  received  at  that  day  in  Pennsylvania,  Illinois  and  Wiscon- 
sin by  the  average  farmer's  boy.  Attendance  at  the  distri<5l  school  in  winter  with 
three  months  at  the  Academy  at  Warren,  Illinois,  in  1861,  completed  his  educational 
advantages;  previous  to  going  to  the  latter  institution,  however,  he  taught  school  for  two 
terms  in  Green  county.  He  early  became  interested  in  and  an  expert  operator  of 
agricultural  machinery.  He  purchased  one  of  the  first  threshing  machines  used  in 
Green  county,  and  during  the  fall  and  winter  followed  threshing.  He  became  very 
proficient  in  this  line  of  work  and  before  he  had  reached  his  majority  did  quite  an 
extensive  business. 

While  at  school  at  Warren,  Illinois,  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  up>on  and  President 
Lincoln  issued  his  first  call  for  troops.  Young  Staver  at  once  enlisted  but  before  his 
company  was  ready  to  enter  the  service  tlie  requisite  number  of  men  called  for  had 
been  secured  and  its  services  were  not  needed.  Wlien  the  second  call  for  troops  was 
issued,  in  September,  1861,  he  enlisted  for  three  years  in  the  Fifth  Wisconsin 
Light  Artillery.  This  battery  went  into  camp  at  Racine,  W^isconsin;  left  for  the  seat 
of  war  in  March,  1862,  and  remained  in  aclive  service  at  the  front  until  tlie  close  of 
the  war.  Its  first  service  was  at  New  Madrid,  Missouri,  followed  by  participation  in 
the  siege  of  Corinth  and  battle  of  Farmington.  On  September  3,  1862,  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee;  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Perry ville  and  the 
pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  Crab  Orchard,  Kentucky.  It  was  also  engaged  in  the  battle 
of  Murfreesboro  or  Stone  River,  occupying  the  extreme  right,  and  on  December  31, 
1862,  fired  the  first  gun  that  ushered  in  this  memorable  engage^ient.  During  the 
summer  of  1863,  it  was  engaged  in  the  Chattanooga  and  Chickamauga  campaign 


Biographical.  635 


takiug  part  in  the  battles  at  the  foot  of  Lookout  Mountain  and  within  the  Union  fortifi. 
cations  at  Chattanooga  and  Mission  Ridge.  During  this  entire  period  Mr.  Staver  was 
in  every  engagement  in  which  his  battery  participated.  By  a  general  order  from  the 
War  Department  all  troops  having  served  two  years  or  more  could  re-enlist  for  the 
period  of  the  war.  Under  this  order  Mr.  Staver's  battery  re-enlisted  in  December, 
1863,  for  three  years  or  during  the  war.  The  battery,  soon  after  re-enlistment,  took  part 
in  the  battle  of  Reseca,  and  beginning  with  this  battle  was  engaged  almost  every  day  in 
the  Atlanta  campaign,  until  that  city  was  captured,  September  6,  1864.  In  Novem- 
ber following,  it  started  with  Gen.  Sherman's  forces  on  the  memorable  march  to  tlie 
sea,  ending  with  the  siege  and  capture  of  Savannah.  From  this  point  it  marched 
through  the  Carolinas  and  took  part  in  the  battle  at  Bentonville.  After  a  brief  rest  at 
Raleigh,  the  battery  marched  to  Washington  via  Richmond  and  Alexandria,  and  took 
its  place  in  the  grand  review  of  Sherman's  army.  On  June  1,  1865,  it  arrived  at 
Madison,  Wisconsin,  where  it  was  mustered  out  of  service.  Mr.  Staver's  record  as 
a  soldier  was  excellent.  During  the  entire  period  of  service  he  never  failed  to  be 
ready  for  duty;  was  twice  promoted  and  now  holds  two  honorable  discharges. 

After  his  return  home  Mr.  Staver  purchased  a  farm  in  Green  County,  Wisconsin, 
and  besides  engaging  in  farming,  followed  threshing  for  three  seasons.  In  the  fall  of 
1867  he  sold  his  farm,  and  in  the  following  spring  moved  to  Nashua,  Iowa,  where  he 
engaged  in  general  merchandizing  )«rith  S.  W.  Byers,  under  the  firm  name  of  Byers  & 
Staver.  He  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  fall  of  1870,  and  in  the  spring  of  1871, 
returned  to  Monroe,  Wisconsin,  where  with  his  brother,  H.  C.  Staver,  he  embarked 
in  the  agricultural  implement  business  under  the  firm  name  of  Staver  Bros.  They 
soon  after  bought  a  half  interest  in  a  hardware  store  with  John  S.  Harper,  combining 
this  business  with  their  own  under  the  firm  name  of  Harper  &  Staver  Bros.  Two 
years  later  H.  C.  Staver  sold  out  his  interest,  when  the  firm  became  known  as  Harper 
&  Staver.  During  these  years  a  very  good  business  was  established.  They  were 
agents  of  several  large  manufacturies  of  farming  machinery,  among  which  was  the 
well  known  J.  I.  Case  Threshing  Machine  Company.  In  1877  Mr.  Staver  was 
engaged  by  the  latter  Company  in  expert  work  connected  with  the  operation  of  their 
machmes.  So  valuable  did  his  services  prove,  that  in  Febrnary,  1878,  he  entered 
their  employ  as  traveling  representative,  and  disposed  of  his  interest  at  Monroe.  In 
1879  he  came  to  Oregon  as  representative  of  this  company  to  sell  a  large  stock  of  goods 
then  at  Salem.  The  Company  desired  to  open  up  trade  in  this  section  of  the  country, 
and  gave  Mr.  Staver  the  option  of  establishing  a  business,  either  on  a  salary  or  a  com- 
mission basis.  Upon  his  arrival  he  was  soon  convinced  that  Portland  offered  the  best 
inducements  as  a  commercial  point,  and  upon  his  advice  this  city  was  selected  instead 
of  Salem  as  the  headquarters  for  commencing  operations.  The  first  year  he  worked 
upon  a  salary,  but  the  second  year  took  his  pay  on  a  commission  basis.  In  1881 
with  W.  H.  Walker,  who  had  previously  been  in  his  employ,  he  commenced  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Staver  &  Walker.  Continued  success  followed  the  undertak- 
ing, and  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  the  growth  of  the  business  has  been  most 
remarkable.  At  first  they  handled  the  agricultural  machinery  of  only  one  manufac- 
turing company,  but  at  the  present  time  they  carry  the  most  complete  line  of  farm, 
dairy  and  mill  machinery  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Their  immense  warehouse  in  the  New 
Market  block  on  First  Street,  extending  to  Second  Street,  is  one  of  the  largest  busi- 
ness blocks  in  the  city,  every  portion  of  which  is  required  for  exhibiting  their  large 


637  History  of  Portland. 


assortment  of  goods.  Branch  houses  have  been  established  at  Walla  Walla,  Colfax, 
Spokane  Falls,  Seattle  and  Ponieroy,  Washington;  LaGrande,  Oregon,  and  Moscow, 
Idaho.  A  large  force  of  men  is  employed,  and  their  yearly  business  reaches  the  sum 
of  $1,000,000.  In  1888  the  company  was  incorporated  with  a  paid  up  capital  of 
$330,000,  at  which  time  the  present  officers  were  chosen:  George  W.  Staver,  Presi- 
dent; W.  H.  Walker,  Vice  President  and  General  Manager;  Frank  L.  Brown,  Secre- 
tary, and  G.  L.  Walker,  Treasurer. 

The  creation  of  this  immense  business  within  a  few  years  has  been  an  incident  of 
rapid  growth,  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  the  Pacific  Northwest  Mr.  Staver,  with 
a  full  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  the  business,  and  practical  experience  in  farm- 
ing and  handling  farming  implements,  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  needs  of  an 
agncultural  community,  and.  well  adapted  to  inaugurate  the  business  with  which  he 
has  been  so  conspicuously  connected.  Mr.  Staver,  however,  says  that  Mr.  W.  H. 
Walker,  his  partner,  deserves  his  full  share  of  credit  for  the  success  of  this  business, 
and  that  Frank  h.  Brown,  whom  they  employed  as  their  office  man  for  years,  is 
entitled  to  not  a  little  of  the  honor.  Both  men  are  indefatigable  workers  and  of  good 
business  sagacity. 

Mr.  Staver' s  time  and  energy  ha\*e  been  almost  solely  engrossed  by  the  demands 
of  his  business,  and  he  has  had,  up  to  the  present  time,  but  little  to  do  with  other 
enterprises.  He  is,  however,  a  director  in  the  Deep  Sea  Fishing  Company,  and  stock- 
holder in  the  Cyclorama  Company.  For  more  than  twenty  years  he  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  since  his  residence  in  Portland  has  been  connected 
with  the  Taylor  Street  Church,  in  which  he  is  one  of  the  trustees,  and  one  of  the  most 
active  church  workers.  He  is  a  liberal  supporter  of  religious  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions, and  is  President  of  the  Portland  Hospital,  and  the  Pacific  Christian  Advocate. 
He  is  also  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Willamette  University.  He  was  married  in  1858 
to  Miss  Salome  Wagner,  who  died  in  December,  1860.  They  had  one  child,  a  son, 
Franklin,  who  resides  in  Wisconsin.  He  was  married,  January,  1866,  to  his  present 
wife,  Miss  Sarah  A.  Thorp,  of  Clarno,  Green  County,  Wisconsin,  and  to  them  three 
children  have  been  bom. 

Mr.  Staver  is  a  man  of  large  frame,  and  of  strong  and  vigorous  constitution.  He 
is  modest  and  unostentatious  in  manner,  and  one  whom  prosperity  has  not  changed. 
He  has  been  a  hard  worker  all  his  life,  and  has  fairly  earned  the  success  which  has 
come  to  him.  In  tlie  prosperity  of  Portland  during  late  years,  he  has  been  a  valuable 
factor,  and  the  enterprise  which  he  inaugurated  promises  to  be  of  still  greater  benefit 
to  the  city  in  the  years  to  conic.  He  is  progressive  and  public  spirited,  and  begrudges 
no  effort  that  may  contribute  to  the  public  good. 


DrR.\ND,  IvZRA,  was  born  in  Seneca  Falls,  New  York,  on  March  8,  1833,  and  is 
the  youngest  of  a  family  of  tliirten  sons  and  daughters  of  David  and  Betsey 
(Crowcll),  Durand.  His  father  was  a  farmer  and  his  early  boyhood  was  passed 
on  a  farm.  His  opportunities  for  gaining  an  education  were  limited  to  a  few  winters  at 
the  district  school  At  an  early  age  he  left  home  and  went  to  Worcester,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  obtained  employment  in  a  musical  instrument  factory.  This  was 
followed  by  similar  work  in  a  faclory  at  Norwich,  Connecticut.  He  seemed  to  have 
a  natural  taste  for  the  business,  making  rapid  progress  in  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
every  branch.  At  the  end  of  a  few  years  he  secured  a  situation  with  a  Boston  firm 
and  traveled  all  through  the   New   England   States,  tuning  pianos  and  doing  such 


Biographical.  636 


other  work  in  conue<5lion  with  musical  instruments  as  the  nature  of  their  business 
required.  In  later  years  he  was  traveling  salesman  for  the  well  known  organ  manu- 
factory of  Estey  &  Co.,  of  Battleboro,  Vermont. 

In  1881,  Mr.  Durand  came  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  for  a  few  months  was  located 
in  San  Francisco,  California,  but  in  1882,  came  to  Portland.  He  soon  after  embarked 
in  the  piano  and  organ  business  and  from  the  very  start  his  venture  proved  to  be 
highly  successful.  In  1883,  he  incorporated  the  Durand  Organ  and  Piano  Company, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000,  of  which  he  has  since  been  president  and  general 
manager.  The  business  which  this  corporation  has  built  up  within  the  last  few  jears 
extends  over  a  vast  territory.  Mr.  Durand  has  been  indefatigable  in' his  exertions  and 
it  has  mainly  been  through  his  thorough  practical  knowledge  of  the  business  and 
good  judgment  that  such  gratifying  success  has  been  attained. 

Mr.  Durand  was  married  in  1881,  to  Miss  Jennie  Smith,  a  native  of  Illinois. 
They  have  recently  ere<5led  a  fine  house  on  Portland  Heights  which  is  an  ornament 
to  that  delightful  residence  part  of  the  city. 


WEINHARD,  Hknry,  the  leading  and  oldest  brewer  of  Portland,  was  bom  in  Lin- 
denbroun,  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  February  18,  1830.  After  serving  a  regu- 
lar apprenticeship  and  working  at  the  trade  of  a  brewer  in  Stutgart  and  other  places  iu 
Germany  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1851.  He  first  secured  employment  at  his 
trade  in  Philadelphia  where  he  remained  a  year.  He  then  went  to  Cincinnati  and  at  the 
end  of  two  years  removed  to  St.  I^ouis,  where  he  remained  until  1856,  when  he  came 
to  California  and  for  a  short  time  was  located  at  Sacramento  City.  In  March,  1857,  he 
entered  the  employof  the  John  Meney  a  brewer  at  Vancouver,  Washington  Territory, 
and  superintended  the  erection  and  fitting  up  of  a  new  brewery.  In  1859  Mr.  Wein- 
hard  bought  the  brewery  from  Mr.  Meney,  and  for  some  four  years  successfully  car- 
ried on  the  business  at  that  point.  In  the  meantime,  in  1862,  he  bought  out  the 
Henry  Saxer  Brewery,  the  first  established  in  Portland,  and  soon  after,  iu  partnership 
with  George  Bottler,  established  his  present  brewery,  having  at  the  time  a  controlling 
interest  in  the  three  breweries  in  this  section  of  the  country.  In  1864  he  sold  out  his 
brewery  in  Vancouver,  and  from  that  time  has  exclusively  confined  his  operations  to 
Portland.  In  1866  Mr.  Weinhard  bought  the  interest  of  Mr.  Bottler,  and  immedi- 
ately commenced  to  improve  and  enlarge  the  plant,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
has  constantly  been  increasing  his  facilities  for  meeting  the  demands  of  his  trade. 
Refrigerating  machines,  malt  and  brew  house  and  cellars  are  models  of  their  kind, 
and  in  their  arrangements  throughout  are  as  perfect  as  in  any  establishment  in  the 
country.  The  buildings  are  all  of  brick,  and  present  a  handsome  and  imposing  appear- 
ance. The  brewery  occupies  a  whole  square,  and  is  the  largest  plant  of  its  kind  on 
the  Pacific  Slope  north  of  San  Francisco.  In  1870  the  output  was  less  than  2,000 
barrels,  while  for  1889  the  total  output  was  40,000  barrels.  With  the  exception  of 
six  years,  when  William  Dillenger  was  a  partner,  Mr.  Weinhard  has  been  sole  propri- 
etor of  1866. 

Mr.  Weinhard  was  married  in  1859  to  Louisa  Wagenblast.  They  have  two 
daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  is  the  wife  of  Paul  Wessinger,  who  is  connected  with 
Mr.  Weinhard  in  the  management  of  the  brewery.     As  a  business  man  Mr.  Weinhard 


638  History  of  Portland. 


has  been  very  successful.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order,  and  of  various  Ger- 
man societies  in  the  city  which  are  maintained  for  social  purposes,  and  for  the  relief 
of  distres=^d  country-men.  He  is  a  man  of  generous  impulses,  and  toward  every 
benevolent  enterprise  cheerfully  contributes.  Among  his  own  countrymen  his 
popularity  is  ver}'  great.  Every  project  to  advance  the  interests  of  Portland  finds  in 
him  a  warm  friend. 


KAMM,  Jacob.  No  history  of  navigation  upon  the  Willamette  or  Columbia  would  be 
complete  without  reciting  the  part  borne  by  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  From  the 
time  the  demands  of  travel  and  commerce  created  business  of  any  magnitude  in  this 
direction,  down  to  the  present  time,  he  has  been  more  or  less  prominently  connected 
with  this  interest,  and  especially  important  was  the  part  he  bore  in  the  incipient  stages 
of  its  development. 

He  was  bom  in  Switzerland,  December  12, 1823.  At  the  age  of  eight,  with  his  father, 
who  had  resigned  his  commission  as  captain  in  the  Swiss  army,  he  came  to  America. 
They  removed  to  Illinois,  where  for  a  year  his  father  was  employed  in  farming  and 
milling.  From  there  they  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  his  father  conducted  a  hotel  for 
some  years,  after  which  they  removed  to  New  Orleans.  Here,  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
young  Kamm  commenced  the  earnest  side  of  life  in  a  printing  office,  where  he  was 
employed  until  after  the  death  of  his  father  during  the  fearful  yellow  fever  epidemic 
in  the  summer  of  1837. 

In  the  fall  of  that  year  with  only  a  few  dollars  in  his  pocket,  he  started  for  St. 

Louis.     Upon  his  arrival  he  secured  a  position  as  a  cabin  boy  on  a  small   steamer 

called  the  Ark.     In  the  engineer  of  this  steamer  he  found  a  kind  friend,  and  during 

several  following  winters  he  boarded  with  his  family.     It  was  during  this  time  he 

secured  the  principal  educational  advantages  he  ever  enjoyed,  going  to  school  in  the 

winter,  and  spending  much  time  in  studj-ing  while  on  the  boat  in  summer.     At  the 

age  of  sixteen  he  became  engineer's  assistant,  or  second  engineer  on  the  Camdetiy  and 

afterwards  served  in  the  same  capacity  on  the  Illinois,  Mumga  Parky  Gypsy  and  other 

boats. 

He  early  developed  great  taste   for  mathematics  and  engineering,  and  improved 

every  opportunity  to  advance  his  knowledge  of  both.  While  in  St.  Louis  he  joined 
an  engineers'  association,  an  incorporated  body,  whose  object  was  to  raise  the 
standard  of  efficiency  of  engineers.  Before  a  committee  of  this  order  Mr.  Kamm, 
upon  attaining  his  majority,  passed  a  most  thorough  examination  as  to  the  duties  per- 
taining to  an  engineer;  was  highly  commended  for  his  thorough  knowledge 
and  qualifications,  and  given  a  diploma  as  Chief  Engineer.  With  this  endorsement, 
which  at  that  time  was  considered  to  leave  no  question  as  to  proficiency,  he  soon 
after  obtained  a  position  as  Chief  Engineer,  and  for  several  years  thereafter  ser\'ed 
in  this  capacity  on  a  number  of  boat**,  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries, 
among  them  the  Ocean  \V{ivc,  Edward  Bates  and  Hannibal.  Ambitious  to  succeed, 
he  over-taxed  his  strength,  and  in  1848  failing  health  forced  him  to  stop  working.  In 
seeking  to  gain  his  health  he  was  advised  that  a  trip  across  the  plains  might  be  bene- 
ficial, and  also  desiring  to  visit  the  Pacific  Coast,  which  the  recent  discovery  of  gold 
had  brought  so  prominently  before  the  public,  he  determined  to  make  the  long  jour- 
ney.    In  the  Spring  of  1849  he  started  with  a  train,  and  October  10,  184-9,  arrived  in 


Biographical.  639 


Sacramento,  California.  Here  for  a  short  time  he  worked  iu  a  saw  mill.  He  then 
went  to  San  Francisco,  and  after  spending  the  winter  there,  returned  to  Sacramento, 
where  he  secured  engagement  as  engineer  on  the  steamer  New  Bnglanch  which  ran 
up  the  Feather  River,  and  afterwards  had  sole  charge,  acting  as  master  pilot  and 
engineer  of  the  Black  Hawk,  then  running  from  Sacramento  to  Marysville. 

While  in  Sacramento  he  met  Lot  Whitcomb,  who  at  that  time  was  building  the 
Lot  Whitcomb  at  Milwaukie.  By  Mr.  Whitcomb  he  was  engaged  to  put  the  machinery 
in  the  steamer,  and  for  that  purpose  came  to  Milwaukie.  Practically  alone,  he  did  all 
the  work  required,  even  to  riveting  the  sections  of  the  boiler  togetlier.  This  somewhat 
famous  vessel  was  launched  December  25,  1850,  and  prominently  figures  in  the 
nautical  histor>'  of  Oregon.  Mr.  Kamm  was  engineer  of  this  steamer  until 
she  went  to  California  in  1853.  Afterwanl,  with  George  Abemethy,  Hiram 
Clark  and  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  he  became  part  owner  in  the  Jennie  Clark,  built 
at  Milwaukie,  and  the  first  stern  wheeler  in  Oregon.  Mr.  Kamm  became 
engineer.  Later  on  they  purchased  an  interest  in  the  Express  and  built  the 
Carrie  Ladd.  In  December,  1859,  the  owners  of  the  Mountain  Buck,  Senorita 
and  Carrie  Ladd,  then  running  to  the  Cascades;  the  Mary  and  Hassalo 
plying  between  the  Cascades  and  the  Dalles,  consolidated,  and  formed  what  was 
known  as  the  Union  Navigation  Company.  In  this  company  Mr.  Kamm  was  one 
of  the  principal  owners,  but  remamed  as  engineer  on  the  Carrie  Ladd,  then 
nmuing  between  Portland  and  the  Cascades.  In  1860  this  company  became  incor- 
])orated  under  the  name  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company,  a  corporation 
which  ultimately  became  ver\-  powerful,  and  whose  influence  on  commercial 
affairs  was  very  great.  After  the  incorporation  of  this  company,  Mr.  Kamm 
was  appointed  Chief  Engineer,  and  .served  in  this  capacity  for  several  years,  having 
entire  supervision  of  the  construction  of  steamers  and  motive  power  of  the 
two  portage  railroads  at  the  Cascades  and  Dalles.  He  constantly  added  to  his 
interest  in  the  Company,  by  the  purcluise  of  stock,  and  but  a  short  time  elapsed 
l)efore  he  was  the  second  largest  stockholder  in  the  Company.  Previou.sly,  however, 
he  had  become  largely  interested  in  steamboats  on  the  upper  \yillamette.  Mr.  Kamm, 
with  the  other  owners  of  tlie  Jennie  Clark  and  Express,  formed  the  Willamette 
Navigation  Company,  which  later  on  purchase:!  the  Rival,  Surprise  and  Elk. 
This  company,  after  establishing  a  successful  business,  sold  out  to  the  O.  S.  N.  Co. 
in  1863. 

TheO.  vS.  N.  Co.  was  rapidly  becoming  a  very  successful  corporation,  when  Mr, 
Kamm.  led  by  representations  of  those  in  whom  he  had  perfect  confidence,  against  his 
own  judgment  and  inclination,  was  induced  to  part  with  his  interest  in  the  company, 
receiving  a  comparatively  small  amount  for  his  large  interest  in  what  a  few  years 
later  became  the  most  valuable  property  in  Oregon.  This  occ  irred  in  1867,  after 
the  company  had  passed  through  the  most  trying  pericxl  of  its  career  and  just  before 
its  days  of  great  prosperity  began. 

After  disposing  of  his  interest  in  the  O.  S.  N.  Co.,  Mr.  Kamm  purchased  the 
George  S.  Wright,  which  he  ran  for  nearly  two  years  between  Portland,  Victoria, 
Sound  points  and  Sitka,  Alaska.  He  then  sold  her  to  Ben  Holladay,  who  kept  her 
on  the  same  route  until  she  was  lost,  and  no  authentic  tidings  of  the  fate  of  crew  or 
passengers  were  ever  received. 

[41] 


640  History  of  Portland. 


For  some  six  or  seven  years  after  the  sale  of  the  Wriffht,  Mr.  Kamm's  health  was 
very  poor  and  he  travele<l  extensively  to  the  various  health  resorts  all  over  the 
country,  without  recei\nng  much  or  any  benefit.  Notwithstanding  his  physical  con- 
dition, however,  his  anibitio  us  audnaturally  energetic  spirit  would  not  permit  him  to 
refrain  wholly  from  business.  During  this  period  he  organized  the  Vancouver  Trans- 
portation Company,  in  which  he  has  since  been  the  principal  owner  and  president. 
Tlie  Lurline  and  Vndine  are  operated  by  this  company. 

Besides  the  enterpri.ses  named,  Mr.  Kamm*s  energies  have  found  employment  in 
many  other  directions.  He  was  one  of  the  original  stockholders  in  the  Bank  of 
California,  organized  in  18C2,  and  after  its  failure,  in  1875,  assisted  in  ib*  re-organ- 
ization, and  is  still  a  large  stockholder.  He  is  a  director  in  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Portland,  First  National  Bank  of  Astoria,  and  the  Ilwaco  Railroad  &  Navigation  Co. 
He  is  also  president  of  the  Snake  River  Transportation  Company,  which  has  the 
steamer  Sormn  nearly  completed  with  which  it  is  intended  to  navigate  the  Snake 
River  between  Huntington  and  the  mining  district,  a  portion  of  this  stream  formerU- 
considered  not  naNngable. 

Mr.  Kanim  is  a  large  property  owner,  in  Portland  and  San  Francisco,  and 
has  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  Clatsop  county.  He  has  done  much  to  improve 
the  architectual  appearance  of  the  city  of  his  home  by  the  erection  of  the 
well  known  Kamm  block  on  Pine  .street,  extending  from  Front  to  First 
street.  This  large  block  was  built  inmietliately  after  the  Villard  failure,  when 
even  Portland's  most  courageous  and  progressive  citizens  were  <lespondent  as  to  the 
future  of  the  city.  Mr.  Kamm's  undertaking  at  such  a  time  did  much  to  restore  con- 
fi<lence  among  the  people  and  was  the  means  of  putting  into  circulation  a  large  sum 
of  money. 

Despite  a  far  from  rugged  constitution,  Mr.  Kamm  has  always  been  a  verj-  ener- 
getic man  and  few  have  worked  harder  or  more  persistently.  He  is  now  in  the 
]X)ssession  of  a  large  fortune  which  his  prudence  and  keen  business  foresight  has 
made  possible  in  the  rapid  development  which  has  been  going  on  in  the  Nortliwe^l 
during  the  last  forty  years.  Honorable  methods  have  always  characterize*!  his  bus- 
iness career,  and  not  a  single  dollar  he  p)ossesses  has  been  gained  by  trickerj-  or 
oppression  nor  resort  to  dishonest  or  questionable  means.  He  has  always  maintained 
an  unsullied  record  for  honesty,  and  possesses  the  absolute  confidence  of  all  with 
whom  he  has  ever  had  business  relations.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  a  quiet  and  modest  way  with  no  desire  for  display  has  contributed 
toward  church  and  philanthropic  enterprises  and  assisted  many  toward  making 
a  start  in  the  world.  He  is  reserved  in  manner,  has  few  intimate  friends,  but  is 
steadfast  in  his  loyalty  to  those  in  whom  he  has  entire  confidence.  He  is  thoroughly 
engrossed  in  the  management  of  his  private  business  affairs,  and  finds  his  chief 
pleasure  in  the  pursuit  of  business. 

He  was  married  September  13,  1851).  to  Miss  Caroline  A.  Gray,  daughter  of  the 
late  W.  H.  Gray,  who  came  to  Oregon  as  one  of  the  earlier  missionaries  in  183G. 
She  was  boni  in  Lapwai,  Idaho,  then  a  part  of  Oregon  in  1840.  To  Mr.  Kamm  and 
wife  but  one  son  has  been  bom.  Charles  Tilton  Kamm.  who  is  niarrie<l  and  the 
father  of  two  children,  and  for  several  years  has  been  captain  of  the  Vndine. 


Biographical.  641 

1 IHLLIAMS,  Richard,  was  born  at  Findlay,  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  November  15, 
VV  1836.  His  father,  Elijah  Williams,  was  then  an  attorney-at-law  in  that  State, 
having  a  successful  practice.  His  mother  died  when  he  was  six  years  of  age,  leaving 
three  sons,  Richard,  George  (Major  George  Williams,  a  banker  at  Salem,  and  present 
Mayor  of  that  city),  and  John,  of  whom  Richard  was  the  eld<?st.  In  1851  his  father, 
who  had  again  married,  emigrated  with  his  wife  and  children  to  Oregon.  The  son 
John  was  accidentally  killed  in  crossing  the  plains,  and  the  remaining  part  of  the 
family  reached  the  Willamette  valley  in  the  fall  of  1851.  They  took  up  their  resi- 
dence at  Salem,  and  continued  to  reside  there,  and  in  the  vicinity,  until  the  death  of 
the  mother.  Richanl  attended  school  at  the  Willamette  l^niversity  until  1856,  and 
acquired  a  goo<l  rudimentary  education.  After  leaving  school  he  started  for  the 
mines  in  Southern  Oregon,  but  on  his  way  there  stopped  at  Corvallis,  where  A.  J. 
Thayer,  afterwards  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  was  resid- 
ing. Judge  Thayer  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Richard's  father  and  family,  and 
he  urged  the  young  man  to  remain  at  Corvallis  and  read  law  with  him,  to  which  he 
assented,  and  in  due  time  was  admitted  to  practice.  In  1862  Mr.  Williams  located  at 
Salem  to  practice  his  profession,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  that  year  married  Miss 
Clara  J.  Congle,  daughter  of  J.  }\.  Congle,  of  Portland,  a  beautiful  and  highly  accom- 
plished lady. 

In  1803  Mr.  Williams  formed  a  law  partnership  at  Salem  with  Hon.  Rufus  Mal- 
lory,  which  continued  until  the  latter  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1866.  He  was  clerk 
of  the  Supreme  Court  during  the  time,  and  until  he  removed  from  Salem.  He  was 
also  appointed,  under  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration,  I'nited  States  District  Attorney 
for  the  district  of  Oregon. 

In  1871  Mr.  Williams  formed  a  law  partnership  with  W.  Lair  Hill  and  W.  W. 
Thayer,  present  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Ctmrt  of  the  State,  and  in  I^>bruary  of 
that  year  moved  to  the  city  of  Portland  to  engage  in  the  business,  where  he  has  since 
resided. 

In  1874  Mr.  Williams  was  nominated  by  the  republican  i)arty  as  its  candidate  for 
Member  of  Congress,  but  owing  to  an  unfortunate  s])lit  in  his  party  he  failed  to  be 
returned.  In  1876,  however,  he  was  again  noniinatt-d  for  the  office,  and  elected  bv 
a  respectable  majority  over  Hon.  Lafayette  Lane,  candidate  on  the  clemocratic  ticket. 

Mr.  Williams  made  an  able  and  faithful  Menil)er  of  Congress,  and  secured  a  high 
standing  and  added  great  credit  to  the  Stale  of  ( )regon  by  his  efforts  while  there. 
Since  returning  from  Congress  Mr.  Williams  has  devoted  the  ]>rincipal  part  of  his 
time  to  the  practice  of  law,  and  but  few  attorneys  at  the  bar  have  been  so  frequently 
employed  in  active  litigation  in  the  courts  or  achieved  equal  success.  He  is  a  good 
advocate,  and  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  successful  trial  of  jury  causes.  He  is 
usually  well  prepared  as  to  the  law  and  facts  involved  in  his  case,  and  ready  to  meet 
any  emergency  which  may  arise  in  the  course  of  the  trial. 

Mr.  Williams  has  also  been  successful,  fuiancially.  He  has  made  such  judicious 
investments  in  real  estate  that  by  reason  of  the  thrift  and  pros])erity  which  have 
attended  the  progress  of  the  State,  and  es{)ecially  the  City  of  Portland,  they  have 
secured  to  him  a  competency.  He  is  not,  however,  proud  of  his  wealth,  does  not 
attempt  to  display  it  in  order  to  gratify  empty  vanity  or  use  it  as  a  means  of  oppress- 
ing others.     Nor  does  he  bestow  it  for  the  purposes  of  gaining  the  plaudits  of  the 


642  History  of  Portland. 

public,  yet  he  never  fails  to  lend  aid  to  those  who  are  in  distress.  He  has  been  known 
to  advance  liberal  sums  of  money  to  assist  obscure  persons  who  were  needy,  and  at 
the  same  time  refuse  to  give  an^-thing  towards  a  popular  charity.  He  is  reticent  and 
slow  to  confide  in  others,  but  his  confidence  is  free  and  open  when  once  gained,  and 
his  friendships  never  waver.  He  enjoys  the  excitement  of  trading  and  making 
money,  but  no  one  can  say  that  he  ever  falsified  his  word  for  personal  gain,  or  com- 
mitted a  dishonorable  act,  nor  would  any  person  presume  to  question  his  integrity. 


^COTT,  Harx'EY  W.  Although  Mr.  Scott  is  editor  of  our  work  this  does  not  seem 
v3  to  the  publishers  sufficient  reason  for  excluding  a  sketch  of  his  life  from  these 
pages.  Such  would  seem  to  contemporar>'  readers  a  surprising  and  annoying  omission 
not  only,  but  by  future  investigators  would  be  accounted  unpardonable. 

He  was  bom  in  Tazewell  county,  Illinois,  February'  1st,  1838.  As  the  name 
implies  he  is  of  Scotch  descent.  The  first  of  his  ancestors  in  America  came  from 
Scotland  about  1755,  and  landed  at  Charleston,  Soutli  Carolina.  His  parents  were 
from  Kentucky  and  grand  parents  from  Pennsylvania  and  North  Carolina. 

He  was  brought  up  on  a  farm  in  Illinois,  where  he  soon  became  inured  to  a  life  of 
severe  toil,  his  earliest  recolle<5lions  being  associated  with  doing  farm  work  in  sum- 
mer and  going  to  school  in  the  winter.  His  father,  moved  by  a  migratory*  disp>osition, 
determined  to  come  to  Oregon  and  in  1852  brought  his  family  across  the  plains  with 
ox  teams.  The  family  first  settled  in  Yamhill  county,  where  it  remained  a  little  over 
a  year  when  a  removal  was  made  to  I*uget  Sound,  where  a  settlement  was  made 
about  twenty  miles  northwest  of  Olympia,  then  an  unorganized  distri<5l,  now  known 
as  Mason  county.  Here  our  subje<5l  worked  in  clearing  and  making  a  farm' in  the 
^^nldemess,  enduring  great  hardships  and  privations.  Just  as  the  settlers  were  becom- 
ing comfortably  established  the  Indian  wars  of  1855  and  1856  broke  out  and  young 
Scott  for  the  greater  part  of  a  year  was  in  adlive  service  in  the  field,  continuing  to 
render  efficient  aid  until  the  Indian  disorders  were  suppressed.  This  experience  was 
followed  by  manual  labor  in  logging  camps  and  surveying  and  at  whatever  el.se  he 
could  get  to  do.  He  was  now  verging  toward  manhood  and  had  a  strong  desire  for 
an  education,  his  opportunities  for  advancement  in  this  direAion  up  to  this  period 
ha\nng  ])een  of  the  most  limited  and  indifferent  nature.  Educational  facilities  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  home  were  wanting,  and  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  study  he  came 
]>ack  to  Oregon  in  1857  and  for  a  time  attended  school  at  Oregon  City  and  Forest 
Cirove,  taking  up  classical  and  other  studies,  pursuing  them  in  his  own  way  and 
largely  without  assistance.  To  maintain  himself  he  at  times  worked  at  farm  ]alx>r  by 
the  month  and  at  other  intervals  taught  school.  In  1859,  he  entered  upon  a  regular 
collegiate  course  at  Forest  Grove  and  graduated  in  1863,  supporting  himself  in  the 
meantime  by  his  own  exertions,  mostly  by  manual  labor. 

After  graduation  he  went  to  Idaho  and  for  one  year  was  engaged  in  mining  and 
whip  saving.  He  then  returned  to  Oregon,  and  in  1864  came  to  Portland  where  for 
a  few  months  he  was  employed  as  librarian  in  tlie  Portland  Library-.  He  then  sought  and 
obtained  a  working  place  on  the  Oregonian.  Showing  a  decided  talent  for  newspaper 
work,  he  soon  after  l)ecame  eilitor,  a  position  which,  with  the  exception  a  short  inter- 
val, from  1873  to  1877,  he  has  ever  since  filled. 


Biographical.  643 


Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  Mr.  Scott's  earlier  endeavors  toward  self  advancement 
and  the  attainment  of  a  fixed  and  definate  purpose.  It  gives  only  a  few  fa<5ls  in  a 
hard  struggle  against  many  and  great  drawbacks  which  confronted  his  youth  and 
early  manhood  at  that  period  in  the  history  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  It  was  simply 
a  busy  life  of  work,  of  severe  manual  lal)or  on  the  farm  and  at  whatever  his  hands 
found  to  do.  He  never  hesitated  at  any  task  which  seemed  to  lead  to  the  attainment 
of  his  plans.  As  late  as  1S58  we  find  him  assisting  his  father  in  the  hard  drudgery'  of 
making  a  farm  in  Clackamas  county,  twenty  miles  south  of  Oregon  City,  and  again 
in  1860  and  '61  engaged  in  the  same  work  for  his  father  near  Poorest  Grove.  It  was 
a  life  of  hard,  persistent  toil  accompanied  with  many  privations,  such  as  fell  to  the 
lot  of  most  sons  of  the  pioneers  of  Oregon  and  Washington  who  came  here  on  the 
advance  wave  of  Western  immigration. 

As  editor  of  the  Orcgouian  Mr.  Scott  found  fitting  scope  for  his  tastes  and  abilities. 
Without  the  least  previous  experience  in  the  practical  and  complex  duties  of  what  is 
usually  first  a  trade  and  afterwards  a  profession,  he  naturally  and  readily  rose  to  all  the 
exacting  requirement  of  his  work,  and  so  signal  has  been  his  success  and  so  thorough- 
ly is  his  individuality  associated  with  his  paper,  that  his  name  has  become  a  household 
word  over  the  entire  Northwest,  and  "within  the  limits  of  his  influence,"  says  one 
writer,  '*is  no  less  familiarly  known  than  Horace  Greeley,  whose  old  Tribune  became 
his  early  political  pabulum." 

Through  his  journal  for  the  last  quarter  century  he  has  voiced  the  sentiments 
that  have  largely  controlled  the  State.  He  has  ever  seen  clearly  the  advantages  of 
close  union  and  friendly  relations  with  the  great  national  centers  of  activity,  and  has 
appreciated  as  few  have  the  value  to  a  young  community  of  organized  business  and 
the  advantages  of  capital  in  our  State  sufficient  to  undertake  the  largest  enterprises. 
This  has  made  him  a  friend  to  the  opening  of  the  country  by  railroad  lines  and  has 
led  him  to  seek  the  overtures  of  capitalists  to  fix  their  seat  here. 

With  a  very  strong  love  of  the  locality  and  State  and  a  clear  perception  of  tlie 
immense  natural  advantages  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  he  has  given  the  most 
minute  attention  to  the  discovery  of  the  stores  of  wealth  in  forest,  mines,  soil  and 
climate.  Nothing  could  l3e  more  complete  than  the  articles  prepared  at  his  direction 
and  published  in  his  paper  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  on  these  subjects.  Their 
influence  has  penetrated  to  every  farm  in  the  Northwest  and  is  seen  con.stantly  in  a 
stubborn  loyalty  to  Oregon,  without  blu.ster  or  braggadocio  which  is  not  excelled  in  any 
State  in  the  Union.  This  has  largely  been  taught  our  people  by  Mr.  Scott.  In  this 
respect  the  Oregonian  stands  unrivalled  by  any  journal  in  America.  In  no  man 
whom  we  have  met  does  there  appear  more  strongly  the  old  classic  quality  of  patriot- 
ism, both  to  State  and  national  interejit  than  in  Mr.  Scott. 

To  a  certain  extent  he  has  so  learned  the  feelings,  demands  and  hopes  of  the 
people,  that  his  utterances  are  the  daily  voice  of  Oregonians.  Bold  and  reliant  in  his 
utterances,  naturally  combative,  never  seeking  to  conciliate,  seldom  trying  to  win  by 
persuasion,  he  meets  with  unavoidable  opposition,  but  has  usually  prevailed.  Kamest 
and  sincere  in  all  he  does,  one  whose  advance  has  Ijecn  gained  at  the  expense  of  hard, 
persistent  work,  he  has  no  patience  with  pretence  and  a  wholesome  contempt  for 
shams,  and  naturally  his  manner  of  thought  and  writing  is  fashioned  after  the  lesson 
of  his  life.     .Avoiding  all   rhetorical   art   or  indirection   of  language    he  goes  in  his 


644-  History  ok  Portland. 

writing  "with  an  incisive  directness  to  his  object,  and  commands  attention  by  the 
clearness  and  vigor  of  his  statement,  the  fairness  of  his  arguments,  and  the  thorough 
and  careful  investigation  of  his  subject. 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  journalistic  and  business  affairs  he  has  found  time  to  pursue 
literary,  philosophical,  theological  aud  classical  study,  and  to  his  constant  and  system- 
atic personal  investigation  in  these  directions,  rather  than  to  any  institution,  is  due 
his  great  scholarly  attainments  which  long  ago  placed  him  among  the  few  men  in  our 
State  entitled  to  1)e  called   learned. 

Personally  Mr.  Scott  is  of  large  stature,  strong  features  and  commanding  appear- 
ance. His  brus(iue  business  manner  is  accompanied  by  the  dignity  and  considerate- 
ness  of  the  scholarly  gentleman,  and  no  man  is  more  highly  esteeme<l  by  his  friends. 

The  foregoing  is  merely  a  brief  and  wholly  inadequate  sketch  of  a  career  marked 
by  conceded  usefulness,  and  only  feebly  ser\'es  to  illustrates  a  few  phases  in  the  life 
of  a  patient,  steady  worker:  of  one  who  has  no  faith  in  any  genius  but  that  genius 
which  owes  its  existence  to  ix.'rsistent,  concentrated  and  methodical  lalior;  nor  in  any 
gospel  that  promises  success  without  unremitting  toil.  H.  S.  1*. — O.  F.  V. 


:r::-^<ivl- 


INDEX. 


A  BERNETH Y,  GEORGE.  33,  46. 
-^  Abraham,  James,  378. 
Abrams,  W.  P.,  105. 
Adhams,  W.  H.,  319,  342. 
Aiusworth,  George,  167. 
Ainsworth,  J.  C,    169,   253,  257,   269, 

393. 
.\insworth  School,  386. 
Ainsworth  National  Bank,  411. 
Albina,  429. 
Alisky  C.  A.,  412,  560. 
Allen,  Lewis  H.,  116. 
American  Exchange  Hotel,  140. 
.\nderson,  Levi,  319. 
Andrews,  Geo.  H.,  291,  294. 
Ankeny,  A.  P.,  120,  154. 
.\pplegate,  Jesse,    Charles  and  Lindsev, 

45. 
-Vmistrong,  A.  P.,  402. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  20-22,  212. 
-\storia,  21,  77. 
.Atkinson,    Rev.   George   II.,    102.    380, 

387. 
Atkinson  vSchool,  386. 

RaBCOCK,  dr.  I.  L..  33,42.  309. 

^  Backenstos,  Col.,  109. 

Bacon,  C.  P.,  169. 

Baker,  Dr.  D.  S.,  105. 

Ball,C.  A.,  319,  334. 

Bank  of  British  Columbia,  409. 

Banks,  403. 

Barnes,  A.  M.,  115. 

Barrv,  Col.  Charles,  2«5. 

Beach,  J.  V.,  342.  . 

Beach,  F.  E.,  368.  412. 

Beach  &  Armstrong,  140. 

Beck,  Wm.,  384. 

Beebe,  W.  vS.,  342. 

Bell,  G.  W.,  91. 

Bellinger,  C.  B.,  336,  337,  342,  518. 

Bench  and  Bar,  309. 


Beers,  Alan  son,  43. 

Benevolent  Societies,  364. 

Bennett,  Wm.  H.,  90. 

Beth  Israel,  145,  360. 

Bingham,  H.  T.,  336,  342. 

Bishop  Scott  Academy,  395. 

Boise,  Judge  R.    P.,   91,  96,    117,   317, 

325,  331,  381. 
Bonnell,  A.  C,  117,  191,  319. 
Bounell,  A.  B.,  107. 
Bonneville,  Capt.  B.  L.  E.,  28,  29. 
Blumauer.  J.,  117. 
Boyd.  Hamilton.  196. 
Boys  and  Girls  Aid  Societv,  367. 
Bradford,  D.  F.,  257. 
Brant,  John,  295,  619. 
Brazee,  J.  W.,  146. 

Breck,  J.  M.,  116,  194,  327,  393,  457. 
Breck  cS:  Ogden,  115. 
Briti.sh  Benevolent  Societv,  372. 
Broughton,   Lt.  W.  R.,  16. 
Brown,  Thos.  A.,  80. 
Br>'ant.  A.  P.,  320,  322. 
Burnett,  Peter  H.,  45,  78. 
Browne,  Dr.  James,  377,  378,  400. 
Buildings  in  1855,  142. 
/iulletm,  riw,  157. 
Burns,  Hugh,  78 
Burrell,  M.  S.,  160. 

Burrell,  Walter  F.,   402,  409,  411.  412. 
Business  Houses  in  1851,  105. 
Butler,  A.  J..  148. 
Bybee,  James,  328. 

CABLE  LINE,  262. 
CafTery,  Rev.  P.  S.,  145. 
Campion,    Alexander,     117,    329.    393, 

394. 
Campbell,  H.,  33. 
Carson.  J.  C.  108,  117,  300. 
Carter,  Thos.,  97,  102. 
Caldwell,  W.  S.,  117,  319. 


646 


Innkx. 


Carter,  Charles  M..  150,  379. 

Carey.  Charles  H..  5,  342. 

Caples,  J.  P.,  34.2. 

Caruthers,  Finice.  116.  136. 

Caruthers.  Klizabeth,  136. 

Catlhi.  John,  328,  342. 

Catholic  Sentinel,  The,  158,  421. 

Catholic  Missionaries,  34. 

Celebration.  Northern  Pacific  R.  'r..  460. 

Cemeteries,  443. 

Chance,   C»eo.  H.,    164,    374,    377,    378, 

401. 
Chapman,    Col.   W.  W.,   99,    117.     119, 
125,   136,    143,    227,   267,    273,   289, 
322,  328,  413,470. 
Chapman,  Dr.  J.  A.,  195,  393. 
Chapman,  \V.  S.,  211,  419. 
Central  School,  384. 
Chinese  Quarters,  437. 
Children's  Home,  364. 
Chinn,  Mark  A.,  329. 
Churches,  344. 

Methodist,  345. 

Catholic.  347. 

Congregational,  349. 

Episcopal,  351. 

Baptist,  354. 

Presbyterian,  356. 

Jewish.  359. 

Unitarian,  361. 

Lutheran,  363. 

Christian,  363. 

German  Evangelical,  364. 
Church,  C.  P..  163. 
Citv  Board  of  Charities,  368. 
City  Buildings.  189. 
City  Charter:  172. 
Citv  Officers,  1851  to  1889.  198. 
Cla'rk,  Capt.  William,  18. 
Clarke.  Samuel  A.,  416. 
Cohn,  B.  I..  372. 

Coffin,  Stephen,  98,  117,  119,  385. 
Coleman.  I).  C,  140. 
Cook.  J.   W.,  166. 
Congle,  J.  B..  148,  164. 
Coombs.  Nathan.  40. 
Columbia   Fire  &  Marine   Ins,  Co..  412. 
Commerce,  212. 

Commercial  National  Bank,  411. 
Corbctt,   Henry  W.,   105,  116.  141.  148. 

168.    189.   269.  280.  408,  413  ,484. 
Corbett.  H.  J..  408. 
Corbett.  Elijah,  161. 
Couch.  Capt.  John  H.,  41.  86.  141.  213. 

314. 
Couch  School,  389. 
Coulson,  H.  C,  334. 
Court  House,  150. 


Cox,  L.  B.,  343. 

Crawford,  Medorum,  40,  46,  463. 

Crawford,  T.  H.,  384-,  391. 

Crosbv,  Capt.  Nathanial,  78.  92,  116. 

Curry,  (ieo.  I...  48,  417. 

DaHA'  bee,  The,  419. 

^  Daily  Evening  Journal,  The,  42(). 

Daily  Evening  Tribune,  The,  418. 

Davis,  Anthony  L.,  116,  319,  380.   383 

Davis.  Thos.  A.,  116. 

Davis.  H.  W.,  183. 

Davenport,  Dr.  I.  A..  117. 

Deady,    Matthew    P.,  23,  33,   121.    126 

130,    287,   316,   317,  325,  327,   33o' 

331,  333,  400,  401,  493. 
Deady,  Edw^ard  N.,  332. 
DeLashmutt,  Van  B.,  198,  410. 
Dennison,  A.  P.,  113,  117,  393. 
Denny,  O.  N.,  319. 
Dekuni.    Frank,    162,      189,    385,    409 

411,  412,  545. 
Dement,  R.  M..  319. 
Dolph,  C.  A.,  319,  336,  409,  524. 
Dodd,  C.  H.,  172,  393.  410,  463,  594. 
Dolph,  J.   N..    169,   275,  319.  336.  374 

442. 
Doughertv,  William  P.,  43. 
I)r>'er,  Thos.  J.,  110,  111,  117,  413. 
Dunn,  John,  40. 
Durham,  Geo.  H.,  336,  393,  409,  411. 

KaRHART,  R  p..  412,  558. 

^^  East  Portland,  442. 

EelLs.  Rev.  Cushing,  34. 

F:dward.s,  P.  L..  32. 

E<lucational  Institution.s.  379. 

Effinger,  W.   H.,  335. 

Eliot,   Rev.   T.    L.,   362,   364,  366.  373, 

441.457. 
Elliott,  Simon  G.,  265. 
Emmons,  H.  H.,  342. 
Emmons.  A.  C,  342. 
F^smond  Hotel,  165. 
Estes,  Simpson  &  Co.,  153. 
Evening  Tele^am,  The,  416. 
Evening  Tribune,  148. 
Ivxports  in  1864,  149. 
Ivxposition  BuiUling,  172. 

UaILING.  henry,  116.  145,  148.161. 

^     189.  195,  408.  442,  521. 

Failing.  Edward.  140. 

Failing,  Josiah.  116,  192,  383,  393, 

Failing,  John  W..  116. 

Failing  School.  389. 


Index. 


647 


Farrar,  \V.  H..  195,  329. 

Field.  James,  86,  93,  117. 

Fechheimer,  M.  W..  335. 

Fire  Department,  Volunteer,  IH3. 

Fire  Department,  Faid,  186. 

Fire  Commissioners,  187. 

Fires  of  1873  and  1873.  447. 

iMnancial  Institutions^  4-()3. 

First  National  Bank,  408. 

F*esti\nties  and  Celebrations,  4'58. 

Flanders,  Geo.  H.,   112,  117,  141,  163, 

167,  374. 
Floo<lsof  1861,  1876  and  1890,  445. 
Fleischner,  L..  189,  360,  553. 
Fort  Henrv,  19. 
Fort  George,  21. 
Fort  Vancouver,  24. 
l^ort  Hall.  30. 
Fort  Williams,  30. 
Foley,  \Vm.,  342. 
Foster,  J.  R.  &  Co.,  148. 
Fraser,  Dr.  E.  P.,  377.  378.  4O0. 
Fraser.  Simon,  17,  19. 
Frazar,  Thomas,  115,  116,  382. 
Fredenrich,  D.  319. 

f  ^ASTON,  JOSEPH,  265.-290,  297. 

^^  Gates,  John,  106,  197. 

(;ate8,  J.  E.,  294. 

(»ay,  George,  42. 

(;earin,  John  M.,  319.  343. 

German  Benevolent  Association.  366. 

(ieorge,  M.  C.  343.  393,  401.  465. 

Gervais,  Joseph,  32.  42. 

(»eer,  George.  89. 

(;ibbs,  A.  C.  319,  332. 

Giesv,  Dr.  A.  J.,  377,  401. 

iWUjert.  W.  B.,  343. 

(;ill,  J.  K.,  375,  378,  410,  625. 

(rleason,  James.  343. 

(Vlisan,  Dr.  R..  166,  374.  393,  516. 

(U)ld  Hunter,  The,  113.  218. 

(ioldsmith,  B.,  196,  373. 

(roldsmith  Bros..  154. 

(^.ood  Samaritan  Hospital,  377. 

Good  Templars'  Hall.  159. 

(roose  Hollow  War,  341. 

(Vray,  Captain  Robert,  16,  22. 

(Vray,  W.  H.,  33,  42.  463. 

(Vreen.  H.   I)..  165.535. 

(;riffin.  Dr.  E.  H..  116. 

Grover.  L.  F..  316. 

Grrowth  and  Improvements.  139. 

UaLLECK  &  McMrU.AN.  140. 
^^   Hall,  Capt.  ().  H.,  116. 
Hamilton,  E.,  328. 


Hardenl>erg,  P.  W.  D.,  162. 

Harker  Bros.,  141. 

Hastings,  L.  B.,  91,  116. 

Hastings,  L.  W..  40. 

Hawthorne,  Dr.  J.  C,  144,  418,  555. 

Hawthorne  Avenue  road,  262. 

Health  Department,  187. 

Hebrew  Benevolent  Association.  372. 

Hewitt,  Henry,  374. 

Higgins,  Wm.  L..  117,  148. 

Hill,  David,  43. 

Hill,  Dr.  J.  W.,  396. 

Hill,  W.  Lair,  318,  334.  343. 

High  School,  387. 

Himes,  G.  H.,  157. 

Hines,  Rev.  Ci.,  33. 

Hines,  Rev.  H.  K..  103. 

Holbrook.  Amory,  145.  325.  326.  328. 

Holman,  John,  45. 

Holman,  Daniel,  45. 

Holman,  J.  D.,  252,  393.  394,599. 

Holman  &  Harker.  141. 

Holmes,  Thos.  J.,  117.  195,  393.  557. 

Holmes,  Bvron  Z.,558. 

Holladay,  Ben,  167,  281,  334,  339,  419. 

Holladay,  Joe..  339. 

Honevman.  W..  162. 

Hooper,  Dr.  J.  C,  107. 

Hodge,  Charles,  393.  394. 

Hospitals,  376. 

Hotel  Portland,  440. 

Hotels  in  1864,  147. 

Hotels  in  1870,  156. 

Hotels  in  1880,  168. 

Hoyt,  H.  L.,  166. 

Hubbard,  T.  J.,  32,  42. 

Hudson,  Rev.  L.,  33. 

Humphrey,  Homan  M.,  102. 

Hunt,  Wilson  Price,  21,  32. 

Ilurgren  &  vShindler,  148,  300,  447. 

Hyde,  Aaron  J.,  379. 

TULEMAN,  C.  M.,  343. 
^   Immigration  Board,  State,  597. 
Immigration  Exchange,  155. 
Independent  German  School,  400. 
Indian  War  of  1855-1856,  142. 
Insurance  Companies,  412. 
Ining,  Wa.shington,  29,  40. 

JACOBS,   R..  401. 
J  Jeffrey,  E.J.,409,  577. 
Jefferson,   Delos,  380. 
Jewi.sh  vSynagogue,  172. 
Johns.  John,  78. 
Johnson,  A.  H..  117,  189,  562. 


648 


Index. 


Johnson.  William,  8H,  95,  137. 

Jones,  Dr.  Henr>'  E.,  377,  4<)1.  6(12. 

Jones,  Dr.  William,  3n. 

Joseph  i.  Dr.  S.  Iv,  401. 

Justices  of  the  Peace  since  1863.  320. 


KAMM,  JACOB.  117.  253,  441.  I 

Kapus.  William,  402,  464.  ' 

Keeler,  Col.  J.  M.,  382,  3H4. 
Keene,  Dr.  J.  M.,  i57. 
Kelley,  Hall  J.,  :«,  214. 
Kellojijg,  Capt.  Joseph,  IK  \ 

Kellv,  James  K..  142,  25<>,  317,  327,    :332. 

3:ri,  337,  418,  528. 
King,  A.  M..  88. 
King,  Col.  Wm.,  91.  380. 
King,  vS.  W.,  391. 
King,  A.  N.,  117. 
Kern,  Wm.,  148. 
Killer.  B..  334,  330,  567. 
Kindergarten  Association.  Free,  370. 
Kingsley,  Rev.  C.  S.,  382. 
Klosterman  Bros..  165. 
Knapp.  R.  H.,  189. 
Kneighton,  Captain,  79. 
Koehler,  Wni.,  158. 
Koehler,  R.,  290,  291.  294,  295. 


LADD,  W.  S.,  105,  117,  140.  145,  152. 
168.  172,    189,  192,   374,   393,   44-2, 

503. 
Ladd.  R.  J.,  148. 
Ladd.  Win.  M..  393.  506. 
Ka<ld  &  Tilton.  154.  403. 
I^aidlaw.  James,  372,  375. 
Land  Title  Controversies.  117. 
Lane,  (ien.  Joseph.  5U. 
I^e,  Rev.  Jtison.  32. 
I^e,  Rev.  David,  32. 
Leland,  Alonzo,  319.  3S1,  410. 
Leonanl.  IL  C.  152.  1(>3. 
Levee,  The,  133. 
Lewis,  C.   H.,   115.   116,   141,   165,  1S9. 

209. 
Limerick,  L..  319.  3S3. 
Linn  City.  7S. 
Linnton,  7S. 

Loan  and  TruNl  Companies.  41  1. 
Loewenberg.  J.,  1S9.  +10.   1-12. 
London  an<l  San  I'Vancisi-o  J  lank.  410. 
Logan.  David,  195,  329. 
Long,  J.  v..  1 15. 
Lovcjov.    (;en.    A.    L..    40.    SO.   S2.    116. 

119. '271.  313,  393. 
Lowenstein  &  Co..  148. 
I^wnsdale.  D.  H..  SS,  97.  117.  119,  497 


I^wnsdale,  J.  P.  O.,  525. 

Lunt,  Daniel,  88. 

LjTiian.  Rev.  Horace.  102.  111.  380,  383. 


VIaCKINTOSH,  W.,  410. 

^'^  Mackenzie,  Dr.  K.  A.  J..  -Un,  filo. 

Mackenzie,  Alexander,  16. 

McComiack.  S.  J.,  1+8,  193,  393.  +17. 

McCar\'er,  M.  M.,  78. 

McDonald,  H.,  105. 

McCracken.  J..  412. 

Mc Arthur,  L.  L.,  343. 

McGinn,  H.  E..  34a 

McKay,  John.  42. 

Mclaughlin,  I>r.  John,  25.  77. 

McNamee,  Job,  90, 116. 

Macrum,  I.  A.,  343.  410. 

Markle,  Oeo.  B..  410.  412. 

Marqiiam,  P.  A.,  108.  328,  mi  3<M.  441. 

591 
Mallor>  .  Rufus,  332,  606. 
Marve,  W.  B.,  117. 
Masters.  W.  Y.,  343. 
Mar>e,  S.  B.,  192.  325.  327. 
Mayors.  Sketches  of.  191. 
Mechanics*  Pa\'ilion,  165. 
Medical  Department  Tniversity  of  Orc- 

gan,  401. 
Meek.  Joseph  L..  35,  49.  96. 
Manufacturing,  29J>. 
Medical  College  Willamette  I'niversitv 

4<I0. 
Merchants*  National  Bank.  410. 
Methtxiist  Church,  Tavlor  street.  153. 
Merrick,  W.  IL,  343.  ' 
Mihvaukie.  78. 
Millar.  Allan  P.,  ;^26. 
Mitchell,  John  H.,  269,  284,  2«5.  537. 
Mitchell  &  Dolph,  334. 
Milton.  78. 
Moore,  Roliert,  78. 
Moore,  John  H.,  271,  275. 
Moor*.  I.  R.,  271. 
Morgan.  .\.  H.,  3t)3. 
Morgan.  H.  I).,  187. 
Morcland.  J.  C,  319,  328,  336,  liSl,  575. 
Morris.  Rt.  Rev.  B.  Wistar.  353.  396.  3<#7. 
Morris,  W.  K..  210. 
Morrison,  J.  L.,  40.  91. 
Moss,  S.  W..  40. 
Mt.  Tabor.  4i3. 
Mt.  Tabor  Motor  Line.  262. 
^luessilorflcr.  Christian  H.,  3<)6. 
Mulkcy   M.  P.,  319,  334,  626. 
Multnomah  Citv,  78. 
Mvers.  C.  IL,  148. 


Index. 


(>49 


NARROW  GArOE  RAILROAD.  296. 
Navigation.  River.  248. 
Nelson,  Thomas,  824. 
NesniithJ.  \V..45,  47,  HI,  142,  248,  2(53, 

277,  311. 
Newburj',  W.  S.,  196. 
Newell,  Dr.  Rol)ert,  34.  42. 
New  Market  Theater,  159. 
A'eir  Xorthwcst,  The,  422. 
New.spapers,  418. 
Nichols.  Dr.  A.  vS.,  378,  412. 
Noon.  \V.  C.  878,  586. 
Noltner.  A.,  42(). 
Norris,  Shubrick,  383. 
North  Pacific  Industrial  Exposition,  434. 
Xorth  Pacific  Rural  Spirit,  428. 
Northrup,  Mrs.  E.  J.,  90,  95. 
Northrup,  Nelson.  108,  116. 
Northrup.  E.  J.,  108.  141.  14S,  343,  023. 
Northup.  H.  H..  336.  893.  573. 
Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  290. 
Xorthwcst  Xe\%'s,  The,  420. 
Northwest    Fire  and   Marine    Insurance 

Co.,  412. 
Northwest  Loan  an<l  Trust  Co.,  411. 

0 'BRYANT,  HUMPHREY,  91. 
O'Bryant.  Hugh.  91.  11(5,  191. 

Ogden,  W.  S.,  109. 

Olney,  Cyrus,  325,  330.  331. 

O'Neill,  Capt.,  115. 

O'Neill,  James.  193. 

O'Neill,  James  A..  32.  42. 

O'Meara.  James,  167.  417,  419.  420. 

Oregon,  Earlv  Historv  of,  15. 

()rt»gon  City .'77. 

Oregon  Times,  The,  143. 

Oregon  Hernhi,  The,  158.  4lH. 

Oregon  Humane  Society,  372. 

Oregon  and  Washington  Mortgage  Sav- 
ings' Hank.  4(K^ 

Oregon  National  Bank,  410. 

Oregon  Deutsch  Zietung,  4til. 

Oregon  Times,  The,  425. 

Oregonian,  The,  110.  14:^,   144.   14^.  154, 
158,  164,  413,  462. 

<  )uthouse.  John  T..  :i81. 

Overton,  William.  80.  81.  82. 

Pacific  city,  252. 

^     Piwitic  Christiiin  Advocate,  11^.  l.")8, 

1-77. 
Pacific  lixpress.  The,  424. 
Pacific  Coast  I^levator,  428, 
Pacific  Fire  Insurance  Co..  412. 
Park  School.  3H4. 
Parrish.J.  L..  117.  1:^3,  146. 


I    Parrish.  Norman.  117. 

I    Parrish,  vSamuel  B.,  117.  271. 

j    Parrish.  Charles  W.,  117. 

'    Parri.sli  &  Holman,  146. 

:    Pennoyer,  Svlvester.  300.  383.  418. 

'    Pershin,  G.  vS..  386. 

'    Pettygrove,  F.  W..  80.  84.  116,  313,  468. 

Pioneer  Hou.se.  146. 
.    Pittock,  H.  L.,  148,  157,  172,  412.  414. 

Plummer,  Dr.  O.  P.  S  .  400. 

Police  Department,  180.  181. 
\    Police  Commissioners.  181. 
■    Policemen.  List  of.  181. 
'    Poppleton.  Dr.  IC.  153. 

Portland  and  Willamette  Vallev  R.   R.. 
135. 

Porthuul  Dailv  Sews,  143. 

Portland.  Position  and  Advantages  of.  53. 

Portland    and   Milwaukie    Macadamized 
Road.  145. 

Portland,    BiLsiness    Houses,  of  in    1851. 
115. 

Portland.  Names    of  Residents  prior  to 
1852,  176. 

Portland,  Appearance  of.  hi  1850,  139. 

Portland,  (^irowth  and  Improvements  of. 

Portland.  Buildings  in  1855.  142. 
Portland,  Population  of.  in  1864.  147. 
Portland.  Population  of,  in  1880.  168. 
Portland,  Description  of.  in  18(56.  151. 
Portland.  Business  Hou.ses  of.  in  1870. 156. 
Portland.   Charter  of,   Croverninent   and 

Mayors,  176. 
Portland.  Public  Buildings.  1W». 
Portland.  Mavors  of,  191. 
Portland.  City  Officers,  IJW. 
Portland.  Railroads  of.  261. 
Portland  Hospital.  377. 
Portland  Business  College.  401. 
IV)rtland  Savings'  Bank,  409. 
Portland  National  Bank.  4-11. 
Portland  Trust  Company,  4-12. 
Portland  Daily  Sews,  4-17. 
Portland  Evening  liuUetin,  4-18. 
Portland  Daily  liuiietin,  HO. 
Portland  Journal  of  Commerce,  4-22. 
Portland  Heights.  4-27. 
Portland  Flour  Mills,  4-28. 
Portland  Library  .Association,   \'M),    l-9<». 
Portland,  Social  Features  of,  -l-f)!. 
Portland  Water  Works.  ISS,  .irui. 
Portland  Academy  an<l  l'\'niale  Seminary. 

14-1)   'M)\. 
Powers.  I.  F..  ir>8,  .'iOO.  'MyX. 
Pratt,  I.  W..  391. 
Pratt,  OrvilleC,  320.  321. 


650 


IXDKV. 


Press,  The,  413. 

Prettvman,  Dr.'Perrv,  117. 

Prim'  P.  P.,  331. 

Prior.  A.  II..  319. 

Pritcliard,  Thos.,  115.  117. 

Public  Schools.  381. 

Public  Kveuts,  Notable.  110,  455. 


0 


UACKKNBUvSH,   E,  374,  393. 


RAILROAIXS,  261. 
Raleigh  P.,  141. 
Ramsev.  Fre<l.,  89. 
Reed,  S.  (V.,    105,    189,    257.    209.  280, 

520. 
Rees,  William  II.,  25. 
Reed.  Cvrus  A.,  100,  110,  380. 
Refug-  Home,  370. 
Rice.  S.  W.,  328. 
Richardson,  Thos.  M..  189. 
Richardson,  A.  B.  145. 
Ried,  Wni.,  298,  409,  411,  012. 
Rislcy,  O..  319,  393. 
River  Navigation,  248. 
Robbins,  Geo.  C,  194. 
Robb,  J.  R.,  40. 
Robin's  Nest,  78. 
Robv.  C.  W..  385. 
Rogers.  K.  P.,  294. 
Rockwell,  Cleveland,  409.  411,  412. 
Ross,  J.  Thorburn,  375,  412. 
Ross,  .Sherry,  148. 
Ruckel,  J.  0.,  257. 


Cr.  HKLKNS,  79.  101. 

^^  St.  Helen's  Hall,  397. 

.St.  John's,  78. 

St.  John's  Electric  Motor,  202. 

vSt.  Michael's  College,  399. 

St.  Joseph's  Parochial  Scjiool,  3t)9. 

.St.  Vincent's  Hospital,  370. 

.St.  Joseph's  Day  vSchool.  149. 

.St.  Mary's  Academy,  149.  31>-i. 

.Sabin,  Mi.'^s  Ella.  388,  391. 

Salisbury.  Dr.,   116. 

.Saylor,  i)r.  W.  H..  377.  401,  5('>8. 

Sawyer,  Judge  L.  D.,  121,  333. 

.Schools.  379. 

Scott.  H.  \V.,  157.  410.  419. 

.Scott.  Rcy.  Thos.   1-..  352.  39.".. 

.Scott,  Ainslee  R.  328. 

.Seamen's  Friend  .Society.  374. 

.Sears,  Major  A.  P..  210.' 

Scmplc,  P^ugene.  418. 


Settlement  and  Pearly  Times.  77. 

Sewers,  209. 

Sevmour  &  Yovnt,  141. 

vSciiuvler,  P.  C.'.  189. 

Shadden,  T.  J.,  40. 

Shannahan,  W.  T.,  373. 

Shattuck,  E.  D.,  331,  333,   :336.  :^2,  3fl3. 

417,  514. 
Shelby,  A.  D.,  141. 
Shephard,  Cvrus,  32. 
vSherlock,  S.^&  Co.,  148. 
Sherman,  D.  F.,  410,  412. 
vShipley,  A.  R.,  105, 141. 
Ships  and  Commerce,  Early,  112. 
Simon,  N.  D.,  343. 
Simon.  Joseph,  336,  343. 
Simpson,  Sylvester  C,  317. 
Skidmore,  Stephen  G.,  117. 
Smith,  Havden  &  Co.,  1513. 
Smith,  J.  H.,  410. 
vSmith,  J.  S.,  28,   117,  163,   263,  269,   294, 

418,  549. 
Smith,  Mrs.  J.  vS..  379. 
Smith,  Preston  C,  411. 
.Smith,  vSam  M.,  275. 
Smith,  Seneca,  343. 
Smith,  Solomon,  32.  42. 
Smith,  W.  K.,  162,  409,  411. 
vSmith,  William,  19. 
Smith,  Thomas  H.,  116. 
Smith,  Hiram,  104,  115.  117. 
Snell,  G.  W.,  107,  115,  116. 
.Snell,  Heitshu  &  Wooclard,  107. 
Snow,  Lucien,  115,  140. 
.Southern  Pacific  R.  R.,  21>2. 
Social  l*eatures,  451. 
.Spalding,  Rev.  H.  H..  aS. 
.Spaulding.  W.  W..  412,  628. 
vStaver,  C;eo.  \V.,  378.  034. 
Stearns.  L.  B.,  319.  328,  337,  'MS, 
Steel,  James,  340,  374,  393,  408.  410,  4!:2. 

609. 
Steel,  George  A.,  621. 
.Steel,  W\  G.,368,  369. 
.Steeves,  X.  N.,  343. 
.Stark,  Benj.,  92,  119,  329. 
Steanilx)ats,  141,  150. 
Starr,  A.M.,  115.  116,  193. 
Starr.  L.  M.,  115,  116,  408. 
.Story.  (;eorge   L..  107,  109,  110.  140,  187. 
StcplK'Us,  James  B..  97, 116,  314. 
Stephens,  James,  88. 
vStephens,  Thomas,  97. 
vStratton,  H.  C,  409. 
Stott.  K.  R.,  313. 
Stott,  Raleigh,  3;i5,  ;:J37,  343. 
.Streets  and  Street  Improvements.  203. 


X 


s 


IXDKX. 


07)1 


Street  Car  Lines,  207. 

Strong.  Wm..  24S.  252,  316.  32<).  821.  -iJH). 

Strong,  Frecl.  R..  843.  502. 

Strong,  T.  N.,  343,  502. 

Strong,  Dr.  C.  C,  377,  401. 

Slater,  S.  S.,  319. 

Strowbridge,  J.  A.,  107,  154.  21H.  :WK  412, 

449,  551. 
Sunday  Mercury,  The,  424. 
Sunday  Welcome,  The,  424. 

TaNNKR,  a.  H.,  319.  343. 
'*'   Teachers,  lAi^i  of.  in  Public  Schools, 

390. 
Teal.  J.  X.,  343. 

Tem-illiger,  James,  m,  87.  8«».  \Uk 
Thaver.  W.  W.,  334,  541. 
Therkelsen,  L.  W..  189.  39:S,  585. 
Thielsen.  H..  29(5,  410.  412. 
Thompson.  D.  P..  197,  840,  891^  402.  4m), 

411.  412. 
Thompson,  R.  R.,  257,  2«9. 
Thompson.  H.  Y..  aV),  579. 
Trevett,  T.  B.,  11(5,  187. 
Trinity  Church,  159. 

Thornton.  J.  guinn,  47,  49.  51.   814.8^0. 
Troup.  James  \V..  258. 


U 


NITARIAN  CIITRCH.  1(k5.  8<il. 
Upton.  W.  \V..  819. 


VaXCOUVKR,  24,  77. 
^    Vaugh,  G.  W..  115.  11(5.  181.  198.  257. 
328 
Vaughn,  T.  E.,  209. 
Villard,  Henr>'.    2^K),  8(55.  4(50,   -4(W. 
Villanl  Cclebrati«»!i.  The.  4(50. 

WaDHAMS,  wm.,  898,  401. 
''    Wait.  A.  K,  821.  331.  3:^. 
Walling,  A.  G.,  157. 
Waldo,   Daniel,    45. 
Walker,  J.  P.,  148.  154.  300. 


Walker.  Courtney  M.,  32. 
Walker,  Rey.  Pnkanah,  34. 
Waller.  Rev.  A.  c;.,  33. 
Wassennan,  Philip,  196,  393,  402. 
Wasscnnan,  Hennan,  116.   141. 
Watkins.  Dr.  W.  II.,  377. 
:  Watkins,  Dr.  W.  R..  378. 
Watson,  J.  P.,  410. 
Waterworks.   188. 
Waymire.  John.  87,  90. 
Wc'cklv  Standard  The,  420. 
Wcidl'er.  G.  W.,  1(59,  3(H),  340. 
Weinhanl,  Henry,  162.  411. 
West  Shnrc,  The,  423. 
Western  Star,  The,  111.  41(5. 
Whalley,  J.  W.,  1(56.  .335.  :^8.  5(54. 
Wheeler,  Jacob,  97. 
Whitconib,  Lot,  78. 
Whitconib,  J.  L..  86. 
White,  R.  I).,  154. 
Whitman,  Dr.  Marcus,  33,  47. 
Whittaker,  Anthony,  91. 
White.  Dr.  Ivlijah,  42. 
Wilcox,  Dr.  Ralph,  90.  117.  32(5.  879. 
Willamette  Iron  Works.  149. 
Williams.  (;eo.   II.,    2(57,   28(5,   325,    8:^0. 

888.  410,  411,  412.  507. 
Williams.  R.,  834,  335.  :i48.  410. 
Williams,  H.  H.,  •585.  343. 
Wilson,  A.  K.,  310. 
Wilstm,  Dr.  R.  H..  116. 
Wilson,  Dr.  Holt  C.,  877.  4(K). 
Winship.  Xathan,  19. 
Withington.   (V.  K.,  408. 
Wo<Hi,  J.  A.  &Co..   148. 
W<mm1,  C.  K.,  843. 
Woods,  (;eo.  I...  2(59.  :il3. 
Wo(Khvard.  C.  II..  843,  412. 
Woodward,  J.  H..  1^28.  a48,  5S0. 
World,  The,  424. 
Wyeth.  Xathaniel  J..  28.  29,  215. 


VoiXi;.  HDWIX.  28,  309.  810. 
*    Vocum.  (;.  W..  348. 


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